Grateful to Have You

After a good two decades of soul-searching, Chinese cinema has more or less managed to redefine itself. It made things easier for the average Chinese director, it also made it way more predictable for audiences. Su Jia's Grateful to Have You [Zai Leng Ku Xian Jing Di Na Yi Nian] is an arthouse drama that attempts to switch things up a little, and for that alone, Jiu deserves credit. The fact that I only found out about this film three years after its initial release doesn't bode well for its broader appeal, but don't let that deter you from giving it a go.

Most Chinese arthouse cinema tends to stay clear of urban/contemporary settings, focusing more on China's rural life, at best exploring the prevailing contrast between the two. It's a path carved out by directors like Zhang-ke Jia, and it adheres to a vision of China that the West eats up. Grateful to Have You is more concerned with the lives of three city kids and the hurdles they face growing up in a modern Chinese city. It's not an earth-shattering shift, but it still feels different enough from its peers to instantly set it apart from them.

At the heart of the film lies a bond of three, featuring two boys and one girl. It's not a classic love triangle though. Most, if not all, potential for romantic entanglements is left alone. Instead, Jia focuses more on the individual drama these characters face, and how it then affects their friendships and relationships moving forward in adulthood. It involves quite a bit of skipping back and forth between characters and timelines, which obfuscates the plot, but this is done with intent. I appreciated this structure, but I feel this might end up being a hurdle for some.

Three students get to know each other in high school. Xiao Nan is doing her best to support her dad, who is in the hospital and needs an operation. Zhu Lele is told that his parents died in a car crash, and he has to go on by himself. Qian Liang is faced with hardship when his father is caught for fraud and sent to prison. The kids' lives intertwine, and a complex triangle of friendship and romance builds between them. It's a strong bond that will continue after college, but the challenges coming their way put increasingly more stress on the history that connects them.

Stylistically, Grateful to Have You is polished, without looking overly glossy. The film goes for a more muted color palette and relies more on framing and lighting when it needs to leave a strong visual impression. The cinematography is top-notch, a bit showy at times but never detracting from the drama, and several shots linger with clarity, even days after having seen the film. That's not the biggest surprise. Contemporary Chinese cinema is known for its visual prowess, but it's nice to see it applied in an urban/arthouse context for a change.

The score is solid, without being too noticeable or attention-grabbing. It's the kind of music you typically expect to find in arthouse films. A little moody, a bit dreary, but atmospheric and calming. Strings and pianos are the go-to instruments, perfect for light background music. The frequency of the music is quite limited too, with many scenes relying on ambient sounds, but that's also par for the course. While I prefer a score that pulls more weight, the overall impression is still a positive one. I just didn't find it all that memorable.

The performances were strong, a simple necessity for a drama like this to work. The principal actors were more than solid and brought gravity and depth to their characters, without overdoing it or becoming all-out sentimental. The secondary cast is decent too, but their roles aren't as crucial, as most of the weight lies on the shoulders of the main trio. It's a quality cast, though I'm not sure if any of the actors will become a household name in Chinese cinema. Somehow, a lot of these younger actors struggle with building sustainable careers.

The start of the film is pretty standard plot-wise, but later on, Su Jia introduces some time jumps that add a bit of narrative complexity. They support minor genre expeditions into crime and mystery territory, but without taking the spotlight away from the core drama. I was happy with Jia's choices, as they made for a slightly more entertaining film that was a bit easier to get invested in, but not so much that core arthouse fans would feel disappointed. Those expecting a more experimental and original take will be left wanting, as the film more or less sticks to conventions.

Grateful to Have You is a film for people like me, who don't mind arthouse aesthetics, but prefer them in a more contemporary setting, with a tiny bit of genre influences on the side. The presentation is stylish, the performances are strong, and the film offers thematic substance for those who need to keep their brains occupied. Availability is a bit tricky, and it doesn't look like that'll change in the near future, so when the opportunity presents itself, and you want to have a gander at the breadth of China's recent output, make sure you give this one a go.