An Elephant Sitting Still (DVD) standard edition

In the gloomy grey of a small northern Chinese city, four alienated lives converge on a single day. Wei Bu (Peng Yuchang), a troubled teenager who has witnessed a tragedy involving the school bully's brother, finds his fate intertwined with Yu Cheng, a corrupt neighbourhood man; Huang Ling, a student being manipulated by a teacher; and Wang Jin, an elderly man forced out of his apartment by his own family. All four share the same dream: to travel to Manzhouli, a distant city where, legend has it, an elephant sits utterly still, refusing to move or eat, indifferent to the world's chaos.

Written and directed by Hu Bo — his only feature, completed shortly before his death in 2017 — AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL is a haunting four-hour epic shot in sinuous Steadicam, a landmark of contemporary Chinese cinema.