2013 Cannes Film Festival Predictions: Liu Jiayin’s Oxhide III

#93. Liu Jiayin’s Oxhide III

Gist: No word yet on what the Liu family will be ‘doing’ this time (our vote is for basket weaving), but we can surely count on lots of impeccably composed, unfathomably long shots in and around their claustrophobic house. In an interview, Liu has said this new one will be “as dull as the first two,” adding that “there will be more camera angles in Oxhide III. The shots will be very different from the first two. I will bring out more of the characters’ inner thoughts and feelings.”

Prediction: A carry-over prediction from last year – it’ll keep showing up so long as it goes unseen – and it should be close; Edouard Waintrop will have good reason to continue the Olivier Père’s support for one of China’s best, youngest, and most experimental narrative filmmakers (Oxhide and Oxhide II, of course, both had their world premieres in the sidebar, and they’re both staggering works of minimalism). If it’s ready, this third installment in the ‘franchise’ (and Liu has already announced her intentions for as many as eight!) would be one of the most anticipated films in the Fortnight for a select following of cinephiles who actively seek out more rigorous and austere fare. Selected for support from Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund in the Fall 2010 selection round, at this point one begins to wonder what’s taking so long.