LOST LOTUS

This film is available to view only from WED 10/28 – SAT 10/31. California only. Limited tickets.

Official Selection, 2019 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Wu Yu’s life is overturned after her mother is suddenly killed in a hit-and-run. The inexplicable and unsolved death has the previously secular schoolteacher Wu Yu diving into her mother’s Buddhist temple, searching for answers larger than clues. Meanwhile, she sets off on a solitary mission to find her mother’s killer. The compounding pressures of spiritual questioning, a crumbling marriage, and her beleaguered fight for justice whittle Wu Yu to a sharp and dangerous edge, just as she realizes the killer might be too powerful to bring down legally. In Hollywood this could be a superhero origin story, but in LOST LOTUS an overwhelming sense of grief, isolation, and the struggle for forgiveness undercuts simplistic revenge fantasies.

Chinese Canadian actress Yan Wensi layers spirituality, heartache, and bravery into her portrayal of Wu Yu, while the filmmaking by Liu Shu keeps us locked in the tensions and contradictions of everyday city life. Alongside her acclaimed 2012 debut Lotus, LOST LOTUS marks Liu as a powerful chronicler of smart, steadfast women in contemporary China.  

–Lev Kalman