Film + Screen Arts

UPSTAIRS

Sunny (Xiaoqing) Chen

Logline

What’s your desire at the moment?

Synopsis

Upstairs (2021) is a short film about a painter living at the poverty line who is lost in his art work in a dilapidated building in the early 2000s.

In Upstairs, the main character is a painter who is living at the poverty line and once had a deep passion for painting. No longer satisfied by his art work, he feels depressed and frustrated. His roommate is a fish, which he observes when he is stuck in his work. As the painter looks at the fish, he feels like he is looking at himself. They are both lonely and lost, yet trapped, too. A sex worker dressed in fancy clothes lives in an apartment upstairs. He sees her walking by everyday, but they have never talked. He finds her full of mystery, but especially her brooch — maybe because it is the most precious thing he has ever seen. The brooch implicitly symbolizes his desire of upper class(rich).

He pursues something from the woman… An inspiration? Her body? Or just the brooch? Who knows? I believe different viewers will see different answers. Whether it is the experience of “having sex” with a sex worker or observing her death, it is all grist for the mill for the painter in reconnecting with and creating his art.

The style of this film is inspired by my favourite director, Wong Kar-Wai. In terms of direction, Wong takes mood very seriously. I like how he uses lighting and colour to create the atmosphere that contributes to telling his stories. His characters are usually shown either escaping, searching or waiting. Wong calls attention to the poor, the overlooked and the marginalized in our society through his realistic portrayals of the Chinese identity.