The film Old Things in the South of the City was adapted by director Wu from the novel of the same name by Taiwan Province woman writer Lin. This film tells the story of Eiko's warm and happy family in a quadrangle in the south of Beijing in the 1920s. Mainly through the childish eyes of the little hero Eiko, the joys and sorrows of the adult world are shown to the world. Sad parting pervades the whole film, but in endless innocence and childishness, it reveals complex feelings about the world. Never think, never forget. The film unfolds in the slowly flowing water, the camel team walks slowly and the crowd passes slowly. When the camel team appeared, the camera slowly advanced. By the well, the sound of running water, the choking of crows, the hawking of street vendors, the sound of shaving their heads and carrying pole loads, and the wind chimes of camel teams all come together to depict the customs of old Beijing in the 1920s. A pure and beautiful prose film, when in full bloom, is like an elegant, indifferent and simple China ink painting.
Old things in the south of the city The little girl Eiko sees the world with clear eyes. The girl's "eyes" are like an image, and the thoughts and emotions contained in this film are conveyed to the audience indirectly or directly through these "eyes". The film is almost entirely composed of Xiaoying's subjective lens. This unique perspective conforms to both life logic and emotional logic. The film also uses many long shots and big pauses to pursue the organic combination of "motion" and "stillness", "heat" and "cold", "Zhang" and "relaxation": for example, it seems that there is a unique artistic tension when hearing the scene of a child in a daze in the kitchen and lying in a hospital bed meditating after death. The shaking speed and duration of the lens match the rhythm of the film, telling the stories of several separations of Eiko and Xiuzhen, Eiko and thief, Eiko and his father, and Eiko and Ma Song. The faint sadness and deep sadness overflowed the whole film, and the emotion sublimated in the faint sadness, leaving the audience with long-lasting sadness and memories. The repetition of emotional rhythm, with the lingering charm of sighing, tells the story of parting again and again. "We looked at the sea, we looked at the sea. On the blue sea, white sails are flying, and the golden sun rises from the sea and shines on the bow. We look at the sea ... "Lang Lang's children's voice reminds people of childhood memories, and his feelings are even stronger. As time went on, things changed. The two groups of pictures "Draw water from the well" and "Leave school in the school playground" are repeated many times, which are related to the film's "connecting the preceding with the following".