Lighting Up the Stars

Mo Sanmei is out of prison and reluctantly keeping up the funeral business he inherited from his father. At one funeral he crosses paths with a small girl who has lost her grandmother. She holds him responsible for taking the ashes and will not leave him alone. The two are stuck with each other, and being stuck turns over time into something else. Written and directed by Liu Jiangjiang, the film treats the business of death as an ordinary trade: haggling over prices, the shopkeepers next door, the competing firm. The emotional effect comes out of exactly that ordinariness. The second half turns toward melodrama and does not hide it. Zhu Yilong plays Mo Sanmei and Yang Enyou the girl. It opened in China on 24 June 2022 and, despite pandemic restrictions, became the fourth highest-grossing Chinese film of the year. Who it's for: Viewers who like emotional drama built on death and grief, and chosen-family stories. Who it's not for: The emotional pitch rises in the final section and the resolutions get easy. It is too much if you want restraint.