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/anime/168572/she

Although Chinese and Japanese stop-motion animation has never reached the popularity and success of European stop-motion animation, there has never been a shortage of such works in the pre-1970s in China and Japan. With the growing influence of American culture, the technique slowly lost its representation in favour of cell animation. Despite the animation method's loss of a widespread audience, it is still popular among animation students and arthouse animators. Since animation artists are a small and niche audience for investors, directors will have difficulties getting the budget for a feature-length project. Hence, it is surprising that Chinese director Shengwei Zhou received the funding for his stop-motion feature She, stylized as "S He". While many big Chinese animation studios were busy with mass-producing CG animation, the director passionately worked on this 95-minute movie for over six years. After roughly 60,000 photographs, the director completed the dialogue-free film in 2018.

Even though the thought-provoking feature lacks spoken words, it covers numerous diverse topics through shrewd symbolism, including but not limited to labour exploitation, sexism, workspace inequality, freedom of choice, systemic corruption, sexual harassment and industrial pollution. In other words, this anthropomorphized nightmare criticizes the current prevalent issues in China. Under an unbalanced gender salary gap, shoes with human attributes work for starvation wages in factories and fight over the grace of the factory manager. The vast barren land and the fierce fight between nature and machines symbolize China's faltering environment. The imagery of the melting clocks gives the problems a sense of urgency. Not only China's industrial system but also its social system desperately needs a change. During the female protagonist's struggle to defy gender roles, she is limited to one outfit to avoid being sexualized and experiences sexual harassment by her superior for a fairer income. Albeit the protagonist and nature's victory against the injustices, the ending lacks hope for a long-term improvement of China's situation.

Besides the imaginative, brilliant and captivating story, the mostly fluid stop-motion animation and the detailed set pieces are another highlight. The intricate character design shows the director's rapture for the project. The occasional erratic camera movements and seldom rough transitions impart the indie work an amateurish rawness, comparable to Ujicha's Burning Buddha Man, which fits it splendidly. In contrast to Ujicha's animated horror feature, it creates a terrifying and unpleasant atmosphere without gore. Last but not least, the original outstanding score by Sihan Yuan and the meticulous sound design by Ruida Han enrich the ambience and experience.

In summary, Shengwei Zhou's stop-motion feature "S He" convinces with its social criticism, creative world and distinctive story. Albeit the film does not feel like a professional work, it is worth checking out for the director's ingenuity and the movie's uniqueness. Undoubtedly, fans of stop-motion animation should not hesitate to watch it soon. While writing this review, you can borrow or buy it for a small fee on Vimeo.