Cherries (Yingtao) is a Chinese film by dicrector Zhang Jiabei.
It's a simple though very beautiful film about a mother's love for her child. In this film we will follow a mentally ill woman who is chasing children most of her time in her attempt to offer them cherries. wants to have a babyand finds an abundant one, a girl, in the woods. It should be realized that this movie starts in the '80s of the past century, a time when the birth control policy affected parents choices to abandon their child when it was a girl.
How difficult it is for this mentally ill woman to raise a child, but she manages. In the following part of this film the child reaches an pre-pubescent age. She starts to feel embarrased about her mother and is finding it difficult the way her mother shows her love, sometimes very inappropriate.
It's a movie about the love of a parent for her child. And it's not just a movie, it is a very good one! Zhang Jiabei catches the perfect mood. The cinematography is fantastic, beautiful landscapes and a slow pacing movie which style seems to be a bit like The road home. The acting of Miao Pu (who plays the mother) is almost beyond belief. She is disturbingly authentic in her role as a mentally ill mother. And maybe the most beautiful thing about this film, the thing that really makes it a bit more special, is the music. The music catches the emotions perfectly! Most of the time it's traditional 'Erhu' music, which fits perfectly!
Most of all 'Cherries' is a beautiful small, emotional film about the love.
