VIFF 2021: Bipolar

Reminiscent of its monochromatic brethren Dead Man and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Queena Li’s Bipolar is an odyssey all its own: a buddy comedy featuring a broken-hearted musician and technicolour lobster that sends the Orpheus myth crashing through the looking glass.

In the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on a luxury pilgrimage, a directionless woman (Leah Dou) discovers newfound purpose when she decides to liberate a sacred rainbow lobster from its cramped tank and return it to the ocean. “Travelling is just like dreaming,” our protagonist claims. Backing this assertion, Li devises a hallucinatory trek featuring eerie roadside attractions like an abandoned zoo and an overstocked wig shop. Meanwhile, invasive dreams and heartbreaking memories make reality an even more slippery concept.

A legitimate trip, Li’s road movie is delightfully all over the map, allowing this breakout director to explore her every whim. A music star in China, Dou contributes to the film’s score and proves herself a bewitching screen presence.