Youth (Homecoming)

Director: Wang Bing

2024 / 152min / DCP

Where Youth (Spring) depicted the adjustments made by laborers in Zhili’s textile mills at the beginning of the work year, and Youth (Hard Times) the tensions that simmer to a boil over a sweltering summer on the factory floor, the third and final episode of Wang’s trilogy concentrates on the anxious period before the annual winter break when the sweatshops will briefly go silent, narrowing its focus to two young workers looking forward to being married back home over the Lunar New Year holiday, as well as their friends and family members. An intimate conclusion to a work of epic scale, capped by “a stark and surprising look at what unfolds once [the mills] start back up again.” [Sight & Sound]

Introduction by director Wang Bing on Sunday, October 20th