THE STORY – Figure skater Jiang struggles to salvage her career under the ruthless eye of her mother and coach, Wang. At the rink, she finds a kindred spirit in Zhong. But when Wang begins to train Zhong, tension builds, and Jiang’s ambition spirals into destructive obsession.
THE CAST – Zhang Zifeng, Ma Yili & Ding Xiangyuan
THE TEAM – Zhou Jinghao (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
Many debates have been had over which films will be considered modern classics. The term itself is a descriptor for new films – or young – that pertain to a sense of longevity. Most recent examples include “Interstellar,” which broke the record for the highest-grossing IMAX re-release of all time, accumulating $24.4 million at the worldwide box office as of this writing. Or “La La Land,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and “Little Women,” which happen to be three of the top ten most popular films on Letterboxd to be found in a user’s top four favorites section. With regard to Zhou Jinghao, it is the twisty, sepia-toned “Whiplash” and competitive, edgy, and unforgiving “Black Swan” that spring to mind as premiere pieces on his mood board for his feature-length debut “Girl on Edge.”
Set imminently before Chinese figure skater Jiang Ning’s (Zhang Zifeng) make-or-break competition, while under the ruthless eye of her Mum and coach Wang Shuang (Ma Yili), “Girl on Edge” delicately synthesizes the high-stakes ferocity of the sports drama and the snaking melodrama of the psychological thriller into a, at its best, sharp, unique animal. The ice-skating rink, which Jinghao twists into a cold, prison-like environment through heavy use of close-ups and careful blocking, becomes the arena for Jiang’s ambitions and subsequent obsession. It is here that Jiang meets Zhong Ling (Ding Xianguan), a friend and soon-to-be rival whose style of skating has less to do with technique and more to do with “looking happy.”
This rivalry, the backbone of Jinghao’s screenplay, assists in underscoring “Girl on Edge’s” most pertinent theme, motherhood, emphasizing how the girls function as a result of their maternal upbringings. Wang, upon learning of Zhong’s talent, is quick to pull her under her wing and coach her; however, it is here that the chess-like strategy of Jinghao’s prose collapses. “You stopped my training for a year and a half,” Jiang yells at Wang during a heated exchange in retaliation to her bitter style of schooling. Breadcrumbs such as these meant to imply the pair’s history, are sufficient to illustrate, without explaining, how and why Jiang operates as she does as an athlete. This between-the-lines style of storytelling nonetheless buckles as “Girl on Edge” insists on leaving no stone unturned, re-contextualizing these moments as clues to be solved.
Shot with a fierce confidence from Yu Jing-Pin – whose camera, full of velocity, spins the spectator throughout the velocity of the runtime – and addictively sound mixed by Zhao Nan and He Wei – who turn every ice-skating blade sound as sharp as a bloody knife – “Girl on Edge” technically excels. Jinghao, who worked in Silicon Valley before leaving the tech world to pursue filmmaking, demonstrates that he is a far stronger visual storyteller than a narrative one, crafting numerous lengthy, dizzying ice-skating sequences, including an opening sequence that readily establishes a grim tone and a mid-morning sequence where the warm hues of the morning light turn Jiang’s golden brown hair red, just like Zhong’s.
In wearing his influences firmly on his sleeve Jinghao directs a hypnotic mix of controlled neon spectacle and a twisty, repetitive reminder of better films. Betwixt these cracks lay an assured performance from Zifeng, who delicately crosses a tightrope between a timid teenager and an obsessive perfectionist, wherein her smiles scream, and every silent moment of reflection is thunderous. As it skates in circles, the dents in “Girl on Edge’s” ice begin to crack with each repetitive scene and colorful skating montage. Like Jiang, Jinghao’s quest for perfection pales compared to his formers, who make this sort of story look as easy to create as any rival may.
