A Grey Area

“Uncertainty is pervasive,” says Hans Ulrich Obrist of Yang Fudong’s new Prada Menswear film which, he elaborates, “resembles but never completely coincides with the real world.” The film, First Spring, is a nostalgic tribute to the Shanghai of the 20s and 30s—a time when the city was a center of film production—and takes its inspiration from a Chinese proverb: “The whole year’s work depends on a good start in Spring.” In addition to its aesthetic appeal—the black-and-white cinematography is an apt frame for Prada’s grey and mesh spring 2010 menswear collection—the film sustains an odd sense of dislocation, according to Fudong evoking his feeling of alienation as an intellectual in contemporary China. First Spring premieres today on the Prada site.