
Wu Qu Lai Chu (I'm So Sorry). 2021. Hong Kong/France/The Netherlands. Directed by Zhao Liang. North American premiere. In Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, German; English subtitles. 96 min.
Zhao Liang’s anticipated follow-up to Behemoth (2015), which examined the effects of Chinese coal mining, is an audacious essay-film about nuclear power. Visiting the exclusion zones surrounding the Chernobyl and Fukushima disaster sites, the director constructs a sobering account of the lasting human and environmental cost of technological progress. As spirits in Noh masks drift through the film’s apocalyptic landscapes, I’m So Sorry spotlights the predicament of climate change in the most urgent terms.