I Dreamed A Dream：Wei Shujun and Dylan Wang’s “Waiting for Godot”
Rotterdam Film Festival – Day 2
On the second day of the Rotterdam Film Festival, I watched director Wei Shujun’s latest work, Youth Dream. Like his previous film Ripples of Life, this is another metafilm—a movie about making a movie. Dylan Wang and several Chinese rappers form the core cast, chosen to participate in a new film project. Under the direction of the elusive “Director Dove,” they spend their days tanning on Hainan’s beaches and writing rap lyrics at night, trying to immerse themselves in “real life.” But as they endlessly wait for the director to arrive, things begin to unravel. The shoot may not even begin, and the actors find themselves slipping into strange dreamscapes.
From the synopsis alone, it’s clear that this is a Waiting for Godot-style narrative. Like Wei’s earlier film Only the River Flows, this one appears to have been shot on film (to be confirmed), with nearly every shot composed as a long take, lasting three to four minutes each.
During the post-screening Q&A, I asked Wei why he chose to use so many long takes. He said it was partly due to time and budget constraints—long takes can speed up the production. More importantly, he wanted to place the audience in an observational position, like silent bystanders watching the characters’ shared “dream.”
This was my first time seeing Dylan Wang act, and I was impressed. He brought his role as a small-town rapper to life with authenticity. What’s more, as seen in the credits, Wang and the other actors performed all the rap tracks in the film themselves—Wei clearly knows how to use each cast member to their full potential.
Before the screening, Wei warned the audience that this wouldn’t be an easy film to watch—and he was right. Dreams and reality blur and intertwine until they become indistinguishable. A beach storm sequence in the latter part of the film might even shift the entire story’s meaning. Once the film officially releases, it will certainly warrant a deeper analysis.
Originally published on February 1, 2025.