Commodity City (2017)

Yiwu International Trade City is the world's largest market, selling cheap goods wholesale in a city south of Shanghai. The fake flowers, toys, pens and alarm clocks traded in Yiwu eventually end up in dollar stores across the planet, but I focus on the people who sell these goods that we take for granted. As a character study of the market itself, the film peers into the lives of those who run this global trade. The sellers, full of life and individuality, live against the uniformly oppressive backdrop of their livelihood. A somber man painstakingly counts tiny metal parts on his desk in a pen shop. A business lady sweet talks one of her customers, peppering him with insults and compliments, but in between the buying and selling, vendors all find different ways to pass the time in this gigantic mall. A mother yells at a group of young boys, berating them for losing a toy. A man in a suit hums along to a haunting song waiting for a customer as the clocks he is selling tick away. Two young siblings play a video game while lazily eating KFC from the bucket, licking their fingers. While these stories seem small and insignificant, in the context of the film, the dialogue and actions take on new weight and meaning, elevating the quotidian to a realm of discovery.