In a future where space travel has become an expensive tourist attraction, the poor and lonely Lao Zha works on the maintenance crew of a bankrupt film studio. Isolated even from his fellow janitors, he spends his days clearing snow from elaborate sets depicting monuments and wonders of the world, with only his former movie-star cat for company. When his stingy boss gives him a second-hand virtual reality game instead of a holiday bonus, Lao Zha enters a new world, where he meets a female gamer and, for the first time, dares to dream of intimacy and human connection.
A melancholic comedy bordering on science fiction, the film combines striking imagery, disorienting compositions, deadpan humor, and subtle absurdity to create a poetic and ironic atmosphere. Through Lao Zha’s quiet existence, it offers a touching reflection on labor, alienation, and our increasingly mediated lives, while becoming a playful lament for the death of cinema in an age of technological change.
