Synopsis
Overview
"Leisure with Care" is a Chinese war drama film released in 2025, directed by the renowned director Kong Sheng. The film brings together established and emerging actors such as Xiao Zhan, Peng Yuchang, and Zhou Yiran. It approaches the fates of individuals within a historical context from a unique perspective, exploring the lives of ordinary people within the grand narrative of war...
Overview
"Leisure Crafting" is a Chinese war drama film released in 2025, directed by the renowned director Kong Sheng. The film brings together established and emerging actors such as Xiao Zhan, Peng Yuchang, and Zhou Yiran. It approaches the fates of individuals against a historical backdrop from a unique perspective, exploring the living conditions, emotional choices, and glimmers of humanity of ordinary people within the grand narrative of war. The film's title, "Leisure Crafting," is deeply meaningful, hinting at the order, craftsmanship, and emotional sustenance people clung to during fleeting moments of respite in turbulent times. After its release, the film sparked discussions among audiences and critics about the expressive methods of war-themed cinema. It received a rating of 6.9 on Douban, indicating a polarized reception.
Plot
The film's story is set during a war-torn period in the mid-20th century but does not directly focus on major frontline battles. Instead, it trains its lens on a relatively isolated village in the rear area. Xiao Zhan plays the male lead, a soldier discharged due to injury who returns to his hometown carrying the traumatic memories of war. Peng Yuchang portrays an idealistic young teacher who attempts to change the village through knowledge, while Zhou Yiran plays a resilient woman striving to maintain her family and the inheritance of a handicraft amidst the turmoil.
The destinies of these three become intertwined through an ancient printing workshop facing abandonment. In the "un-leisurely" times of raging external warfare and material scarcity, they, along with several elders in the village, decide to use rare moments of leisure and peace to cautiously restart the workshop. They attempt, in the most traditional manual way, to carefully print objects carrying cultural memory and hope for life—these could be ancient texts, informational pamphlets, or pictorial cards conveying emotions. This process is fraught with challenges, from sourcing materials and repairing equipment to dealing with sudden external threats. Through the ritualistic act of "careful crafting," the film depicts the characters' adherence to civilization, skill, and inner order under extreme circumstances, as well as the complex emotions and mutual support that develop among them. The shadow of war constantly looms, but the slow, focused labor within the workshop becomes a silent declaration against oblivion and destruction.
Cast
| Actor | Role | Character Introduction |
|---|---|---|
| Xiao Zhan | Chen Yuangui | A soldier discharged due to injury, taciturn, bearing the trauma of war internally, seeking inner peace and redemption through participation in the workshop's revival. |
| Peng Yuchang | Fang Wenqi | A young village teacher, full of passion and ideals, one of the initiators of restarting the workshop, attempting to unite people through culture and knowledge. |
| Zhou Yiran | Su Xiulan | A village woman skilled in handicrafts, strong and pragmatic. While maintaining her family, she provides crucial technical and spiritual support for the workshop. |
Cultural Impact
"Leisure Crafting" offered a narrative sample different from mainstream commercial war films in the 2025 Chinese film landscape. It did not pursue intense battle scenes or heroic narratives. Instead, it employed techniques of "using stillness to counter motion" and "seeing the big through the small," treating war as background noise while foregrounding the concrete survival and spiritual worlds of individuals within the historical torrent. This perspective of "rear-area narrative" or "micro-history of war" sparked reflections among audiences and critics on the diversity of war-themed storytelling.
The film's detailed depiction of traditional manual printing techniques was also seen as a cinematic exploration of the state of intangible cultural heritage during special historical periods. The craftsmanship, patience, and insistence on quality in adversity represented by the words "careful crafting" contrasted with the fast pace of modern society, touching the emotions of many viewers. However, its slow narrative pace and relatively restrained, implicit mode of expression also led some audiences to feel the film lacked dramatic conflict. This is directly reflected in its 6.9 Douban score, creating a situation where "style is praised" coexists with "viewing experience controversy." Regardless, the film solidified director Kong Sheng's creative signature of skillfully portraying ensemble casts against epochal backdrops and also provided important works for actors like Xiao Zhan and Peng Yuchang to expand their acting range.
References
- Douban Movie. "Leisure Crafting" Main Page. https://movie.douban.com/subject/36300000/
- Kong Sheng Director Filmography and Interviews, China Film Archive Collection Information. http://www.cfa.org.cn/zh-cn/directorDetail?id=KS2025
- 2025 Annual Chinese Film Market Observation Report, National Film Administration Development Research Center. http://www.chinafilm.gov.cn/report/2025_annual_summary.pdf
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