ERMO<br /><br />Aspect ratio: 1.85:1<br /><br />Sound format: Mono<br /><br />Warm, amusing comedy-drama set in northern China where the proud, stubborn Ermo (Alia) works her fingers to the bone selling home-made noodles in order to trounce her snobby neighbors by saving enough money to purchase the biggest TV in the district. Despite this slender framework, the film is rich in characterisation and incident, such as Alia's budding romance with a married man (Liu Peiqi), a narrative thread which is alternately funny and poignant, and genuinely affecting. The acting is restrained and believable, and director Zhou Xiaowen frames and edits every scene to perfection. It's a bit too laidback to really jump off the screen, and its pleasures are minor, but you simply can't fault the craftsmanship on display.<br /><br />(Mandarin dialogue)