Overview
- The film begins a limited theatrical run from distributor 1-2 Special in select cinemas.
- Leung plays Professor Tony Wong, a neuroscientist in Germany during the 2020 lockdown who studies a campus ginkgo tree and speaks with a colleague, played by Léa Seydoux, through computer screens.
- The drama links three eras to the same tree to explore solitude and whether nonhuman life can register human bonds.
- Enyedi gives each timeline a distinct look and feel, using 35mm black-and-white for the early 1900s, 16mm color for the 1970s, and digital for the present day.
- Leung prepared by reading on neuroscience and plant intelligence and by walking the German locations ahead of the shoot at Enyedi’s request.