[Lost in the Mountain] was inspired by Sky Clean Sand: Autumnal Thoughts, a poem by prominent yuanqu author Ma Zhiyuan, dating from the early Yuan era. Our lives are as unpredictable as the fog, and we are powerless before a cruel destiny. Lost in Mountain is a story about people who are searching for a lost friend. Da Ta and his friends go in search of their friend Bielei, who disappeared in the Tie Tuo Mountain six months earlier. Except for some of Bielei’s notes, however, they find no sign of him. Upon returning, Da Ta tries to comfort Beilei’s mother and wife. There is nothing else he can do. The rest of friends drift apart, each moving on with his life. Director Gao Zipeng contemplates how life, though speckled with tragedy, moves on quite casually. Tie Tuo Mountain, where Da Ta goes in search of Bielei, is what is left of an abandoned mining town. The desolate scenery of the town seems to be speaking for Da Ta and the slowly fading memory of his friend. (KIM Ji-seok)