Tricks by People in the Building

A record heavy rain triggered a fire in Qinghe City's Antique Street. Like the giant hand of fate, it stirred up a group of little people with "special skills" and finally pushed it to the old "problem building" in Hongguang Community with water seepage all year round. This building, nicknamed the "Swagger Building", overnight became their last resort and a new stage. The leaky old building became an arena for them to perform their "tricks". Fake masters live broadcast chanting and selling goods under dripping roofs, "miracle doctors" practice Feng Shui rituals across borders, bureaucratic directors use clichés to deal with overwhelming public grievances, judges turn neighborhood lawsuits into red envelope harvesters, security guards blame everything on "not paying enough fees," and the village chief quietly extends his hoe to the crumbling building foundation. The fake beggar's luxury car is parked outside the building to act as a "filial son in trouble", and the canteen has become an offline stronghold for rumor fermentation and low-quality "consecrated" goods. Everyone uses their own way, in the slippery gap of existence, to strive to maintain the false aura and chain of interests that they rely on to survive, scheming with each other, and relying on each other. However, when the continuous rain finally washed away the fragile physical structure, clues of cultural relics suddenly appeared in the cracks in the foundation, like a mirror, causing these carefully constructed "tricks" to begin to collapse. A contemporary Ukiyo-e about fraud, power and responsibility, greed and absurdity, and in the end, a pungent and sad sigh arose amidst the roar of the collapse of the "Swagger Building" and the chicken feathers scattered on the ground. "The Trick in the Tower" is a film that uses absurdity as a mirror to reveal the bizarre but extremely real picture of human nature deep in the folds of the times.