An acrylic painting on wood panel, titled 'Follow Follow', of a pantless woman wearing a leather jacket with a bright yellow shirt and a pink guitar. She is praying while standing above the body of Kurt Cobain.

Follow Follow

(2011, Peng Lei)

I’ve been following the Beijing punk scene for several years now. New Pants was one of the bands I enjoyed and the frontman, Peng Lei, is also an animator/filmmaker. In his film, Follow Follow, a wanna-be musician living in Beijing has a Kurt Cobain obsession so strong that his ghost travels to stay with her. She becomes inspired to join a band and proceeds to meet various Chinese musicians who struggle in their imitations of rock music from the west. Everyone is altogether lost.

I waited many years to see this movie and I finally found it in China. Coincidentally around the same time I found it, youtube also had it up. It’s a bit of a slow, amateurish ride but the soundtrack is really good and if you know anything about Chinese punk you will recognize a lot of faces.


From the indie film, 'Follow Follow', a screenshot of a young woman, Even, lying in bed with Kurt Cobain. An animated gif of a scene from the film 'Follow Follow' showing black and white photos of Kurt Cobain swaying in the breeze. A screenshot from the movie 'Follow Follow' showing Even singing with a band in a small rehearsal space.

© 2011 - 22Film