Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

The oversized personality of unconventional Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei is at the center of Alison Klayman's somewhat disjointed but ultimately engrossing documentary. While not ignoring his creative endeavors and domestic relationships, the film focuses on Weiwei's Internet-based campaign for enhanced democracy and individual freedom—often conveyed via playful means, as Klayman eschews a purely chronological approach. Weiwei is introduced as someone whose international renown in the art world is matched by a cheekily subversive streak: he designed Beijing's striking “Bird's Nest” stadium for the 2008 Olympics but then denounced the games as a propaganda exercise, and he has spearheaded a drive to disclose the identities of children killed when an earthquake leveled their poorly constructed schools. Only later does the filmmaker backtrack to discuss Weiwei's father, a poet victimized during Mao's Cultural Revolution, as well as Weiwei's decade-long residency in the U.S., his return to China following the Tiananmen Square incident, and his central role in assembling an underground movement of Chinese artists to challenge the Communist party line. Klayman taps Ai's own treasury of video footage and stills (including excerpts from his activist documentaries) and includes interviews with him and his family and colleagues, as well as scenes of his altercations with authorities. Although it could have been better organized, Never Sorry presents a revealing portrait of a courageous provocateur with a gift for slyly ridiculing the communist regime and its drive to undermine China's traditions in the name of progress. DVD extras include audio commentary by Klayman, deleted scenes, and additional interviews. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)