In The Cloud In Her Room, the debut feature from Xinyuan Zheng Lu, a young woman named Muzi returns home to Hangzhou to find the remains of her life in a state of slow decay. Her parents have separated and are already tangled in new relationships; their old apartment is empty and deteriorating. Figures from her past come and go as the city prepares for Chinese New Year celebrations. Packed with beautiful black-and-white images, jump cuts, and negative reversals, The Cloud in Her Room offers the clear-eyed insight of a social-realist drama, yet passes through you like an intense, acutely felt dream. It’s a dazzling introduction to an uncompromising new artist and her rare gift for finding new life in techniques as old as film. —Evan Bower