The decades-long collaboration between a traditional carpenter from a small town in Jiangnan, a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and a Nordic designer for decades has sparked the collision and fusion of two vastly different cultures in the small town. The protagonist of the film, Yin Hongqiang, hails from Changjing in Jiangyin, Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province. His authentic Jiangnan accent highlights the challenges and intrigue of cross-cultural chair design over the years with the Nordic designer.
Argentinian director Gonzalo Nicolas Alzaibar keenly captures that the collaboration with Nordic designer is merely symbolic, and the film focuses how three generations of Yin's family adapted their chair and furniture designs to appeal to modern preferences. Hence the film is named Take a Seat. The ending of the film in this chaotic yet rich Jiangnan small town, farming fields, random passersby and locals all sit on the chairs created by Yin's family, feeling the spring breeze, reconnecting with nature, and returning to their true selves. The deeply humanistic conclusion is touching, where everyone is both an experiencer and a designer.
