Park Life immerses the viewer in a version of retirement unlike anything seen in the West. Elderly ravers cutting loose to pounding techno, mass maraca troupes trancing in unison. The antics of China’s urban retirees are truly uplifting to watch. But in a place where social harmony and self censorship reign supreme, this frenzy of eccentricity and self proclaimed happiness builds to unsettling crescendo. By letting the characters and the edits tell the story, Park Life is an upbeat but ultimately melancholic celebration of relative freedom in China’s ‘harmonious society’.