Possibly the finest from Jia in recent years, this unexpectedly affecting documentary remarkably paints a portrait of China in the second half of the 20th century through the diverse oral histories of renowned literary figures.
Eighteen persons with personal connections to the political, social and cultural history of Shanghai share their recollections in Jia Zhangke’s somewhat stolid documentary, where the sum feels lesser than its parts.
There’s something very deeply moving and universal about Jia’s seemingly mundane documentary about the stories of workers (and their children) who used to ply their trade in a Chengdu factory that had made way for new commercial development as China rapidly modernised in the 2000s.
As China urbanises, a man stagnates in this masterful and revelatory feature debut by Jia Zhangke, shot in 16mm and featuring non-professional actors.
A stunning work of geographical and existential malaise and one of Jia Zhangke’s finest docu-fictive accomplishments, gorgeously shot along the Yangtze River in Fengjie County as a man and a woman separately search for their estranged spouse amid the human impact of the Three Gorges Dam’s construction.
Continue reading →A Jia Zhangke enthusiast might find this very much a recycling of past themes—not that it is any bad, but that greatness seems elusive as the film progresses.
Continue reading →Jia Zhangke returns to form in this superior drama about the ties that bind us together, even if we scatter like fireworks.
Continue reading →A sprawling and inconsistently-paced effort with multiple stories and unrelated characters whose sum is lesser than its parts.
Eternality Tan 