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.
It doesn’t always work, but Zhang Yimou’s delayed new picture, about a man trying to find a reel of film that contains a shot of his long-lost daughter, features stunning performances from Zhang Yi and newcomer Liu Haocun.
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 return to form in some ways, Zhang’s monochrome martial-arts drama is visually gorgeous but not always compelling.
Fairly entertaining inasmuch as it is a CG-fest ‘historical fantasy’ with spectacular visual flourishes, but ultimately generic and mechanical in its execution.
An old feisty street seller and his poor family fight for their right to make a living as local authorities demand their relocation in this engrossing, and at times, hilarious documentary filmed in pre-COVID Wuhan.
The plot may involve repetition, but the dramatic power of its execution sees Zhang return close to the form of his early 1990s works.
A surprisingly uneven film with a lack of character and historical focus on 1937 Nanking.
The China that you won’t see, as Wang Bing observes with tenderness the daily lives of a young girl and her siblings in a poor rural village in Yunnan province.
A beautiful love story, directed and acted with such artful simplicity that it is difficult not to fall in love with its purity.
