Still Life
Jia Zhangke
China
Sorry, there was not an English trailer available.
Jia Zhangke rose to prominence through a decade of underground Chinese filmmaking sponsored by money from international sources and, until recently, his films went unseen in his own country. Still Life was approved (probably begrudgingly) by the government in his home-country and saw a limited theatrical run with low attendance but was heavily bootlegged as is the norm in China. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it took the prestigious Golden Lion, the top prize of the event. Zhangke's work has been a favorite of the festival circuit with other popular films of his such as Platform, Unknown Pleasures and The World. His films are usually low budget and with a slow pace. He is also known for using non-actors or actors that are unknown to the general public.
The plot follows two people that are traveling to Fengjie, a small city outside the immense Three Gorges Dam, to find spouses that they have not seen for years. Their lives intersect in some ways but they never come face-to-face. They arrive to find the city in a state of deconstruction. The Three Gorges Dam project has already caused many in the city to lose their homes so when Han Sanming arrives he finds that his wife's family's home is already submerged underwater. Soon the water level will rise again forcing many more to have to relocate and the area shown in the film is filled with ruins of old tenement buildings and housing projects. There is an eeriness to the landscape as the buildings are set to disappear and be swallowed by the river with the natural beauty of the land taking everything back to a more natural state. Unfortunately, this is achieved at the expense of the relocation of over one million inhabitants who lose their homes and pasts. While Han waits to find his wife he takes a job doing demolition work, taking down the ruins. The focus is then shifted to Shen Hong, a nurse from another province, whose husband had ran out on her to the Three Gorges, where he is a sort of local gangster. Both Han and Shen need to decide why they have come to this area which will be submerged even more shortly and decide what they need to save and what they need to leave behind as far as their relationships with their spouses go.
The Three Gorges Dam project has seen much criticism in China as over one million citizens have had to relocate their homes and entire cities, especially Fengjie, with its 2,000 year history have been submerged. The themes and style of this film bring to mind the works of Pedro Costa (reviewed earlier on this blog with focus on Colossal Youth.) Both artists use minimalist plots with a slow stately pace to bring attention to a marginalized people who have been dispossessed of their homes and forced to relocate because of their inability to “get with the plan.” Almost all of the people shown in the film are people left behind by modernization and retain employment as demolition crewmen or coal miners. Women in the area are often sold to their husbands by their families as in the case of the main character, Han Sanming. Issues of legality in the town are blurred as gangsters work for the government project leaders and often use violence to enforce the new rules of demolition and relocation as shown by the murder of a young man Han meets. Jia shows some differences in style from Costa's more rigidly documentarian style by using simple computer graphics to mark the switch in focus between Han and Shen with a small UFO and the ruins of a building that blast off into space. He also portrays the influence of Chinese pop music through a young boy who sings pop songs throughout the film.
There is great beauty in Jia's portrayal of modern underclass Chinese life. His slow, deliberate pace creates a poetic and lyrical style and consists mostly of ruminations on daily life in an area that is decaying and will soon no longer exist. The use of high definition digital cameras give life and beauty to the rainy, ruined urban area with areas of natural beauty outside the city. There is also a tone of political dissent present, but not overt, which is preferable to being preached to. Like with the works of Pedro Costa, it is evident that Italian neorealism have influence on the works of Jia Zhangke and like all great films of that era, brings dignity to these people who may not have otherwise been given voices by a great work of art. With his mix of poetic lyricism, introspection and political criticism, Zhangke is one of the greatest filmmakers currently active.
Rating: 9/10
-Ryan Sallows
No comments:
Post a Comment