it's a brilliant film, outstanding even among the usually outstanding crowd of chinese indies.
it's one of the films that probably will remain small for years to come, but will continuously be discovered by film buffs and aspiring directors, a film that will serve as a frame of reference, a standard - like tokyo story, band of outsiders.
it's a story about alienation, of some characters who are vital, beautiful, strong, but also disoriented, small, and brittle. the world they live in is completely exotic to everyone - to the chinese, to the foreigners, to the old, and to the young. on the surface, they cope it with amazing wit, grace, courage, and honesty - it's impossible not to smile at the many delightful details, i.e. tao doing backbents on the lap of her boyfriend to relieve her backache, among many other innocent yet incredibly seductive scenes - but it all begs the question "what for." the scene of the young man setting himself aflame in the troupe's dressing room should be shamelessly plagiarized over and over again - all the beauty around you, it's just fuel for hell, it's just a trap.
jia is a masterful, inventive filmmaker who just can't be over-rated. the audio and visual kinetics of the film was amazing, with layers of sounds lending poignancy and contradiction to the story, and one classic frame after another. certain scenes feel like contemporary chinese art in action, i.e. the one of tourists posing in front of the leaning tower with nightmarish grins, or the bride pouring a bottle of liquor backwards into the groom's mouth. and where else can you hear a line like "let's drink a toast to all the chinese beauties in history, and marilyn monroe, and madonna?"
it's a slow film but every minute adds depth and texture. approach it on a calm night when you have some attention span. i've heard people complaining "but there isn't a plot." there is, you just need to pay attention, the cues are planted all over. this isn't one of these shitty films that beat you up with a plot and characterization. acting is superb, too. basically you'll forget that they are actually acting. they just are. the treat though is that this is a story about dancers, so their bodies and faces always speak volumes.
this isn't a film done for the western audience, or the chinese audience. jia isn't there to entertain you, you need to approach him. i wondered about the state of chinese indie films after watching it. these young filmmakers really have to get out of the way to make films, with politics and financing and all that. you must be really dying to say something if you're making films in china. you can't be thinking about money or fame (that's if you're not these dried-up old masters cashing on their fame doing absolute trash). that's what makes chinese indies so absolutely knock-outs. this phase won't last forever, and we just have to be thankful that these insanely fresh, inventive, vital, important films are being made.
And the last movie, Still Life is wonderful as well.
Posted by: shadow | June 04, 2007 at 08:52 AM