By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jia Zhang-ke
Starring: Maotao Hu | Tao Zhao | You Zhou | Zhou Lan | Zhubin Li
Original language title: Feng liu yi dai
Year: 2025
Running time: 111
Michael says: “Zhangke Jia’s twelfth, full-length feature narrative, CAUGHT IN THE TIDES, is a challenging yet fascinating construction of his own past and present work to tell the tale of a woman searching for her beloved over decades. The film takes place in 2002, 2006, and 2022. Using his long-time muse, actress Tao Zhao, who has been in nearly all of the director’s films, and actor Zhubin Li, to create footage from two of his past films (UNKNOWN PLEASURE – 2002 and STILL LIFE – 2006), along with newly shot work for the part of the film set in 2022. It was an incredibly inventive use of unused footage from his earlier films, and despite the challenging first act, where the scant narrative was a bit disorienting, evolved into a powerful narrative about one woman’s long journey. The film also serves as a fascinating look at various regions of China over time, and a peek into how society has evolved in just 20 years.
Looking at this film, along with APRIL, two of my favorite films at the IFFBoston, it is becoming increasingly clear that I prefer challenging films that don’t really follow a straightforward narrative. In both cases, I wasn’t sure I was enjoying the films for some time, but when things came together for me, I found both films to be exhilarating. Zhangke had big success with his 2016 film, MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART, with four nominations, including Best Movie, Best Director, Best Actress (for Zhao) and Best Editing (for which is won the award for Matthieu Laclau. His last film, ASH IS PUREST WHITE earned a nod for Zhao in the Best Actress category as well. She’s terrific here, both in her past roles and in present day, where she exhibits some earned wisdom and a bit more humor. She is basically silent for nearly the entire film, so carries a lot of it in her face. 4.5 cats
“Screened at the Independent Film Festival Boston, Brattle Theatre.”
Chris says: “Jia Zhangke (MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART) will never run out of ways to explore rapid change in 21st Century China or roles for his muse Zhao Tao to excel in, thank god. His latest partially distinguishes itself from previous efforts by literally going back to them, incorporating scenes and outtakes from UNKNOWN PLEASURES (2002) and STILL LIFE (2006) along with newly-shot footage to track how much China and, in particular, the Northern city of Datong has reconstructed itself between then and now in part due to the Three Gorges Dam project that the 2006 film centered on.
“Using the same actors (Tao and Zhublin Li) and reediting the earlier footage (with help of some intertitles that refashion the earlier stories to relate to the current one), CAUGHT BY THE TIDES is stitched together in a way that often brings attention to its manipulation of time and space for those familiar with the earlier work, although those new to the director’s oeuvre may not even pick up on this. It’s an approach that risks confusion, but that actually might have been Zhangke’s intention. After all, time rarely travels in a straight line; the immersive, collage-like soundtrack which spans copious genres and traditions (East and West) amplifies this sense of impermanence and might be the director’s most ambitious and striking use of music to date. I now want to go back to revisit his strange, rich filmography to see how he arrived here and ponder where he might go next in detailing this world forever in flux. 4.5 cats
“(IFF Boston 2025 film #4: opens at the Brattle on May 30.)”
Brett responds: “Both reviews are right on target. Chris’s illumination of the risk involved with this film being one’s first exposure to Jia Zhangke is very accurate.”