By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Zhang Ke Jia
Starring: Haiyu Xiang | Hong Wei Wong | Lin Zhou | Sanming Han | Tao Zhao | Zhubin Li
Original language title: Sanxia Haoren
Country: china, hong_kong
Year: 2008
Running time: 111
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0859765/
Bruce says: “Anyone who has seen THE WORLD will likely expect great things from Jia Zhang-ke, one of China’s ascending directorial stars. While THE WORLD was not a totally satisfying film it did portend great things to come. Happily, the wait has not been a long one. STILL LIFE, winner of the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film festival, is a dazzling effort.
“Several films are beginning to use the traumatic effect of the Three Gorges Dam on the Chinese people as a central theme or as a subtext within a larger story. For example GETTING HOME and SOUL CARRIAGE (each of which coincidentally involves transporting a corpse) peripherally use Three Gorges as a foreboding backdrop. The Three Gorges Dam will ultimately force almost two million people from their homes. Historical landmarks and ruins will disappear. Much will be lost. The counter argument is that much will be gained.
” As STILL LIFE begins, a passenger boat travels down the Yangtze. The people are jammed in like cattle. The worn faces and bad teeth are telltale signs of the hard life of the peasant class. The boat docks in Fengjie. Han Samming plays a miner from up north is looking for his wife who disappeared a number of years ago. He has a daughter he has never seen. When he gets to the address in Fengjie where he thinks they live, what is left of the street is only a tiny island. While he continues his search, he takes a job with a demolition team that is dismantling scores of cheaply constructed buildings. Unlike Samming, Zhao Tao (Shen Hong) is a nurse who has comfortably settled into the new middle class. With her new status come new problems. Her
husband left for Fengjie two years ago and has not returned. She has arrived in Fengjie to find him. She fares better than Samming because she is female and because of her socio-economic status. Her husband, unlike Samming, is in construction. She meets her husband’s old boss who has not seen her husband in over a year. He has designs on her and strives to impress her by lighting up a newly built bridge over the river. This nighttime scene is pure magic and it alone makes the film worth seeing (not that one would need such an excuse.)
“China is at a crossroads and the Three Gorges Dam is an apt metaphor for a larger change from communism to a modified capitalism. Confusion abounds as China strives to find a new identity and ponders what to do with the old. The area surrounding Fengjie houses spectacular beauty. The vast destruction and seemingly endless construction are uniquely juxtaposed. Director Jia rightfully allows the camera to tell much of the story. The characters and plot are merely an added attraction. 4.5 cats”