Jia Zhangke and Fengjie’s Ghost
Jia’s film “Still Life” drowns in a particular type of hopelessness against which its characters struggle, one perhaps unique to Fengjie
Tag: Film Column
New Nowhere: Jia Zhangke’s Fenyang
In the auteur’s early works, his hometown is both a city and a metonym for provincial city walls
Not Just A Guy From Fenyang: Walter Salles’ Portrait of Master Filmmaker Jia Zhangke
The shifting urban topography and upheaval that has always dominated Jia’s work is revisited by Jia himself in this biographical documentary
‘Absurd Accident’ is a Violent Comedy About Dumb People That Would Make the Coen Brothers Proud
Li Yuhe’s “Absurd Accident” is a well-executed exercise in what comic writers have known since Shakespeare: an audience loves knowing more than the characters.
Zhang Yang Takes a 1200 km Stroll Through Tibet in the ‘Road’ Movie That Isn’t
Zhang Yang’s 2015 work, Paths to The Soul, follows a group of Tibetan villagers on a 1200 km (or about 750 miles) pilgrimage to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. It’s probably not a documentary, though it damn well looks like one.
‘Fly With the Crane’: Li Ruijin’s Colorful Meditation on Death
Lao Ma, unlike you, spends most of his time waiting to die.
China’s American Beauty: Zhou Xiaowen’s Tragicomic ‘Ermo’
Ermo, Zhou Xiaowen’s 1994 movie, hits all the notes of 1990s China: accelerating collisions between the new and the old, the market’s destructive effects on the “traditional” family structure – especially the division of labor by gender – and runaway consumerism in a globalizing world.
The Forgotten (and Fiery) History of Mulan
Disney’s “Mulan” versus Bu Wancang’s 1939 “Mulan Joins the Army.” One of them resulted in a fiery riot.
