47/39
Of course, if you’re over thirty-five, of course
Tale
A Chinese woman lives for herself in silence, celebrating the prosperous Belle Époque with song and dance. Have you ever bought an album by a band and discovered that, rather than new material, it was old B-sides, remixes and a few new songs thrown in for added value? Jia Zhang-ke’s “Caught by the Tides” is in many ways just that. But in doing so, it makes a statement about her career, and indeed about the changing face of the world around her. Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) shares a love affair with Guao Bin (Zhubin Li), but he moves on, with Qiao Qiao in tow.
As the years pass, and across the country, she follows him
But as she reaches her destination, perhaps what she wanted is not for her. But really, the plot doesn’t matter, because a lot of it has already been written and filmed over the years; it’s just been reused. Outtakes from films like “Unknown Pleasures” (2002), “Still Life” (2006) and “Mountains May Depart” (2015), if I recall correctly. It allows for a realistic showing of the two protagonists over time and their uneven aging. So the scenes are different, but very familiar, in what serves as a sort of retrospective of Jia’s work, in a more direct and better executed way than Takeshi Kitano attempted with “Takeshis” (2005).
Jia is very ironic in his take on technology
The problem with making a film this way is that while it’s perfectly serviceable as a narrative film, throwing in what you already have makes it a bit clumsy in terms of flow. It feels more like a series of vignettes than a well-constructed piece of work. Having seen many films, the incomplete shots serve to remind you of the original storyline, and so don’t really give the impression of a single story, but of several stories stuck together. But there are some nice coincidences that materialize and allow Jia’s message to come across. Text messages on an old Nokia become TikTok videos on the latest smartphone.
Knowing Jia’s work, you’ll instantly recognize what’s going on here
TikTok fame is more about cheap publicity than real fame and fortune; and service robots can easily be mistaken for simple questioning. Technology has played an interesting role in defining the nature of human relationships, especially over the last twenty years. But if you approach his work with a fresh eye, it can seem like a bit of an odd film that doesn’t quite come together. Some scenes don’t quite seem to fit together; others were added as they became available. So it may require some legwork for the uninitiated, and it’s a plus for longtime fans.
Politic1983homeblog
Even if it feels like they’re rewatching “Still Life,” has life changed in the last eighteen years?
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