Platform

You’re on your own with this one. Some reviews of The World (see 3-13-06) suggested this was a better film by Jia Zhangke, so I dutifully sat through it. The long-shot, long-take aesthetic is common in Asian cinema, and can sometimes be thrilling -- in Ozu, for example -- but films like this have me calling “Cut!” or “Close-up, please!” And this is the “streamlined” version, 158 instead of 193 minutes. The lack of a cultural (or even geographical) frame of reference makes such films a mixture of interest and frustration. This is obviously an autobiographical film about the changes in China in the 80s, from the perspective of a provincial performing troupe that goes from pageants celebrating Mao to head-banging, booty-shaking pop music. There are two desultory romantic involvements, but indicative of my troubles in watching this film, I mistook the couple in the final scene, and there was a baby whose parentage I got completely wrong (or most reviewers did.) (2001, dvd, n.) *NR*