Still Life (34 points/3 votes)
“What kind of departure does Still Life mark for Jia Zhangke? Like his previous films, Still Life uses a schizophrenic political landscape to foreground his disillusioned, lost protagonists. In addition, Jia's deadpan visuals, lingering on medium shots, framing his characters in front of immense decay or economic growth, remain intact. Still Life, however, seems like a quantum leap, as its director's tendencies have finally found a subject and created characters which properly balance each other, while keeping his political obstinance intact.
“Still Life is also less abrasive than his previous features, which is assisted by his perpetually somber two leads, both searching for their past lovers in the soon-to-be-leveled outskirts of Fengjie. "The World", the previous film by Jia, used a hyper-loaded political metaphor, famous world monuments packed into a single theme park in Beijing, as his backdrop: in essence, the work was done. The fantastical, deep-focused wonders which serve as the backdrops in Still Life are suggestive and lyrical, serving both political and poetic purpose. It is this, more than anything, which allows the offbeat structure of the film to succeed.
“Even more remarkable are the sci-fi elements, UFOs linking the two lead characters, buildings taking off into space or crumbling to the ground, that serve as the needed link between the visual cruxes of the film: nonfiction material as grounding and fiction as expansively epic. In the end, the sci-fi moments bring the film to elevated heights, which rewards so wonderfully in the final shot. Truly, few films this decade have meant more to me than Still Life.” ~ Michael Lieberman
“What kind of departure does Still Life mark for Jia Zhangke? Like his previous films, Still Life uses a schizophrenic political landscape to foreground his disillusioned, lost protagonists. In addition, Jia's deadpan visuals, lingering on medium shots, framing his characters in front of immense decay or economic growth, remain intact. Still Life, however, seems like a quantum leap, as its director's tendencies have finally found a subject and created characters which properly balance each other, while keeping his political obstinance intact.
“Still Life is also less abrasive than his previous features, which is assisted by his perpetually somber two leads, both searching for their past lovers in the soon-to-be-leveled outskirts of Fengjie. "The World", the previous film by Jia, used a hyper-loaded political metaphor, famous world monuments packed into a single theme park in Beijing, as his backdrop: in essence, the work was done. The fantastical, deep-focused wonders which serve as the backdrops in Still Life are suggestive and lyrical, serving both political and poetic purpose. It is this, more than anything, which allows the offbeat structure of the film to succeed.
“Even more remarkable are the sci-fi elements, UFOs linking the two lead characters, buildings taking off into space or crumbling to the ground, that serve as the needed link between the visual cruxes of the film: nonfiction material as grounding and fiction as expansively epic. In the end, the sci-fi moments bring the film to elevated heights, which rewards so wonderfully in the final shot. Truly, few films this decade have meant more to me than Still Life.” ~ Michael Lieberman
3 comments:
Even more remarkable are the sci-fi elements, UFOs linking the two lead characters, buildings taking off into space or crumbling to the ground...
Wait, really? UFOs? Really? Part of me thinks you're funnin', just to see if anyone's reading.
UFOs? Really?
I've just been informed that you weren't kidding about the UFOs. I'm now feeling like everyone of these Best Picture posts about movies I skipped are going to be awesome, and I'm gonna be like, "well, shit."
To prove the UFO elements, Kza, feast your eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egN4aH3LPNs
Post a Comment