24 cities (2008)

24 cities: Directed by Jia, Zhangke. With Jianbin Chen, Joan Chen, Liping Lü, Tao Zhao. When a factory is being torn down in Chengdu, China, workers reflect on their experiences and the importance of the factory in their lives.

“As a factory is torn down to make way for a snazzy modern apartment complex, a group of people connected with the factory share their thoughts on how it affected their lives. The film is wonderful aesthetically, with gorgeous compositions, lovely use of music, and a poetic air to it, assisted by actual snippets of poetry in the inter titles. Something of a companion piece to STILL LIFE, Jia explores the consequences of urban renewal, and how our city landscapes shape who we are. Most intriguingly, he obliterates the line between documentary and drama, to the point where it almost seems useless to distinguish between them. Like Herzog, heu0026#39;s shooting for an u0026quot;ecstatic truth,u0026quot; one that reflects reality without necessarily sticking to it. For the most part, itu0026#39;s an effective and engaging technique. The most glaring exception is Joan Chen, whose is of course recognizable but also comes off a bit too u0026quot;actor-yu0026quot; and her performance feels out of place. And thereu0026#39;s the added distraction of her playing a person who resembles Joan Chen. Itu0026#39;s just too nudge-nudge wink-wink meta. It didnu0026#39;t work in OCEANu0026#39;S TWELVE and it doesnu0026#39;t work here. I found Tao Zhaou0026#39;s performance a little phony as well. But itu0026#39;s certainly an interesting piece of work, covering the breadth of humanity with just a handful of monologues, in stories both universal and specific, and often heartbreaking.”