It took Jia 3 weeks to make this feature debut during his last year as a student in the Beijing Film Academy. What’s amazing is that it could be the opus of most other directors’ careers, and compared to Jia’s other films it more than holds its own. The basic elements of the story is similar to the Bresson film, except it’s infused with such a heavy degree of the local culture in a specific time and place through Jia’s eclectic mix of soundtrack and effortless digressions into documentary mode. There’s a lot of hand-held camera work in contrast to the rest of his filmography, and the effect is so spontaneous that I don’t know why he doesn’t use it anymore.