Thank you, Quasimoto. I’ve only seen Still Life, but after this I’ll be seeking out Xiao Wu toot suit (for starters).
Since I’ve only seen one of these films (which I liked very much—Still Life is just as much a cultural document as Tie Xi Qu, though much differently executed), let me ask you a question:
Do you agree with Berry that Jia has reinvented cinematic realism? I’m not sure I saw anything decidedly new there, and for realism I would of course defer to Wang, since we’re talking about China.
I think that Berry refers to postsocialist realism as a truthfulness which opposes both the fake reality of socialist media reports (also featured in the film and presenting a false image of both Xiao Wu and his friend Xiaoyong) and the utopian social realist cinema of the early reform era (1970s-1980s). “Pickpocket” certainly doesn’t reinvent cinematic realism, even in a national context one would rather have to refer to Wu Wenguang’s “Bumming in Beijing” (1990) and various other works that preceded “Pickpocket”. The idea to “get real” and no longer continue the trend of idealistic socialist narrative basically emerged in 1989 after the Tiananmeng massacre and the decline of the Soviet Union when faith in socialist utopia got finally lost (or as Berry puts it “the ruins of a failed socialist utopia” emerged), but some of their roots can be traced back to Fifth Generation films that worked with nonprofessional actors and used authentic settings, though generally highlighting rural landscapes instead of the urban settings which mark the films of Jia’s generation.
Okay, that I can get behind, at least as it pertains to Still Life, but I’d need to see the other films to continue the discussion.
A subtitled version of “Bumming in Beijing” which basically started postsocialist realism can be watched on this site. One has to sign up first, but it’s entirely gratis.
I appreciate that, and I’ll find that film by other means, but I’m not giving that site all my info. They’re asking for way too much.
Are you sure? It’s the only subtitled version I managed to find so far. I gave them fake information myself, it doesn’t really matter since they will let you join either way. ;)
I’m currently acquiring another film, but when that’s done if I can’t find this one by those means I’ll try that site. Just makes me wary when sites ask for that much.
I just looked it up again, and it seems that today a link to a subtitled download version has been posted on SM which means you actually won’t need to sign up on that site. That’s a nice coincidence.
I just found the same link ;) Great minds. In any case, thank you very much for the recommendation—I’ll be checking that out in the next few days.
Wu Yong
From Michael Berry’s Xiao Wu, Platform, Unknown Pleasures - Jia Zhangke’s ‘Hometown Trilogy’ on the opening of Jia Zhangke’s Xiao Wu:
" Xiao Wu begins with one of the most brilliant opening sequences in contemporary cinema. With sparse dialogue, Jia uses a series of shots that quickly bring us into the protagonist’s world, boldly sketching out his character and profession. In the first shot we see a factory smokestack in the distance surrounded by fields which, as Xiaoping Lin argues, ‘link[s] the youthful protagonist with China’s socialist past’ and serves as a distant reminder of the industrial-agricultural past from which Xiao Wu (and China) are emerging. In the forgeound is an extreme close-up of Xia Wu’s hands striking a match as he waits for a bus. As Jia has commented, ‘I decided to open with a shot of his hands because he is a pickpocket, a thief, and his hands are the tools of his trade.’ In the following shot, we see Xiao Wu’s hands from a reverse angle, as he lights up a cigarette.
‘The package of matches in his hands actually has “Shanxi” written on it. I decided to add this prop in order to provide a spatial reference point to the viewers, which is very important…’
The protagonist extends his arms, displaying the conspicuously oversized jacket sleeves, which have been cuffed over, and in the background is the highway, the road linking the rural within the urban, and the path to Xiao Wu’s future.
Xiao Wu quickly hops on to a small private mini-bus heading for downtown Fenyang. As he climbs aboard we are offered another close-up of Xiao Wu’s arm, this time exposing a tattoo with the characters younan tongdang, or ‘in times of difficulty share the burden’, a further exposition of the character’s shady roots. As the protagonist comes into full view it also becomes apparent that this is not the tall handsome leading man we are accustomed to encountering in the cinema. Xiao Wu’s features and dress transmit not charisma but the unassuming average-ness perfect for a pickpocket that needs to disappear into a crowd. At the same time, Xiao Wu’s aura of mild-homeliness, damaged self-esteem and repressed emotion also serves as a direct challenge to the Hollywood-style leading man formulas. Once aboard he refuses to buy a ticket, claiming to be a policeman, and finds a seat beside a middle-aged man in a Mao jacket. Within seconds Xiao Wu’s probing left hand extends from beneath his folded arms, finding its way into the man’s pocket to lift his wallet. The theft, the first of the film (or second, if you count the bus ticket), is carried out under the gaze of the great leader, Chairman Mao Zedong, who appears laminated and hanging from the bus’s rear-view mirror – a nostalgic amulet of the past ironically watching over the ruins of a failed socialist utopia."
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Jia Zhangke’s cinema is about the past ‘gazing’ onto the present and determining the future. Jia links the everyday lives of meaningless, faceless individuals and the political tide of the day. The Government’s decision to create the world’s largest hydroelectric dam displaces well over a million people, the Government’s movement away from Socialism leads to the complete transformation of China’s rural and urban landscape. The government moves too fast for its people and Jia’s cinema is dedicated to the ‘left behind’ (and this is where his cinema gets absolutely universal). It might as well be an alien invasion because that’s how much of a chance we have to understand, or even do anything about it.
The past, present, and future are bleak in Jia’s work, but hope remains in the people. The chance of making something of your life, even if you fail (Platform, Unknown Pleasures ), the chance of making a genuine connection with someone (Still Life, The World, Xiao Wu, Unknown Pleasures, Platform ), the chance to change the future for the better, even as your efforts are doomed (24 City, Useless, Dong ) is enough to sustain us, all of us, even in the most overwhelming odds.