The once-prosperous state-owned factory in Chengdu, southwest China, it is converted into a sprawling luxury apartment complex. Three generations, eight characters: old workers, factory executives, and yuppies, their stories melt into the History of China.

A clever mix of interviewees and actors, 24 City is one of Jia Zhangke’s most innovative explorations of the tectonic shifts in China’s social upheavals, as the old makes way for the new. Moving musings on the inherent transience of modern life are paired with ghostly footage of a factory’s end.