Still Life : China in Transition, Images in Motion

Jia Zhang-Ke's Still Life made me proud to be cinephile. I see a lot of movies and often times folks ask me for recommendations. This always makes me nervous, as movies are expensive and most folks don't see a lot of movies, so when they do, they want it to be good. Thankfully, good is somewhat of an understatement when describing Still Life, as a pal put it, the film is "98% a masterpiece."

The film came about when Chinese director Jia, came into contact with the town of Fengjie and the Three Gorges hydro project. The project has caused that part of China to undergo serious change and the visual landscape of the land is one of a slow destruction and a slow climb to modernization.

An almost invisible mix of documentary and fiction, Still Life focuses on two main characters, Sanming and Shen Hong, as they return to Fengjie to find their missing spouses and upon arrival find a town in transition. Sanming spends his time waiting for the boat his wife work's on to arrive by getting a job in demolition. Shen Hong searches for her husband with one of his friends and visits various establishments.

What makes the picture amazing are the small moments, the moments in which you need no words or explanation to understand that the country is changing, that Communism is giving way to Capitalism and that the environment is at risk. Images tell the story here - it's men in white suits and gas masks spraying the crumbling buildings that the poorest in the community are tearing down with no masks to protect them, it's two workers sharing dinner and their individual cell phone rings, it's bottled water, it's handing out cigarettes, toffee and noodles and mostly it's the ever changing landscape.

As Jia himself puts it

"Still Life represents a reality that has been overlooked by us. Although time has left deep marks on it, it still remains silent and holds the secrets of life. I entered this condemned city with my camera and I witnessed demolitions and explosions. In the roaring noise and fluttering dust, I gradually felt that life could really blossom in a brilliant colors even in a place with such desperation."

What's unfortunate about the film, is that despite the fact that it was seen across the globe in 2006, it's just getting a US release now, in 2008. And upon going to the distributor's website, http://www.newyorkerfilms.com, I was unable to find out if it will be playing anywhere else besides New York City in the future. You can however save it in your Netflix queue.

Considering that the film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, I find this very disheartening. I constantly worry that in the future there will be little to no foreign films in theaters.

What can you do? All I can think is to e-mail info@newyorkerfilms.com and call your local independent movie theater and request that the film be played in your area.

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