17/17
Of course you have, if you're over thirty-five, that is
A Chinese woman lives for herself in silence, celebrating the prosperous Belle Epoque with songs and dance.. The female lead hasn't a single line of dialogue throughout the film. Have you ever bought an album by a band and found that, rather than new material, it's some old B-sides, remixes and a couple of new songs for added value? Jia Zhang-ke's "Caught by the Tides" is in many ways just that.
Over the years, and across the country, she follows him
But in doing so, it does make a statement about his career, and indeed the changing face of the world around him.Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) shares a romance with Guao Bin (Zhubin Li), but he moves on, with Qiao Qiao trailing in his wake. But on reaching her destination, maybe what she's been wanting isn't for her.But in reality, the plot is irrelevant, as much of this has already been written and filmed over the years; it has now just been repurposed. Outtakes from the likes of "Unknown Pleasures" (2002), "Still Life" (2006) and "Mountains May Depart" (2015), if I remember correctly. This allows to realistically show the two leads over time, and their unequal aging.
Jia is very tongue-in-cheek with his look at technology
Scenes are, therefore, different, but very familiar, in what serves as something of a retrospective for Jia's work, in a more direct and better-executed way than Takeshi Kitano attempted with "Takeshis'" (2005).The problem with creating a film in this way is that while it's perfectly serviceable as a narrative film, shoehorning in what you already have makes this feel a little awkward in terms of flow. It feels more a series of vignettes than a well-constructed work. Having seen many of the films the outtakes are from serves to remind you of the original scenario, and so doesn't quite feel like a single story, but various stories stuck together.But there are some nice coincidences that materialize and allow Jia& #39;s message to come across. Text messaging on an old Nokia becomes TikTok videos on the latest smart phone.
Though they might feel they are watching "Still Life" again
TikTok stardom serves more for cheap advertising than actual fame and fortune; and service robots can be easily confused with simple questioning. Technology has played an interesting role in shaping the nature of human relationships, especially over the past twenty years.Knowing Jia's work, you will instantly recognize what is going on here. But if coming to his work fresh, this may seem like a slightly strange film that doesn't quite tie together nicely enough. Some scenes don't seem to really fit; more added in as they were available.So, this may require some background work for the uninitiated, and is one more for long-term fans.
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