17/22
Of course you have, if you’re over thirty-five
Scenario
A Chinese woman lives for herself in silence, celebrating the successful Belle Epoque with song and dance. The female lead has no dialogue throughout the entire film. Have you ever bought a band’s album and discovered that instead of new material, it’s some old B-sides, remixes, and a few new songs for added value? Jia Zhang-ke’s ‘Caught by the Tides’ is in many ways just that. But it makes a statement about his career, and indeed about the changing face of the world around him.
Over the years, and across the country, she follows him
Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) shares a romance with Guao Bin (Zhubin Li), but moves on, with Qiao Qiao trailing behind him. But when she arrives at her destination, perhaps what she wanted isn’t for her. But in reality, the plot is irrelevant, since much of it has already been written and filmed over the years; it’s just repurposed now. Clips like "Unknown Pleasures" (2002), "Still Life" (2006) and "Mountains May Depart" (2015), if I recall correctly. This allows for a realistic depiction of two drains over time and their uneven aging.
Text messages on an old Nokia become TikTok videos on the latest smartphone
The scenes are, therefore, different but very familiar, in what serves as a retrospective of Jia’s work, in a more direct and better executed way than Takeshi Kitano attempted with "Takeshis'" (2005). The problem with making a film this way is that, while it’s perfectly serviceable as a narrative film, inserting it into what you already have makes it feel a bit odd in terms of flow. It feels more like a series of vignettes than a well-constructed piece of work. After watching many films, the passages serve to remind you of the original script, so it doesn’t feel like one story, but rather different stories strung together. But there are some nice coincidences that materialize and allow Jia’s message to come across.
Jia is very stingy with his view of technology
TikTok stardom is more for cheap advertising than for real fame and fortune; and service robots can be easily confused by simple questioning. Technology has played an interesting role in shaping the nature of human relationships, especially over the past twenty years. If you know Jia’s work, you’ll immediately recognize what’s going on here. But if you’re new to his work, this might seem like a slightly odd film that’s not quite connected. Some scenes don’t seem to fit together; more were added as they were available.
Has life moved on in the past eighteen years?Politic1983homeblog
So this might require a bit of background work for the uninitiated, and even more so for longtime fans. Although it might feel like you’re watching “Still Life” all over again.
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