更新时间:2009-04-11
GEORGE • 二十四城记:每周影评：二十四城记
When traditions give way to modernization and the planned economy is gradually replaced by market mechanisms all of us in China have little choice but to press on and get accustomed to huge, sudden changes. Fortunately, as the fast transformation of society in China blurs the collective memory of its people, we have '24 City' to return us to our past.
'24 City' is the latest film by Jia Zhangke, the famous Chinese moviemaker who has gained an international reputation through his documentary-styled motion pictures. The movie '24 City' also embraces the narrative style and consists of five authentic interviews and four fictional scenes.
In 1958, Dali came all the way from Shenyang to the 420 Factory in Chengdu.
On the journey, she lost her son forever.
Hou Lijun had been working with the factory for thirty years but still couldn't escape the massive lay-offs in the early 1990s.
He Xikun entered the factory as an apprentice and learned the skills from his master. The relationship between the two has developed into a kind of kinship, a closeness that is probably extinct in most factories today.
However, the state-owned factory preserving memories for generations of people living and working here has now become a luxury apartment complex known as '24 City'.
'24 City' can hardly be called a drama but it does provide a cluster of engrossing stories, all simplified and purified by natural acting and narration. The movie tells the stories of some common urban residents in a Chengdu-based factory over the last five decades. At the same time, such stories meld together to offer a glimpse into the 50 years of urban Chinese history, which is not that easy to portray in a two hour long movie.
Undoubtedly movies can serve as good time capsules as well as memory preservers. Moviegoers may not necessarily believe the stories because sometimes, or as a matter of fact usually, they are fictional but we should try to locate ourselves in a particular historical context and get to know what people at that time thought and cared about. '24 City' is a movie that is worth appreciating through historical lens while paying respect to a bygone era.
Director Jia Zhangke says that when a society hurries on with its journey, its people should never ignore those being knocked over in the rush.
On a scale from 1 to ten, I'll give 24 City an 8.
'24 City' is the latest film by Jia Zhangke, the famous Chinese moviemaker who has gained an international reputation through his documentary-styled motion pictures. The movie '24 City' also embraces the narrative style and consists of five authentic interviews and four fictional scenes.
In 1958, Dali came all the way from Shenyang to the 420 Factory in Chengdu.
On the journey, she lost her son forever.
Hou Lijun had been working with the factory for thirty years but still couldn't escape the massive lay-offs in the early 1990s.
He Xikun entered the factory as an apprentice and learned the skills from his master. The relationship between the two has developed into a kind of kinship, a closeness that is probably extinct in most factories today.
However, the state-owned factory preserving memories for generations of people living and working here has now become a luxury apartment complex known as '24 City'.
'24 City' can hardly be called a drama but it does provide a cluster of engrossing stories, all simplified and purified by natural acting and narration. The movie tells the stories of some common urban residents in a Chengdu-based factory over the last five decades. At the same time, such stories meld together to offer a glimpse into the 50 years of urban Chinese history, which is not that easy to portray in a two hour long movie.
Undoubtedly movies can serve as good time capsules as well as memory preservers. Moviegoers may not necessarily believe the stories because sometimes, or as a matter of fact usually, they are fictional but we should try to locate ourselves in a particular historical context and get to know what people at that time thought and cared about. '24 City' is a movie that is worth appreciating through historical lens while paying respect to a bygone era.
Director Jia Zhangke says that when a society hurries on with its journey, its people should never ignore those being knocked over in the rush.
On a scale from 1 to ten, I'll give 24 City an 8.
