book one redone - Coldbacon

pensions. And this realism will not stand down, but neither does it draw
too much attention to itself. One could argue that Jia is a little heavyhanded
in his attempt to include cultural gravitas, particularly the
announcement of the Olympics to be held in Beijing (the factory
explosion in The World). Excuse me, but Tarkovsky does the exact same
thing in Mirror with the Spanish Civil War, the Chinese-Russian border
dispute and the balloon ride to the stratosphere. The fact that we don’t
complain about it in Mirror may simply reflect a more skillful integration
of said exogenous gravitas into the body of the main narrative. Of course,
this would be nitpicking. And anyone who can even be discussed in the
same review as Tarkovsky should be flagged in your inbox.
Jia also exploits repetition very nicely. “Are you having fun?” [slap] “Are
you having fun?” [slap] And so on. I’m having fun. The repeated pushing
of lead female down by her agent/boyfriend in the bus also tests us but
ultimately is meaningful and rewarding.
The part where Bowl Hair stubbornly refuses to walk his motorcycle up
ten feet of rubble, instead determined to motor it, is a bit much. But that’s
okay. The part where the two talk over the table as the camera jerk
swivels side to side to the conversation must be a nod to the familiar
Godard technique (Alphaville, Contempt). But could somebody please tell
Elvis Mitchell the difference between clever tribute and actual
appropriation of style.
The final scene is a knowing (or unknowing) reference to the prologue in
Tarkovsky’s Mirror. We have a young boy under the complete control of
an older authority figure. Here, it is the cop. In Mirror, it’s the lady who is
going to cure the boy of his stutter. “Boysha. Boysha. Periodt!” Then
there is the exquisite tension while we wait to see what happens, if he
sings, or what will happen if he does not.
Jia Zhangke is poised and ready to become (one of) the most important
film director(s) of his decade. Never mind the comparisons. No sixth
(seventh?) generation. No nouvelle vague North China. Just Jia. I would
give anything to know what Tadao Ando thinks of this film.
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