From the International Herald Tribune:
Turned down by Cannes, “Still Life” had entered Venice on tiptoe, billed as the surprise film. Reviewers were mostly dismissive. “Almost zero plot but molto mood,” Variety reported. “It will appeal to the most faithful of the director’s camp followers and no one else.”
Indeed Jia, 36, is known mostly through festivals where his zero plot but powerful portraits of contemporary China have commanded attention. “Xiao Wu,” or Pickpocket (1997), was about rootless youths; “Zhantai,” or Platform (2000), chronicled a roving theater troupe that falls under the spell of Western music.
Only his last film, “Shijie,” or The World (2004), shot on the edges of Beijing’s Amusement Park, has been released in China. “In ‘The World,’ I showed how China has changed economically and socially; in ‘Still Life’ I wanted to show the country’s inner change,” he said in an interview at the Toronto festival where he came to show “Still Life” and “Dong” (East), an accompanying documentary. [Full text]
