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24 City (2008)

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Synopsis

The latest from China’s greatest contemporary chronicler delves into three decades of his country’s past and is set in the 1950s, ’70s and the present as three women escape collectivisation in search of their ‘individual’ destinies.

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Slyly mixing elements of drama with documentary in a similar fashion to his previous Still Life, Jia applies a poetic, humanistic approach to grand historical change in this study of the genesis of a development of luxury flats in the Sichuan city of Chengdu (which was damaged by an earthquake in May 2008, soon after the film’s completion). What makes these particular symbols of China’s new wealth so compelling for Jia is that the flats are being built on the site of Factory 420, a state aeronautical factory founded in Chengdu in 1958 having been moved by rail, river and road from Shenyang in the north-west of the country, bringing with it some of its original workers.

The crisp and intricately composed HD images are richly suggestive of generational change, whether they’re strictly representative or staged – a conclusion that it’s often impossible to make. Five real interviewees sit alongside four actors (Lu, Joan Chen, Zhao, Chen Jianbin) who play former factory workers or models of the ‘new’ China – a device that may jar the more you recognise the players. Of course since May’s earthquake, 24 City has added significance: a reminder that the speed of economic and technological progression means little in the face of natural disaster.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2008-10-01 18:19:31

Time Out Film Guide