Platform (Zhangke, 2000): Garden Cinema, 8pm
The Garden Cinema presents the UK’s first-ever comprehensive retrospective dedicated to one of the best and most important auteurs in the world – Jia Zhangke. This film also screens on March 15th.
Chicago Reader review:
Jia Zhang-ke’s second feature (2002) is his best work to date and one of
the greatest of all Chinese films. Its subject is the great theme of
Chinese cinema, the discovery of history, which links such otherwise
disparate masterpieces as The Blue Kite, Blush, Actress, The Puppet Master, and A Brighter Summer Day.
The story charts the course of the Cultural Revolution’s aftermath for
about a decade, noting shifts in values and lifestyles, culture and
economy, as China moves inexorably from Maoism to capitalism, as
witnessed by five actors in a provincial traveling theater troupe. Many
episodes unfold in single long takes, with offscreen sound playing an
important role, and the beautifully choreographed mise en scene recalls
the fluid Hungarian pageants of Miklos Jancso in the 60s and 70s.
Originally 192 minutes long, the film was recut by Jia to its current
155 minutes and improved in the process.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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