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Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
A changing China, captured in 25 years of outtakes, emerges in the poetic ‘Caught by the Tides'
Dispatches from northern China, Jia Zhangke's movies constitute their own cinematic universe. Repeatedly returning to themes of globalization and alienation, the 55-year-old director has meticulously chronicled his country's uneasy plunge into the 21st century as rampant industrialization risks deadening those left behind. But his latest drama, 'Caught by the Tides,' which opens at the Frida Cinema today, presents a bold, reflexive remix of his preoccupations. Drawing from nearly 25 years of footage, including images from his most acclaimed films, Jiahas crafted a poignant new story with an assist from fragments of old tales. He has always been interested in how the weight of time bears down on his characters — now his actors age in front of our eyes. When 'Caught by the Tides' premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival, critics leaned on a handy, if somewhat inaccurate, comparison to describe Jia's achievement: 'Boyhood,' which followed a young actor over the course of 12 years, a new segment of the picture shot annually. But Richard Linklater preplanned his magnum opus. Jia, on the other hand, approached his film more accidentally, using the pandemic lockdown as an excuse to revisit his own archives. 'It struck me that the footage had no linear, cause-and-effect pattern,' Jia explained in a director's statement. 'Instead, there was a more complex relationship, not unlike something from quantum physics, in which the direction of life is influenced and ultimately determined by variable factors that are hard to pinpoint.' The result is a story in three chapters, each one subtly building emotionally from the last. In the first, it is 2001, as Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao) lives in Datong, where she dates Bin (Li Zhubin). Early on, Qiaoqiao gleefully sings with friends, but it will be the last time we hear her voice. It's a testament to Zhao's arresting performance that many viewers may not notice her silence. She's so present even without speaking, her alert eyes taking in everything, her understated reactions expressing plenty. Young and with her whole life ahead of her, Qiaoqiao longs to be a singer, but her future is short-circuited by Bin's text announcing that he's leaving to seek better financial opportunities elsewhere. He promises to send word once he's established himself, but we suspect she may never see this restless, callous schemer again. Not long after, Bin ghosts Qiaoqiao, prompting her to journey after him. 'Caught by the Tides' richly rewards viewers familiar with Jia's filmography with scenes and outtakes from his earlier movies. Zhao, who in real life married Jia more than a decade ago, has been a highlight of his movies starting with his 2000 breakthrough 'Platform,' and so when we see Qiaoqiao at the start of 'Caught by the Tides,' we're actually watching footage shot around that time. (Jia's 2002 drama 'Unknown Pleasures' starred Zhao as a budding singer named Qiaoqiao. Li also appeared in 'Unknown Pleasures,' as well as subsequent Jia pictures.) But the uninitiated shouldn't feel intimidated to begin their Jia immersion here. Those new to his work will easily discern the film's older footage, some of it captured on grainy DV cameras, while newer material boasts the elegant, widescreen compositions that have become his specialty. 'Caught by the Tides' serves as a handy primer on Jia's fascination with China's political, cultural and economic evolution, amplifying those dependable themes with the benefit of working across a larger canvas of a quarter century. Still, by the time Qiaoqiao traverses the Yangtze River nearby the Three Gorges Dam — a controversial construction project that imperiled local small towns and provided the backdrop for Jia's 2006 film 'Still Life' — the director's fans may feel a bittersweet sense of déjà vu. We have been here before, reminded of his earlier characters who similarly struggled to find love and purpose. The film's second chapter, which takes place during 2006, highlights Qiaoqiao's romantic despair and, separately, Bin's growing desperation to make a name for himself. (This isn't the first Jia drama in which characters dabble in criminal activity.) By the time we arrive at the finale, set during the age of COVID anxiety, their inevitable reunion results in a moving resolution, one that suggests the ebb and flow of desire but, also, the passage of time's inexorable erosion of individuals and nations. Indeed, it's not just Zhao and Li who look different by the end of 'Caught by the Tides' but Shanxi Province itself — now a place of modern supermarkets, sculpted walkways and robots. Unchecked technological advancement is no longer a distant threat to China but a clear and present danger, dispassionately gobbling up communities, jobs and Qiaoqiao's and Bin's dreams. When these two former lovers see each other again, a lifetime having passed on screen, they don't need words. In this beautiful summation work, Jia has said it all.
Asia Times
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Asia Times
New Jia Zhangke film: 20 years of footage to capture a changing China
Chinese independent director Jia Zhangke's new film Caught by the Tides provides a unique vision of China's rapid social transformation in the 21st century. Using a combination of documentary footage and scenes shot by Jia over the past 20 years during the making of his earlier films, Caught by the Tides follows Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao) and her boyfriend, small-time hustler Bin (Li Zhubin). Bin leaves their small town to make his fortune working on the Three Gorges Dam and Qiaoqiao goes to find him, taking her on a journey through the changing landscape of contemporary China. The film registers not only monumental changes, like the building of the dam, but the minutiae of everyday details from changing fashion to altered streetscapes. Jia's film is a quiet and meditative affair that dwells on the passage of time in a fast-paced world. The film not only captures 20 years in a rapidly changing China, but also offers a reflection on Jia's career as a filmmaker. Jia was born in 1970. He grew up in the city of Fenyang, Shanxi province, and came of age during Deng Xiaoping's economic liberalization and 'opening up' of the 1980s. He studied at the Beijing Film Academy before returning home to shoot his first feature Xiao Wu (Pickpocket) in 1997. The films he made in Shanxi – Xiao Wu, Platform (2000) and Unknown Pleasures (2002) – have been dubbed his 'hometown trilogy.' Shanxi is known for its notoriously dangerous coal mining industry. Jia focused on the lives of those left behind by China's 'economic miracle' and life outside of the metropolis. His use of non-actors, preference for street shooting and slow minimalist style set his work apart from commercial Chinese cinema. The second film in the trilogy, Platform, includes a mesmerising performance from Zhao Tao, then an unknown actor who has since starred in all of Jia's later films. Zhao and Jia were married in 2012. Zhao is a key artistic collaborator whose portrayal of strong female protagonists is central to all the director's later work. Jia's international breakthrough came with Still Life (2006), shot in the ancient area of Fengjie on the banks of the Yangtze while cities were being demolished and thousands displaced to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. Working on Still Life confirmed Jia's belief in 'cinema's function as memory' – capturing the present before it disappears. Still Life combined Jia's early realist style with a new surreal approach, including a building taking off and a mysterious flying saucer zooming into the distance. To Jia, this blend of realism and surrealism is essential for portraying China's rapid historical transformation. He says the speed of development in China 'has had an unsettling surreal effect.' To represent this, he has experimented with all the possibilities of cinema blending documentary, fiction, animation, pop music, Chinese opera and digital images to create a stunning body of work. Caught by the Tides continues Jia's experimentation with cinema and history in his most ambitious work to date. Production was influenced by the COVID pandemic, when Jia was unable to start work on a new film. Instead, he began to review footage he and his director of photography Yu Lik-Wai had shot since 2001. Jia describes the process of reviewing the footage as 'like time-travelling' as he returned to the beginning of the 21st century and his youth. The film is partly composed of a collage of documentary footage which Jia and his collaborators spent over two years editing. We see excitement in the streets when Beijing is announced as the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games, before cutting to a montage of young people dancing in strobe-lit underground nightclubs. This kaleidoscope of documentary footage is combined with scenes shot during the making of Jia's earlier films. From this combination of archival footage featuring Jia's regular stars Zhao and Li Zubin, a story emerges about China's rapid change. Jia began work on Caught by the Tides during COVID. MK2 Films As Qiaoqiao guides the viewer through the chaotic transformations taking place in the country, there is something particularly arresting about seeing places and actors change before our very eyes. The final scenes, shot with modern digital cameras, have a sleek and cold aesthetic in contrast to the pixelated early footage. It is in part a reflection of Jia's own melancholic view of historical change in which the past is forgotten, and the everyday lives of ordinary people disappear from view. Yet as a whole, the film suggests cinema can preserve the past and give dignity and beauty to everyday experiences. Caught By the Tides provides viewers with a refreshing glimpse of Chinese life from within. Cinema like Jia's remains in a unique position to promote a more nuanced view of China's complex and ever-evolving history. Thomas Moran, Lecturer in the Department of English, Creative Writing and Film, University of Adelaide This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
