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Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘Caught by the Tides' builds a new film from the existing works of its director
Advertisement The press kit describes the film as 'mix of fiction and documentary, featuring a cascade of images taken from previous movies, unused scenes, and newly shot dramatic sequences.' Using footage shot over 23 years, Jia crafts a meandering series of montages that subtly documents the passage of time through geographical and societal changes. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up As such, this film's main characters, Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) and her estranged lover, Brother Bin (Li Zhubin), age naturally, but not in the same way. One appears more affected by time than the other, which is revealed in a stunning close-up late in the film. We're witnessing 23 years of change over the course of two hours; the result is more effective than any fake movie magic could conjure. Advertisement Zhao Tao and Li Zhubin in Jia Zhangke's 'Caught by the Tides.''Caught by the Tides.' Sideshow and Janus Films It's even more dramatic if you know that these two characters initially met in Jia's second film, 2002's 'Unknown Pleasures.' Through B-roll and actual footage from that film, you see them as they were back then. Comparisons can be made to Li Zhubin in Jia Zhangke's 'Caught by the Tides.' Sideshow and Janus Films The film also chronicles the displacement of people as a result of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, using documentary footage shot since 2011. This isn't surprising given Jia's interest in the affected residents from Northern Shanxi to Southern Guangdong. 'Caught by the Tides' fashions a thin narrative thread that follows Qiao Qiao from the Chinese mining town of Datong to Beijing as she searches for Bin. He left her to seek better opportunities, promising to send for her once he finds work. But his constant radio silence worries Qiao Qiao, leading her on a somewhat quixotic journey to discover why. The non-linear structure employed here forces us to pay careful attention to figure out where we are, but Jia doesn't leave us completely in the dark. For example, intertitles with dates and locations are intermittently shown. And the changes in footage quality, camera type, and aspect ratio provide clues as to timeframe. Jia also pays special attention to technological advancements like updated cell phones and the emergence of artificial intelligence. The appearance of a friendly robot who reads people's faces and responds with reaffirming quotes is an amusing bright spot in the film's final segment, set in 2023. Advertisement Zhao Tao in Jia Zhangke's 'Caught by the Tides.' Sideshow and Janus Films Intertitles are also used on occasion to tell us what Qiao Qiao is texting or saying. She can speak, but we only hear her sing (there is more singing here than dialogue). Zhao, who is Jia's wife, muse, and collaborator, proves Norma Desmond's adage about why the silents didn't need dialogue: She has one of the most expressive faces in cinema, and her director loves to depict her in motion in his films, usually dancing to needle drops or at clubs. The newest footage, shot during the pandemic, brings 'Caught by the Tides' to a poignant coda. There's a great, shade-filled swipe at the United States controversy over wearing masks, and when Bin and Qiao Qiao remove their masks in their final scene together, it's a bittersweet moment. While I was never bored, I felt somewhat disconnected from this movie. It's not that I wasn't engaged or involved—I enjoy when a movie makes me work for its pleasures—it just felt like I was missing so much and left me wishing I'd seen more of the director's movies. By all means, see this film if you're interested. Just know you might have to do some homework afterwards. ★★★ CAUGHT BY THE TIDES Directed by Jia Zhangke. Written by Jia, Jiahuan Wan. Starring Zhao Tao, Li Zhubin. At the Brattle. 111 min. Unrated. Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cannes-Bound ‘Left-Handed Girl,' ‘Heads or Tails?' Producer Cinema Inutile Takes Stake in 1-2 Special
Alex C. Lo's Cinema Inutile has taken a stake in distribution banner 1-2 Special. The New York and Tokyo-based production company, which has been steadily building a slate of festival darlings, has joined as a founding partner in the recently launched North American distributor headed by Jason Hellerstein, a former Sideshow executive who debuted the venture in February. More from Variety Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve Family Drama 'Fjord' Sells to Neon Variety to Host Global Conversations Summit at Cannes Film Festival Cannes' Thierry Fremaux on Trump's Tariff Plan, Resilience of American Film Culture: 'The United States Remains a Great Country for Cinema' Cinema Inutile slate includes recent festival hits 'Stranger Eyes' (Venice Competition 2024), 'Happyend' (Venice Orizzonti 2024), and 'Viet and Nam' (Cannes Un Certain Regard 2024). Its development pipeline features collaborations with art-house heavyweights including Ruben Östlund's 'The Entertainment System Is Down,' Manuela Martelli's 'The Meltdown,' and Jim Jarmusch's 'Father, Mother, Sister, Brother.' The move represents a significant evolution for Cinema Inutile, expanding its end-to-end capabilities in the independent space. The company now stands positioned to shepherd projects from development through theatrical release, a rarity in today's challenging art-house market. The announcement comes as Cinema Inutile celebrates a banner year on the festival circuit, with two high-profile entries set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival: Shih-Ching Tsou's 'Left-Handed Girl' (co-written and edited by 'Anora' helmer Sean Baker) in Critics' Week, and Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis' 'Heads or Tails?' in Un Certain Regard. The theatrical-first strategy represents a bullish stance on traditional exhibition at a time when many independent distributors are pivoting toward streaming and day-and-date strategies. 1-2 Special plans to release up to 10 films annually, with Radu Jude's 'Kontinental '25' from this year's Berlinale marking its inaugural acquisition. 'This partnership with 1-2 Special is a natural and exciting next step for Cinema Inutile,' Lo told Variety. 'Be it 'The Settlers,' 'Girls Will Be Girls,' or 'Stranger Eyes,' we've always championed stories that challenge conventions and ignite conversation. Collaborating with Jason, who shares that same passion for risk-taking cinema, is incredibly inspiring.' 'We're both committed to supporting films that deserve to be seen on the big screen, and to creating a home for filmmakers who bring new and unique perspectives to the conversation,' Lo added. Cinema Inutile is represented by Hayden Goldblatt at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
San Francisco Chronicle
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Movie Review: The sweep of history courses through Jia Zhangke's 'Caught By the Tides'
Jia Zhangke's 'Caught by the Tides' is less than two hours long and yet contains nearly a quarter-century of time's relentless march forward. Few films course with history the way it does in the Chinese master's latest, an epic collage that spans 21 years. Jia undertook the film during the pandemic, assembling a mix of fiction and documentary, including images from his earlier films as well as newly shot scenes. That might sound like a mishmash kind of moviemaking. But for Jia, the preeminent cinematic chronicler of 21st century China, it's a remarkably cohesive, even profound vessel for capturing what has most interested him as a filmmaker: the tidal wave-sized currents of technological progress and social transmutation that wash over a lifetime. The high-speed upheavals of modern China are, of course, a fitting setting for such interests. Jia's films are often most expressed in their surroundings — in vistas of infrastructure that dwarf his protagonists. Fans of Jia will recognize some from his previous films. For me, there's never been a more moving backdrop from him than the rubble and mass displacement of the Three Gorges Dam project (seen here, as in his 2008 film 'Still Life'). 'Caught by the Tides' is ostensibly about Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao, Jia's wife and muse) and her lover Bin (Li Zhubin), whom she searches for years after a row sent them in different directions. But in 'Caught by the Tides,' these characters are more like life rafts bobbing in expansive waters, making their way aimlessly. The poetry of 'Caught by the Tides' comes from a grander arc. In one of the film's opening scenes, shot on grainy digital film, women in a Datong city room laugh together, singing old, half-remembered songs. The film's final scenes, set more than two decades later in the southern city of Zhuhai, are more crisply photographed and depict a more impersonal world of smartphones, robots and QR codes. For a moment, Jia even adopts the perspective of a surveillance camera. Another moment: a shot, from pre-digital times, drifting down a street with men looking back at us, smoking and mildly curious. Cut then to what might be the same street years later, where a woman parades as a model in front of a sprawling shopping mall. In 'Caught by the Tides,' these changes go unexplained and unspoken. But the evolutions they chart are deeply familiar to anyone who has lived through even some of these years, in China or elsewhere. We see how people once moved differently, spoke differently and sang differently. Progress and loss exist together as one. Zhao and Li age through the film, leaving them weathered, too, by time. A song late in the film goes: 'I can't grasp the warmth we once shared.' 'Caught by the Tides,' a Sideshow and Janus Films release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. In Mandarin. Running time: 116 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Movie Review: The sweep of history courses through Jia Zhangke's 'Caught By the Tides'
Jia Zhangke's 'Caught by the Tides' is less than two hours long and yet contains nearly a quarter-century of time's relentless march forward. Few films course with history the way it does in the Chinese master's latest, an epic collage that spans 21 years. Jia undertook the film during the pandemic, assembling a mix of fiction and documentary, including images from his earlier films as well as newly shot scenes. That might sound like a mishmash kind of moviemaking. But for Jia, the preeminent cinematic chronicler of 21st century China, it's a remarkably cohesive, even profound vessel for capturing what has most interested him as a filmmaker: the tidal wave-sized currents of technological progress and social transmutation that wash over a lifetime. The high-speed upheavals of modern China are, of course, a fitting setting for such interests. Jia's films are often most expressed in their surroundings — in vistas of infrastructure that dwarf his protagonists. Fans of Jia will recognize some from his previous films. For me, there's never been a more moving backdrop from him than the rubble and mass displacement of the Three Gorges Dam project (seen here, as in his 2008 film 'Still Life'). 'Caught by the Tides' is ostensibly about Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao, Jia's wife and muse) and her lover Bin (Li Zhubin), whom she searches for years after a row sent them in different directions. But in 'Caught by the Tides,' these characters are more like life rafts bobbing in expansive waters, making their way aimlessly. The poetry of 'Caught by the Tides' comes from a grander arc. In one of the film's opening scenes, shot on grainy digital film, women in a Datong city room laugh together, singing old, half-remembered songs. The film's final scenes, set more than two decades later in the southern city of Zhuhai, are more crisply photographed and depict a more impersonal world of smartphones, robots and QR codes. For a moment, Jia even adopts the perspective of a surveillance camera. Another moment: a shot, from pre-digital times, drifting down a street with men looking back at us, smoking and mildly curious. Cut then to what might be the same street years later, where a woman parades as a model in front of a sprawling shopping mall. In 'Caught by the Tides,' these changes go unexplained and unspoken. But the evolutions they chart are deeply familiar to anyone who has lived through even some of these years, in China or elsewhere. We see how people once moved differently, spoke differently and sang differently. Progress and loss exist together as one. Zhao and Li age through the film, leaving them weathered, too, by time. A song late in the film goes: 'I can't grasp the warmth we once shared.' 'Caught by the Tides,' a Sideshow and Janus Films release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. In Mandarin. Running time: 116 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
Winnipeg Free Press
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Movie Review: The sweep of history courses through Jia Zhangke's 'Caught By the Tides'
Jia Zhangke's 'Caught by the Tides' is less than two hours long and yet contains nearly a quarter-century of time's relentless march forward. Few films course with history the way it does in the Chinese master's latest, an epic collage that spans 21 years. Jia undertook the film during the pandemic, assembling a mix of fiction and documentary, including images from his earlier films as well as newly shot scenes. That might sound like a mishmash kind of moviemaking. But for Jia, the preeminent cinematic chronicler of 21st century China, it's a remarkably cohesive, even profound vessel for capturing what has most interested him as a filmmaker: the tidal wave-sized currents of technological progress and social transmutation that wash over a lifetime. This image released by Sideshow and Janus Films shows Tao Zhao in a scene from "Caught By the Tides." (Sideshow and Janus Films via AP) The high-speed upheavals of modern China are, of course, a fitting setting for such interests. Jia's films are often most expressed in their surroundings — in vistas of infrastructure that dwarf his protagonists. Fans of Jia will recognize some from his previous films. For me, there's never been a more moving backdrop from him than the rubble and mass displacement of the Three Gorges Dam project (seen here, as in his 2008 film 'Still Life'). 'Caught by the Tides' is ostensibly about Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao, Jia's wife and muse) and her lover Bin (Li Zhubin), whom she searches for years after a row sent them in different directions. But in 'Caught by the Tides,' these characters are more like life rafts bobbing in expansive waters, making their way aimlessly. The poetry of 'Caught by the Tides' comes from a grander arc. In one of the film's opening scenes, shot on grainy digital film, women in a Datong city room laugh together, singing old, half-remembered songs. The film's final scenes, set more than two decades later in the southern city of Zhuhai, are more crisply photographed and depict a more impersonal world of smartphones, robots and QR codes. For a moment, Jia even adopts the perspective of a surveillance camera. Another moment: a shot, from pre-digital times, drifting down a street with men looking back at us, smoking and mildly curious. Cut then to what might be the same street years later, where a woman parades as a model in front of a sprawling shopping mall. Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Sign up for The Warm-Up In 'Caught by the Tides,' these changes go unexplained and unspoken. But the evolutions they chart are deeply familiar to anyone who has lived through even some of these years, in China or elsewhere. We see how people once moved differently, spoke differently and sang differently. Progress and loss exist together as one. Zhao and Li age through the film, leaving them weathered, too, by time. A song late in the film goes: 'I can't grasp the warmth we once shared.' 'Caught by the Tides,' a Sideshow and Janus Films release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. In Mandarin. Running time: 116 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
