Rob Starzec
I'm going to rip on this movie so much, so first I'll talk about what I like. I like that it partially deals with a regional issue - a flood which has caused people to move out from the area in which the film takes place. I like the aspect of the two characters having the same quest - looking for somebody to finish unsettled business, though one is more successful than the other.Basically, the rest of the film was not captivating to me at all. There weren't really any memorable lines, and good lines are what people take away from films because words sometimes inspire us more than just the images within film even though film is a visual medium. There was a use of special effects at one point of this film, and I really did not understand its purpose at all. We see this certain structure a few times throughout the film (it is difficult to describe) and at one point, this structure randomly produces fire at its base and takes off like a rocket. It seemed so out of place for this movie, which seemed to deal with very real dramatic situations. Though I know art cinema deals with narration over narrative, the narration wasn't even worth the experience for this film (should I even call it an art film?)Maybe it's just me, but I really didn't relate to any characters in this film, it didn't look great visually, and there was no memorable dialogue in Still Life. While it dealt with dramatic situations this film was the antithesis of entertaining. If you're an avid film critic, give this a spin and prove me wrong, but you will hate this if you're looking for a good time.
bobt145
Jia Zhang-ke has given us a marvelous capsule of China rarely seen on film.His searching husband and wife cross paths looking for their respective mates after years at the only moments the story could have been told.Before the Three Gorges Dam, none of the metaphoric, yet very real destruction of the old towns would have been taking place and three months later they would all be under water.The cinematography allows us to slowly absorb the beauty of the spot on the Yangtze River where the dam is being constructed, while the stark lives of demolition workers play out in contrast.The new China is a runaway engine of modern economy and it is tossing countless lives aside with its speed.These aren't views shown in the films of the previous generation of Chinese directors. Made recently enough to have a direct connection to today, we see a country where cell phones bring the same changes to the people who use them as they have here. We hear and feel the influx of popular music in a land where traditional music is so beautiful.And most of all, we see how the people affected by the future flooding survive, bouncing sometimes numbly from home to shelter as they are evicted from locations with 2,000 years of history.This is a personal film for the director and that too says a lot about the strides the Chinese society has taken since the days of Chairman Mao and even Tiananmen Square.Ever since I figured out the plot line of "The Sixth Sense" after five minutes because of giveaways in the trailer, I have resisted them. If I'm in a theater, fine. But I don't go looking for them.DO NOT see the trailer before the film. Three of the very best and most surprising scene are given away in a short, 50-second promo.But do see the film. Very good.
Predrag
This was shot on a most incredible location ever to be filmed at. Which alone could make the film, not just visually, but by its deep surreal meaning - and it did. However, anything director tried to do only clumsily messed it up in several occasions, not showing a feeling for the whole, let alone a command of the film language.Guiding the flow in such slow tempo usually demands absolute scrutiny of every shot, since audience has a lot of time to devote to it. Here I am under impression that there's a lot of ordinary, ballast newscast like footage mixed in with some meaningful and emotional imagery. If realism was the goal, then what's the purpose of 2 isolated appearances of UFOs? (Please!)Film is divided into 4 "chapters" (cigarettes, liquor, tea, sweets) - which really don't mark anything in the story flow and are imposed by some packaging obsession. The meaning of these 4 things (explained in an interview) isn't readable not only to most international audience, but, I suspect, even some domestic viewers.All in all, a very powerful location. Too powerful for Zhang Ke Jia's weakness, pretentiousness, and scattered mind not able to put its concepts on screen.
Ron Chow
I knew little about the work of director Jia Zhang Ke, and Still Life (or The Good People of the Three Gorges) provides me with an excellent introduction to his work.Several films have been done to depict the changes, to the lives of many residents, associated with the Three Gorges project. Still Life is one of them but also uses this backdrop to tell two stories of man-women relationship, its disintegration and possible reconciliation.The movie is slow moving, but at a pace relevant to the sentiment being conveyed. The camera work is great. Acting, most likely by non-professional actors, was solid.I was in the Three Gorges area some 10 years ago before the commencement of the Project, and could relate to the scenery and people in that area. The film was done without excessive sentiment, and director Jia took his time to tell the stories in an unpretentious and yet elaborate fashion.I highly recommend the film, and will seek out Jia's work in the future.
AD
