Still Life
d. Jia Zhang-ke, 2006
Still Life, the latest film from Jia Zhang-ke, is a step in the right direction from a director whose last film, 2004's The World, suffered from the way it hammered on its central metaphor. This time around, Jia uses his formal and narrative abilities to produce a more complex and satisfying work. Working on HD video, Jia's films have a very distinct quality. What would pass for Antonioniesque if shot by another director turns into something altogether ravishing when composed by Jia. As Jonathan Rosenbaum has pointed out, he is amazingly talented when it comes to positioning actors within his frames. Still Life concerns itself with the lives of two characters--a departure from the large cast of The World--looking for their respective spouse in a soon-to-be-flooded town. Though the story seems to follow a pretty conventinal storyline (man/woman shows up, looks for his/her wife/husband, travels around for a while, then finds her/him), Jia is more interested in the way lives are lived, not the ways problems are solved. Needless to say, Still Life is a major work that would be worth watching if only for its beautiful compositions. Good job Venice Film Festival, which awarded this film its top prize earlier this year.
