Another masterpiece directed by Jia Zhangke that has a great narrative flow, within a mix of archival and fictional images, while presenting a portrait of China that we are not used to seeing. A very beautiful and powerful movie that you should watch!
That said, this is one of Jia Zhangke’s least accomplished works—visually disjointed and emotionally hollow. His characters, once celebrated for reflecting the tides of history, now feel like empty vessels, reduced to passive tools rather than real people.
This film places an extraordinary emphasis on the power of editing—not just to stitch scenes together, but to restructure narrative, reshape rhythm, and redefine thematic expression. The edit isn’t dictated by raw footage, but by the director’s intent behind that footage. In many moments, you can truly feel the magic of montage at work—and that’s where the film finds its greatest strength.
It's been too long since I've seen Jia Zhangke's film, so much so that I've already wanted to cry sitting in the theater for the first hour, summoning up the memory of the city at the beginning of the millennium through the reorganization of footage, in which Qiaoqiao is the embodiment of “haunted”. The contrast between the present and the past is “all gone”, a sigh of old age.
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![Official Trailer [Subtitled]](data:image/svg+xml;base64,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)