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Nominate-best-2010

Review: 24 City

A complex and lucid cinematic poem
By PETER KEOUGH  |  August 13, 2009
3.5 3.5 Stars

 

Developers tear down a factory to built the massive residential and commercial complex of the title, tossing out those who had worked there for decades. A familiar scenario both here and in China, but Jia Zhang-ke has shaped it into a complex and lucid cinematic poem about identity, transience, and loss. The stories of six of the disenfranchised workers, as related by professional actors, intercut the often surreal images of the cavernous, greasy, Mao-era structure as it's being dismantled. In one such sequence, tiny figures carry off the enormous neon Chinese characters from the sign over the factory gate; they look like leafcutter ants razing a tree. And Jia matches his striking and resonant visuals with the sly reflexivity of his dramatized "interviews." A worker nicknamed "Little Flower" in the factory's heyday because she looked like the title character in the 1979 Zhang Zheng film is depicted by Joan Chen — who played Little Flower in the original movie.

Related: Review: Evangelion 1.0: You Are Not Alone, Review: Frozen, Flow, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Business, Real Estate, Joan Chen,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
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    A new genre is emerging in which aging A-list actors play fathers off on a rampage to rescue their daughters or avenge their deaths.
  •   REVIEW: FROZEN  |  February 03, 2010
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  •   KAREN SCHMEER: 1970-2010  |  February 02, 2010
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    Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.
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 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

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