Caught by the Tides

Have you ever bought an album by a band and find that, rather than new material, it's some old B-sides, remixes and a couple of new songs for added value? Of course you have, if you're over thirty-five, that is. Jia Zhang-ke's "Caught by the Tides" is in many ways just that. But in doing so, it does make a statement about his career, and indeed the changing face of the world around him.

Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) shares a romance with Guao Bin (Zhubin Li), but he moves on, with Qiao Qiao trailing in his wake. Over the years, and across the country, she follows him. But on reaching her destination, maybe what she's been wanting isn't for her.

But in reality, the plot is irrelevant, as much of this has already been written and filmed over the years; it has now just been repurposed. Outtakes from the likes of "Unknown Pleasures" (2002), "Still Life" (2006) and "Mountains May Depart" (2015), if I remember correctly. This allows to realistically show the two leads over time, and their unequal ageing. Scenes are, therefore, different, but very familiar, in what serves as something of a retrospective for Jia's work, in a more direct and better-executed way than Takeshi Kitano attempted with "Takeshis'" (2005).

The problem with creating a film in this way is that while it's perfectly serviceable as a narrative film, shoehorning in what you already have makes this feel a little awkward in terms of flow. It feels more a series of vignettes than a well-constructed work. Having seen many of the films the outtakes are from serves to remind you of the original scenario, and so doesn't quite feel like a single story, but various stories stuck together.

But there are some nice coincidences that materialise and allow Jia's message to come across. Text messaging on an old Nokia become TikTok videos on the latest smart phone. Jia is very tongue-in-cheek with his look at technology. TikTok stardom serves more for cheap advertising than actual fame and fortune; and service robots can be easily confused with simple questioning. Technology has played an interesting role in shaping the nature of human relationships, especially over the past twenty years.

Knowing Jia's work, you will instantly recognise what is going on here. But if coming to his work fresh, this may seem like a slightly strange film that doesn't quite tie together nicely enough. Some scenes don't seem to really fit; more added in as they were available.

So, this may require some background work for the uninitiated, and is one more for long-term fans. Though they might feel they are watching "Still Life" again. Has life moved on in the past eighteen years?

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This one is the real deal; our esteemed director (all of his projects are foremost "director's films") is one of the greats whom you can discuss in the same breath as Vigo and Varda without puffery.

Jia has a tremendous feel for the Chinese people and is able to capture the textures and rhythms of life there like few others I know. It's this humanity and curiosity, combined with incisive wit and subtle indictment of hypocrisy, that allow him to sidestep censorship of politicized content.

This movie could have been a slight and indulgent scrapbook, but the cast and creative teams--working over an extended schedule to make 'Boyhood' blush--keep the whole thing pitch perfect. Like that earlier milestone film, it's a movie almost without any big moments... and yet there is a vast catharsis that fills in during its latter half.

By the time it gets to the last shot, which I now count among my favorite final shots in cinema history, it achieves a sweeping and yet deeply personal sense of determination in the face of the unknown future we all face. I recommend you see it with a lot of people at a cinema.

The most striking thing about this film is seeing the natural aging of the actors, but the collage of the different projects into a single film is rather shaky and risks turning off several people at the start of the film. Several bold choices from the directors, including the use of intertitles and what appear to be images taken from surveillance cameras. When we get to the end of the film, we can be moved and consider this project as a good film, especially with the evolution of the relationship between the two main characters, but the first part prevents us from being very generous for the rating of the work. Good use of music (it's more of a musical film than a dialogue film). Good soundtrack. Good finale.

Plot: Qiaoqiao and Bin, deeply in love, enjoy city life together through singing and dancing. Their happiness is cut short when Bin suddenly departs to seek opportunities elsewhere. Determined, Qiaoqiao sets out to find him.

Cannes film festival 2024 palme d'or nominee

A tranquil tale of loneliness,industralization through snippets of changing cities,depleted landscapes,strucures,songs,personal aspirations engraved deeply in the heart of China and it's people.

Jhangke juxtaposes scenes from his previous films to comply with the timelines covered in the film which fits in the narrative perfectly.

I never tell about the plot on my review, you can find it everywhere! I watched this movie without knowing Nothing about it. So i thought "oh he is very clever ,he is using lots of old stock film to make it look like it was shot 20 years ago" and I thought "uhm this movie is way more experimental and artsy compared to his other movies". I watched this movie because I really enjoyed Mountain Might Depart and Ash Is Purest White and A Touch of Sin. And this one feels more like a collections of scenes, different styles all put together. It has somehow a dreaming, floating quality, it feels like a documentary and then it is also fiction, But it works, mostly because Zhao Tao has this magical presence on the screen and you look at her wondering what will she do next. After I finished I went online looking at reviews and discovered it is actually made with material the director shot before. If you are looking at this title it means that you are already open and ready to watch something different from USA mainstream movies. So I would definitely recommend this.