Tfe’s coverage of the 51st New York Film Festival (Sep 27-Oct 14) has begun. Here are Glenn and Jose with their takes on Cannes winner A Touch of Sin.
Glenn: For whatever reason, Asian cinema doesn’t get too much exposure in cinemas over this side of the ocean. The discrepancy between words written about the subject and people actually seeing them is entirely out of whack, don’t you think? We all seem to hear about these fabulous movies from around the region and yet outside of a film festival it appears all but impossible to catch them, which makes these festivals so vital. Seems like a massive missed opportunity if you ask me, but then I don’t propose to know anything about the movie-watching habits of mainstream or arthouse audiences. I doubt a film like Jia Zhang-ke’s A Touch of Sin will attract more than...
Glenn: For whatever reason, Asian cinema doesn’t get too much exposure in cinemas over this side of the ocean. The discrepancy between words written about the subject and people actually seeing them is entirely out of whack, don’t you think? We all seem to hear about these fabulous movies from around the region and yet outside of a film festival it appears all but impossible to catch them, which makes these festivals so vital. Seems like a massive missed opportunity if you ask me, but then I don’t propose to know anything about the movie-watching habits of mainstream or arthouse audiences. I doubt a film like Jia Zhang-ke’s A Touch of Sin will attract more than...
- 9/23/2013
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
I was an immediate fan of Zhang Ke Jia's Still Life when I saw it at the Melbourne International Film Festival two years back, and while I didn't like his fashion industry documentary Useless, which screened at Miff last year, I still reckon the man in insanely talented. One film I unfortunately did not get the chance to see at Miff when it screened last year was 24 City. Scheduling conflicts are tricky to negotiate at film festivals and that film was an unfortunate scenario. Alas, it's getting an international release so maybe - just maybe - I will be able to see it soon (although Still Life has yet to emerge on DVD in Australia much to my chagrin.)
I really like this poster. It's striking and visually inventive. I imagine Michel Gondry is looking at it right now and feverishly waxing lyrical about it to the man who lives under his staircase.
I really like this poster. It's striking and visually inventive. I imagine Michel Gondry is looking at it right now and feverishly waxing lyrical about it to the man who lives under his staircase.
- 3/13/2009
- by Kamikaze Camel
- Stale Popcorn
Useless
Xstream Pictures
NEW YORK -- Useless, Jia Zhang ke's documentary about Chinese fashion designers and tailors, is a typically thoughtful affair, raising many of the concerns of his feature work including The World and Unknown Pleasures. Relying on careful observation rather than polemic, Jia documents the life of a fashion designer in the city, and tailors in rural areas.
The contrast between old China and new China is pronounced: The designer hosts an arty show in France, while one of the rural tailors is forced to close his business and take up a laboring job to make ends meet. It's a quiet, aesthetically pleasing film that makes its point with a minimum of fuss.
Useless, which has played in several festivals before the New York Film Festival, should see more festival exposure, and could draw viewers to small upscale urban theaters.
The fashion designer Jia portrays is something of a maverick -- her concerns are more artistic than commercial. The first and longest section focuses On Ma Ke, a designer who's interested in discovering the expressive potential of clothing. She buries some of her creations so that they can "absorb the history of the soil," and exhibits them on statuesque models posing atop neon light boxes.
Out in the rural areas, such liberties are impossible. One tailor's business fails because cheap mass-produced clothes have rendered his skills redundant.
As always, Jia tries to slow down the frantic lifestyle of modern China so that it can be closely observed. The style is often reminiscent of a Maysles docu, but there are some direct-to-camera question and answer sessions.
Recent non-Chinese produced docu like Manufactured Landscapes have been more hard-hitting about China's massive social problems. But with patient viewing, Jia's film reveals the underlying split between the "two Chinas," one rich, modern, urban and optimisttic, the other impoverished, rural and desperate.
NEW YORK -- Useless, Jia Zhang ke's documentary about Chinese fashion designers and tailors, is a typically thoughtful affair, raising many of the concerns of his feature work including The World and Unknown Pleasures. Relying on careful observation rather than polemic, Jia documents the life of a fashion designer in the city, and tailors in rural areas.
The contrast between old China and new China is pronounced: The designer hosts an arty show in France, while one of the rural tailors is forced to close his business and take up a laboring job to make ends meet. It's a quiet, aesthetically pleasing film that makes its point with a minimum of fuss.
Useless, which has played in several festivals before the New York Film Festival, should see more festival exposure, and could draw viewers to small upscale urban theaters.
The fashion designer Jia portrays is something of a maverick -- her concerns are more artistic than commercial. The first and longest section focuses On Ma Ke, a designer who's interested in discovering the expressive potential of clothing. She buries some of her creations so that they can "absorb the history of the soil," and exhibits them on statuesque models posing atop neon light boxes.
Out in the rural areas, such liberties are impossible. One tailor's business fails because cheap mass-produced clothes have rendered his skills redundant.
As always, Jia tries to slow down the frantic lifestyle of modern China so that it can be closely observed. The style is often reminiscent of a Maysles docu, but there are some direct-to-camera question and answer sessions.
Recent non-Chinese produced docu like Manufactured Landscapes have been more hard-hitting about China's massive social problems. But with patient viewing, Jia's film reveals the underlying split between the "two Chinas," one rich, modern, urban and optimisttic, the other impoverished, rural and desperate.
- 11/2/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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