Sunday, February 01, 2009

Still Life

The Three Gorges dam has caused the Yangtze river to slowly submerge the town of Fengjie. Sinking not only structures but the lives and memories of its citizens. This bleak setting finds Sanming (Sanming Han) from the Shanxi province looking for his wife and daughter whom he has lost sight of in the last sixteen years. Shen Hong  (Tao Zhao)wanders around the town looking for her husband who has been silent for the last two years. Like the land around them they at cross roads. Do they move forward or keep looking in the review mirror that is their past?

Zhang Ke Jia while telling us the story of the two protagonists, allows his camera to languish over the disintegration of the towns along the Yangtze river. He doesn't pass judgement or influence the viewer. He just shows the situation as it is with subtle starkness.

Rating: * * *

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