FILMS TO CONSIDER

Still Life-Movie Review*** 03/02/2012

Still Life (Chinese) 2006 ***
Sanxia haoren

Written and directed by Zhang Ke Jia
Starring Tao Zhao, Zhou Lan, and Sanming Han

Among other awards:
WINNER, Best Director (Zhang Ke Jia); NOMINATED, Best Composer; Best Film, Asian Film Awards
WINNER, Best Direction (Zhang Ke Jia), Durban International Film Festival
NOMINATED, Silver Ribbon-Best Non-European Director (Zhang Ke Jia), Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
WINNER, Best Foreign Film; Best Foreign Director (Zhang Ke Jia), Kinema Junpo Awards
WINNER, Best Cinematography (Nelson Yu Lik-Wai); Best Foreign Film (Zhang Ke Jia), Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
WINNER, Golden Lion (Zhang Ke Jia), Venice Film Festival

To document the ravaging effects of the Three Gorges Dam project on a town along the Yangtze River in southeast China, director Zhang Ke Jia combines his visual observations with parallel fictional stories of two people separated from their spouses. Sanming has traveled to Fengjie looking for the wife and daughter he hasn’t seen for sixteen years. Shen Hong (Zhou Lan) has come back to visit her husband after two years apart. The stories are punctuated by the pounding of sledge hammers as buildings are destroyed.

The controversial Three Gorges Dam project is one of the largest artificial projects in Chinese history, flooding 60,000 hectares of land; many 2,000-year-old towns, along with the history and culture they contained, are being quickly destroyed. In the process, more than 1,000,000 people must be relocated, with many family members ending up in vastly different parts of the country.

The simplicity and pace of the stories might not appeal to some. I appreciated the opportunity to see what is happening to these towns, villages, and cities. The director’s interview is worthwhile viewing, as it gives a perspective on what he was trying to accomplish and how. The film is separated into four parts: cigarettes, liquor, sweets, and tea. Although the country now has a “market economy,” these are reminders of the “planned economy” projects of the past, when such items were rationed.

Highly recommended.

111 min. Not rated.

For more information about the Three Gorges Dam, click here and here.