During the 63rd Venice Film Festival last month, Chinese mainland
director Jia Zhangke walked away with this year's Gold Lion award
for best movie with
Still Life. He's the second Chinese
mainland director to win this major film award following Zhang
Yimou, who won the award twice in 1992 and 1999.
The prize-winning movie is a documentary-style film shot in a
village in the Yangtze River town of Fengjie, which was destroyed
by the building of China's Three Gorges Dam. Still Life
beautifully captures this town and the lives and relationships of
those living within it. Even in the face of deconstruction, these
people still try to pursue beautiful loves and lives. The film
tells the love stories of two separated couples who meet again in
the village. A miner comes back to the village to look for his
wife, while another nurse returns for her husband. In the end, one
pair of lovers choose to reunite, while the other pair choose to
part. Nonetheless, the four all learn the essence of true love.
At a press conference after the award ceremony, French actress
Catherine Deneuve, who headed the jury that awarded the top prize,
told reporters the beauty of the cinematography and the quality of
the story moved the jury very much.
Like always, in Still Life, Jia Zhangke insisted on his
documentary-style of filmmaking and his focus on the ordinary lives
of ordinary people in fast-changing China. For this purpose, he
also insisted on using non-professional actors. In Still
Life, the lead role of the coal miner was portrayed by a
real-life coal miner.
Jia Zhangke explained his obsession with his documentary style
and non-professional performers.
"I have a special love for documentaries. I hope my movies will
be a reflection of the natural state of things, which requires the
actors and actresses to be in a natural state. Therefore, I prefer
non-professional actors. For one thing, they are able to bring out
the original state of life. They are also very close to
nature."
Although they live ordinary lives, the characters in Still
Life take on a more active attitude in pursuing what they
want. This is a minor change from previous Jia Zhangke movies,
where ordinary folks and social outcasts are often more
constrained, like the thief in Pickpocket, the children of
laid-off workers in Unknown Pleasures and the migrant
workers in The World. They all more or less feel a little
confused and helpless.
Jia Zhangke believes the jury at the Venice Film Festival voted
for him because Still Life reflected the Chinese people's
capacity for action and their ability to stay in control of their
lives despite problems and difficulties, touching jury members
deeply.
Jia Zhangke's obsession with ordinary people may spring from his
personal experiences.
Thirty-six-year-old Jia Zhangke was born in an ordinary family
in Fenyang county in Shanxi province. In 1993, Jia was admitted
into the Beijing Film Academy. Three years later, he became an
independent filmmaker. From a little town to Beijing, Jia Zhangke
feels like an outsider, a feeling shared by many who first come to
Beijing. As a result, Jia Zhangke has a tendency to intertwine this
feeling into many of his works.
The World is representative of this feeling. It tells
the story of a group of non-native youngsters who work at a
miniature scenic spot called World Park. Jia Zhangke talked about
the creation of the movie.
"I think in the process of urbanization, especially after the
success of Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, a number of
outsiders, myself included, all rushed into the big cities. I came
to Beijing from Fenyang, a little town in Shanxi province, in 1993.
We are called the generation of drifters. This film tells the
problems, stress, confusion, distress and hope of the youngsters,
the generation of drifters in the process of accelerated economic
changes."
Labeled a member of the Sixth Generation of directors, Jia
Zhangke gained wide international acclaim even after his first
full-length movie. Xiao Wu, completed in 1997, was awarded
at the 48th Berlin Film Festival. It is a reflection of the lives
of youngsters in his hometown. Cahier du Cinema, an
influential French film magazine, remarked Xiao Wu as
having rid the conventionality of traditional Chinese movies and
heralded the movie as a symbol of the renaissance and energy of
Chinese movies.
However, one feature of the Sixth Generation of directors is
they live at a time when the Chinese movie industry is
transitioning itself toward marketization. They have to take into
consideration box office results while insisting on their own
artistic propositions. Jia Zhangke's unique style of making films
and his obsession with grassroots themes means sometimes he has to
sacrifice the box office results. But the young director stubbornly
insists his movies should deal with the real society of modern
China and express his affection towards the bottom of the
society.
He offered his definition of the Sixth Generation of
directors.
"The works of Sixth-Generation directors are characteristic of
observing society and the people from a personal angle, using our
personal values and based on our personal memories. I think China
needs this to record its development. This personal observation is
equally valuable to art."
The country was overjoyed when Jia Zhangke brought back the Gold
Lion. Even though Still Life has secured screening rights
in 25 countries shortly after was shown at the Toronto
International film festival, it remains to be seen how the domestic
audience will favor this movie. Even though Jia Zhangke has long
been widely recognized as a talented filmmaker, insiders worry his
strong documentary style and lack of famous cast in the film may
hinder the popularity of Still Life domestically.
Nonetheless, Jia Zhangke appeared very confident. He says he
believes the Chinese audience will also love this movie once they
watch it because it has lifelike scenes and depicts people and
things familiar to them.?
?
(CRI.com October 24, 2006)
