48/44

Sure, if you’re over thirty-five, that is

Narrative

A Chinese woman lives a quiet life, celebrating the prosperous Belle Époque with song and dance. The female lead doesn’t have a single line of dialogue in the film. Have you ever bought a band’s album and found that instead of new material, there are a bunch of old B-sides, remixes, and a few new songs that add value? “Captured Tides” is in many ways exactly that. But in doing so, it makes a statement about her career and, indeed, about the changing face of the world around her.

She follows him through the years and across the country

Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) has an affair with Guo Bin (Jubin Li), but continues her journey with Qiao Qiao. But when she reaches her destination, she may not get what she wanted. But really, the plot doesn’t matter because much of it has already been written and filmed over the years; now it’s just been reworked. Excerpts from films like “Unknown Pleasures” (2002), “Still Life” (2006) and “The Mountains May Break” (2015) if I recall correctly. This allows for a realistic visualization of both potential indicators over time and their uneven aging.

But there are some interesting coincidences that materialize that allow Jia’s #39

So the scenes are different but very familiar, serving as a sort of retrospective of Jia’s work in a more direct and better executed way than Takeshi Kitano’s attempt with “Takeshis” (2005). The problem with making a film this way is that, while it’s perfectly serviceable as a narrative film, messing with what you already have makes it a bit awkward in terms of flow. It feels more like a series of vignettes than a well-constructed piece of work. Watching many of the films that have been made reminds you of the original script, so it doesn’t feel like one story, but rather like different stories strung together. Text messages on an old Nokia become TikTok videos on the latest smartphone.

Jia is very bold when it comes to technology

TikTok stardom is more about cheap publicity than real fame and fortune; and service bots can easily be mistaken for simple questions. Technology has played an interesting role in shaping human relationships, especially in the last twenty years. Knowing Jia’s work, you’ll immediately recognize what’s going on here. But if he’s starting over, it can feel like a bit of a strange film that doesn’t quite fit together. Some scenes don’t quite seem to fit together; more were added as they became available.

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So this may require a bit of groundwork for the uninitiated and another for longtime fans. Although you might think you’re watching a “Still Life” all over again. Has life changed in the last eighteen years?