RESURRECTION – Review by Diane Carson

In this dystopian future, humanity has traded mortality for immortality, surrendering and sacrificing the precious, cathartic ability to dream. But enthralled by an extraordinary Deliriant (Jackson Yee) who still enjoys reveries, the Fantasmer Shu explores his riveting dreams in an effort to wake him. Empathically, Miss Shu (Shu Qi), also an Other One as the Deliriants are known, will thereby facilitate this specific representative’s death, liberating him from an eternal time zone. For she maintains the ability through his rare gift to access surreal realms. If all this sounds complicated, even daunting, know that the experience is immersive, indeed dreamlike, and hypnotic. in this dystopian future, humanity has traded mortality for immortality, surrendering and sacrificing the precious, cathartic ability to dream. But enthralled by an extraordinary Deliriant (Jackson Yee) who still enjoys reveries, the Fantasmer Shu explores his riveting dreams in an effort to wake him. Empathically, Miss Shu (Shu Qi), also an Other One as the Deliriants are known, will thereby facilitate this specific representative’s death, liberating him from an eternal time zone. For she maintains the ability through his rare gift to access surreal realms. If all this sounds complicated, even daunting, know that the experience is immersive, indeed dreamlike, and hypnotic.

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THE FATE OF LEE KHAN – Review by Diane Carson

Is there any such thing as too many wuxia films, that genre incorporating martial arts expertise, chivalry, and valor? Not if co-writer/director King Hu’s 1973 The Fate of Lee Khan is the test case for such a spectacular example from over 50 years ago. Not just a martial arts extravaganza (though it is that), philosophical debates command a fair amount of screen time as well, with praise for Hu’s skillfully merging Buddhist concepts with wuxia genre expectations.

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THE WORLD – Review by Diane Carson

In The World, a deft pivot into his first government approved film, Chinese writer/director Jia Zhangke offers a dexterous balancing act of amusing animation punctuating somber worker profiles. Shot at the actual Beijing World Park, young women in elaborate costumes entertain tourists with a variety of dances performed with lively music. Young men work security jobs, a Russian troupe joins the entertainers, and migrants arrive from director Jia’s own home province of Shanxi. Against a decidedly strange global backdrop, individuals interact, confront serious personal entanglements, and struggle to earn money in order to pursue various unrealistic goals.

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XIAO WU – Review by Diane Carlson

In 1997 Chinese director Jia Zhangke boldly announced his arrival on the film scene with Xiao Wu, an episodic character study of the man after which the film is named. Alternately known as Pickpocket, Xiao Wu has a reputation as exactly that kind of criminal, and in an early scene he uses his deft, sticky fingers to prove exactly that. However, his notorious reputation for such theft leads to his exclusion from Jin Ziaoyong’s wedding, a rejection deeply offensive to Xiao. A now celebrated, albeit semi-legal entrepreneur, Jin has left behind the friend with whom he shared a criminal past. More difficult for Xiao to accept amidst what he considers betrayal, Ji now enjoys television celebrity.

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UNKNOWN PLEASURES – Review by Diane Carson

In Unknown Pleasures, only his third film, writer/director Jia Zhangke masterfully captures the ennui of a media saturated younger generation leaving tradition behind in their rudderless, inept attempts to transition into a modernizing country. Against a backdrop of catastrophic events in industrial Datong, China’s Shanxi Province, two nineteen year old men and a twenty-one year old woman ricochet off each other, flailing against their constrained, disenchanted lives. The film’s Chinese title translates as Free From All Constraints, an accurate, albeit ironic, description of their wishful thinking. In fact, every detail of the central characters’ environment and temperament—from their conflicting emotions to their depressing goals—reveals their utterly circumscribed opportunities amidst negligible options.

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YOUTH: HARD TIMES; YOUTH: HOMECOMING – Review by Diane Carson

Shooting in the workshops in Zhili, eastern China, from 2014 to 2019, documentarian Wang Bing concludes his Youth trilogy with Hard Times and Homecoming. In the Huzhou City district, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Bing samples a few of the 18,000 workshops, employing over 300,000 migrant garment workers, adopting a fly-on-the-wall approach to the oppressive living conditions and minimum wage jobs. As with American Frederick Wiseman’s films, no voiceover commentary interprets the candid, unambiguous footage which speaks volumes about abusive treatment all on its own.

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GREEN NIGHT – Review by Cortland Jacoby

Green Night is not as daring as writer and director Han Shuai wants it to be. The story is interesting enough. A Chinese customs agent longs to leave her oppressive marriage in Korea and ends up finding liberation in the form of a free spirited green-haired woman. Relying on archetypes, Shuai holds back despite bringing a feminist angle to the narrative and casting the great Fan Bingbing as her female lead. Shuai’s second feature holds a lot of potential. There are a lot of good ideas here that are either not fleshed out enough or watered down. What is worth noting is that Shuai employed an all-female crew to make this movie, something that not enough productions do. So even though Green Night isn’t as daring as it wants to be, the thought and filmmaking that went into it certainly is.

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DAUGHTER’S DAUGHTER (TIFF 2024) – Review by Ulkar Alakbarova

There is nothing more heartbreaking than losing a child. It’s a pain no parent can bear. Some can move on, while others give up, unable to cope with their grief. In most films, the mother often plays a pivotal role in the decisions she must make. However, what you will see in Xi Huang’s Daughter’s Daughter is a different and profoundly moving layer of what a mother can and cannot do when it comes to her child.

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ONLY THE RIVER FLOWS – Review by Diane Carson

Only the River Flows follows a strange 1995 Chinese murder investigation. Chinese director Wei Shujun’s murder mystery upends the familiar investigation plot, for his Chief of the Criminal Police Ma Zhe will follow one frustrating lead after another. His well-intentioned, serious inquiries will leave Zhe frustrated with self-doubt, surreal nightmares, and professional humiliation.

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ART COLLEGE 1994 – Review by Diane Carson

Art College 1994 has an appeal all its own with its recognizable, engaging discussions of philosophical topics and iconic artists. Inspired by director/co-writer Liu Jian’s own 1990s academic experience, the title accurately identifies the time and place: Art College 1994. Throughout the film, young Chinese students talk about the nature of conceptual art, western versus eastern perspective in painting, western liberalism versus Chinese culture, individuality or commonality, creative freedom, and who decides what art is. All around the school, the casual interaction relies on questions to familiar issues

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