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Director aims lens at China's new generation

By Yu Sen-lun
STAFF REPORTER IN CANNES, FRANCE
Sunday, May 26, 2002, Page 24

Jia Zhangke's Unknown Pleasure looks at the lives of a new generation of Chinese, raised after the Cultural Revolution, who have not experienced the poverty that their parents and grandparents knew. PHOTO COURTESY OF JIA ZHANKE

Last year was very distinctive for both director Jia Zhangke (賈樟柯) and his native China. Beijing was chosen to be the host city for the 2008 Olympic Games. China entered the WTO. A collision between Chinese and US military planes took place over the island of Hainan. In the north, a jobless man blew up a factory dormitory and in the south a notorious bank robber became a national idol among many youngsters shortly before being executed.

"That year, reality was more theatrical than most films," said Jia, talking about his Cannes competition film Unknown Pleasure (任逍遙).

In the film, these actual events serve as the background for the stories of three aimless young characters in the remote provincial town of Tatung. A reflection on China in the wake of modernization, the subject matter is nothing new to Chinese films. But Jia, 32, offers a fresh and distinctive style. Using his camera to poetically observe people and reveal their humanity, his three most acclaimed works have made his talent recognized internationally. Unknown Pleasure, which was produced by a Chinese-Japanese team with Japanese, French and Korean financing, was the only Chinese-language film competing at this year's Cannes Festival.

"I was born in 1970 at the end of the Cultural Revolution when China was beginning to develop. But for the new generation, the development is nothing new."

Jia Zhangke

The film project began as a documentary shooting in Tatung, Shanxi Province, Jai said. "At first it was the bleak and lonely buildings that attracted me. When I saw the streets filled with lonely, directionless people, I became interested in them," Jia said at a press conference last week.

According to Jia, because of Beijing's one-child population control policy, "they have no brothers and sisters, and often feel lonely."

Unknown Pleasure, pronounced "ren xiao yao" in Mandarin, tells a tale of solitude. Jobless slackers Xiao Ji (Wu Qiong, 吳京) and Bin Bin (Zhao Wei-wei, 趙維威) wander the streets near the city's recreation district. Xiao Ji has a crush on pretty dancer Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao, 趙濤) who performs promotional shows for Mongolian King Liquor. The fact that she has a gangster boyfriend doesn't bothering Xiao Ji. Bin Bin likes watching VCDs with his girlfriend, holding hands while singing hit karaoke tune Ren Xiao Yao, a Taiwanese pop song. The girlfriend is soon to attend Beijing University to study international trade. Bin Bin's mom is pushing him to join the army for a better future. A new highway is being built to shorten the distance between Tatung and Beijing. While everyone is pursuing happiness, Xiao Ji and Bin Bin are also ready for quick money.

"I was born in 1970 at the end of the Cultural Revolution when China was beginning to develop. But for the new generation, the development is nothing new. A new way of living and new values are available and have been spread fast by the media. Yet for a lot of people, the change in living conditions has been much slower than national development. This expanding gap created a lot of pressure ... on these young people," Jia said.

Having had previous films screen at both the Berlin Film Festival, (Xiao Wu, 1997) and the Venice Film Festival, (Platform, 2000), Jia this time makes a step forward to Cannes, competing for the Palm d'Or. But his film style remains the same.

Unknown Pleasure relies more on images than plot. Jia and cinematographer Yu Lik-wai (余力為), also a Hong Kong filmmaker, used digital camerawork to present an indifferent and nihilistic world where the TV and radio are constantly advertising the lottery and broadcasting propaganda about Falun Gong or Beijing's Olympic bid.

"I have a particular preference for long takes because it allows you to feel time in the film," Jia said. "Other Chinese directors ... have explored a lot in cinematography. And I feel that time has not been explored," he said. "I like to gaze at ordinary people. By gazing for a long time, you don't need to ask what they're doing, what they've been through, you can feel that time is sculpting this person," he added.

Jia's perspective and film style is reminiscent of Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), with his trademark long takes and concern about urban youth. For many Taiwanese film lovers, Unknown Pleasure is like seeing one of Hou's films with China in the background.

"It is true that the spirit of his films has inspired me a lot," Jia said. He said his favorite of Hou's film is All the Youthful Days (風櫃來的人). "I think it's because we are both interested in the basic things about human beings," he said. Taiwanese society went though an industrial change in the 1970s, which has been reflected in Hou's films. Now, as China undergoes rapid change, it seems to be Jia's turn to speak of the cruel reality underneath the prosperity.

Challenging the status quo always involves risk. None of Jia's films have been permitted to screen in China, although pirated VCDs of all of them are widely available. "I am waiting. Time will solve this problem," Jia said casually.

He shouldn't worry. With international credentials and a ticket to Cannes, Jia will find audiences in Japan, France, Korea and, of course, Taiwan.
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