Hero

英雄

《英雄》, also known as Hero, is a radically different film from Zhang Yimou’s previous works. While there are certainly typical Zhang elements in this film, the differences are stark. Everything from the cinematography to ideological undertones is unique to Hero in a way not previously seen in a Zhang production. I would argue that this film represents a shift from Zhang’s previous experience as a cinematographer to his current role as producer/director. The camera work and political implications serve as evidence of this transformation.

In contrast to his previous films, Zhang focused far more on the characters themselves rather than the setting in which their lives play out. The overly long scenes of landscapes in which nothing was happening are gone. Instead, the beautiful scenery is merely a background to the events taking place. There are very few scenes without a character in them and almost none that are held for an extended period of time. An example of this is when Flying Snow and Broken Sword are waiting for Nameless to return from his assassination attempt while standing on mountain steeps. The camera pans far out to where you see both characters as mere white specs against the orange-brownish background, yet it does not stay there for a grueling amount of time. This insertion of people coupled with shorter time frames makes for a more continuous flow of narration while maintaining the beautiful scenic shots Zhang so favors.

The nature of Hero’s political commentary is also quite different from Zhang’s previous films. In Not One Less and To Live, the issues were mostly rooted in physical issues, like starvation and murder, rather than the ideological turmoil of Hero. While they are both contemporary problems, the extremely critical exegesis of this film is of a grander, more international scale than any of Zhang’s other works. Whether the peace-through-violence ideology is moral or ethical is a hotly contested issue explicitly expressed by the mixed reactions to this film. Many critics believe Zhang is promoting this ideal in allowing Nameless to let the Qin emperor live. I must respectfully disagree with this belief, since it is completely evident that the emperor’s tactics only bring death and destruction, not peace. In fact, as Professor Robert Eng of the University of Redlands stated in his paper “Is Hero a Paean to Authoritarianism?,” “the [Qin] dynasty went down in the flames of rebellions provoked by its cruelty.” This empirical evidence is all that is needed to prove the peace-through-bloodshed method is not only flawed, but retrogressive.

In Hero, Zhang Yimou created a truly breathtaking and powerful film unlike any of his other movies. Through his use of solid script writing and more viewer-friendly cinematography, his transition from cameraman to director is finally realized in this film. The gorgeous scenery, beautiful fight scenes, and engaging plot come together to form a dazzling movie with deep commentary, something every moviegoer can appreciate.

- 安均奕

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=14371

China Bans Time Travel

http://the-diplomat.com/china-power/2011/04/14/china-bans-time-travel/

No going back to the future!! The Chinese government's paranoia seemingly knows no bounds as they move to ban time travel adventure stories, claiming that it undermines their legitimacy, promotes feudalism, superstition, fatalism and reincarnation.
I guess they are worried that citizens will get dangerous ideas about going back and killing Mao before he traumatizes all of China.
The move seems desperate, another move to restrict civil liberties on the whims of a corrupt and fearful government.

Western China Advances

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90873/7345363.html

This article is about a university in western China that has recently gained accreditation from an international organization for its business school. This is a significant event because the interior of China has long been considered to be impoverished and backwards, which is not necessarily an unfair assertion. However, this article proves that the developmental progress is moving inland, improving the lives of many Chinese.

This Just In!! China's Not a Superpower!

http://apac2020.the-diplomat.com/feature/china%E2%80%99s-not-a-superpower/

…and won’t be anytime soon, according to Minxin Pei, a political scientist and the director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies, who says that although China has grown stronger it is not yet a "SuperPower". Relax....

The article more clearly defines the term superpower, stating that in all of world history, only one country–the United States–has truly acquired all the capabilities of a superpower:

- a technologically advanced economy

- a hi-tech military

- a fully integrated nation

- military and economic advantages over competitors

- capacity to provide global public goods

- an appealing ideology.

There is some value to the argument, China will need to overcome a great many challenges before it can accept the mantle of Superpower. Currently, more than half of the Chinese population still live in villages, most without access to safe drinking water, basic healthcare, or decent education. With urbanization growing at about 1 percent a year, it will take "another three decades for China to reduce the size of its peasantry to a quarter of the population."

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

This movie, which will from now on be referred to as CTHD, is a masterwork of film that achieved great success in the international market, particularly in the West. Its breathtaking scenery and outlandish fighting scenes in combination with a deeper, ideological conflict creates a movie fit to stun audiences worldwide. However, the Chinese people themselves were not nearly as impressed or enthused by the film, citing myriad reasons for their dismissal of CTHD. This persisting contrast between foreign and domestic reception of films is an ever-present challenge Chinese film directors face.

On the surface, CTHD is about Jiao, a young woman who is going into an arranged marriage while loving another man, the latter of which is too poor to contend with the former. Jiao is caught between her desire to please her parents and bring honor to her family and her overwhelming need for freedom. In many respects, this is a reflection on the competing ideologies of an “old China” versus a “new China.” Under the Confucian system, the family was the most important unit for the commonfolk, one that took complete precedent over one’s individual personhood. Everything one did was for the family, thus arranged marriages were established to improve a household’s social standing and wealth. Subsequently, this left many of China’s young women with no choice but to marry an often unknown man merely for the sake of their family. On the opposite end of this spectrum is the current wave of hyper-individuality overtaking China which is represented by Jiao’s intense desire for freedom. While set several centuries in the past, the social commentary of this movie is quite relevant to the modern era. In the end, perhaps in an overly theatrical manner, Jiao realizes that the only way for her to truly be free is for her to perish by her own volition.

The stark differences in reception also intrigued me in that this movie appeared to be one that the Chinese people could certainly relate to and appreciate. However, the reviews were not so kind. The four main actors, being from different regions in Asia, were criticized for their non-Mandarin accents. Only Zhang Ziyi, who plays Jiao Long, has a Beijing accent, coinciding with the location of the movie. While seemingly superficial, this critique reveals the ego-centric nature of Beijingers. Because it is the capital and largest city in China, Beijing tends to set the precedent for the rest of the nation. Its dialect is even considered to be the ‘standard’ Chinese dialect, although it is one of the only regions that speaks it.

Another critique is that CTHD is just another “wuxia” film, or one featuring martial arts as a central theme. I suppose this would be like a stereotypical teenage romance film from America being popular in China while Americans dismissed it as a slight variant on a clichéd theme. While it was never all that popular in China, it received dozens of accolades and praise from the international community and even became the best-selling foreign film in America for a time (and perhaps still). Interestingly, the movie was as highly praised for its ideological statements as its cinematography, a rare occurrence for popular films in the Western world. If the high-brow “artistic community” and popular community can come to a consensus on a film, it is truly a miracle. Thus a lack of support from the Chinese themselves is greatly disheartening yet understandable.

China aids Japan

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/7337084.html

This article shows the evolving nature of international relations amongst East Asian countries, specifically China and Japan. Generally considered to be archrivals, this overwhelming show of support is quite astonishing. In fact, their amount of aide is far outpacing America's own, something even more shocking considering Japan is one of our closest friends.

Future X Cops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JBNAXfs4sU

Alright, hear me out here. It's less news and more of a recent "entertainment" trend in Hong Kong. But this video needed to be shared with the world, and if there is anything that Kung Fu Hustle should have taught us it's that we can draw intellectual conclusions from even the most seemingly base subject material.

The Director is Wong Jing, an artist that claims to be successful because he "gives the people what they want, not what he thought that they should want"

He specializes in deliberately trashy movies full of sexual titillation, dirty jokes, and dumb plots. When I saw this trailer I naturally assumed that it was a serious attempt, that once again Chinese filmmakers just couldn't measure up to western standards in terms of acting, effects, or writing. Little did I know that it was the cross-cultural equivalent to a SciFi channel original movie.

For me, the idea that foreign art is a creature not dissimilar to our own is still a strange one. But this movie appears to be SELF AWARE GARBAGE, an accomplishment not to be taken lightly.

(The above statement is unironic btw)

Maybe the movie is not worth mentioning. Maybe I just wanted to share this silly trailer. Certainly it's evidence that China is on its way towards replacing Japan in terms of stupid s*%# that Americans learn to love for no reason.

But then again, maybe there is something to be learned from all of this.

Wow, that's a big fist!

Kung Fu Hustle is a comedy through and through, slapstick balls to the wall wackiness with touches of genuine brilliance in its varied cultural parodies and frequent vacillation between genuine emotion and Loony-Toon style silliness.
It is above all else, a film that succeeds in a single unambiguous goal, to entertain. Kung Fu Hustle carries no obvious pretensions of high art, it is a sweeping epic of slapstick comedy, well shot choreography, engaging CG, and memorable characters. That is not to say that there is no significant artistic or intellectual undertones at work in the movie, but the purpose of audience amusement eclipses the sociopolitical statements and (in my opinion) ultimately amplifies underlying themes by marrying them to humor and action. Like Quentin Tarantino’s pulpy amalgamation of high-brow intellectualism and cathartic violence (from which the film draws heavily) Kung Fu Hustle proves what can happen when talented creators blur the line between “art” and entertainment.

The story itself follows Sing, a downtrodden everyman whose various misfortunes have convinced him that “good guys never win”. He aspires to join the fearsome Axe Gang and finds himself trapped in an escalating conflict between retired kung fu masters and the dark Hannibal-like “Beast” that the gang hires to destroy the Pig Sty heroes.

Hilarity ensues.

It’s refreshing to see a movie so willing to be spontaneous and uninhibited, Kung Fu Hustle is aware of its source material and intended audience, paradoxically touching and silly as it dissects popcorn munching mainstream successes (primarily Kung-Fu films) with gleeful fervor. Along the way the movie touches upon Spiderman, the Shining, Loony Toons, Kill Bill, the Matrix, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and many more. The expectation is that a comedic film so diverse in its source material might drop the ball, derail pacing or simply get lost in pursuit of comedic tangents (any familiarity with recent Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer films i.e. “Epic Movie”, proves that drawing from many different sources of parody is not always a good idea). However, Kung Fu Hustle remains tightly focused even as cultural reference after cultural reference is dropped skillfully into the action. Much like the movie’s subtleties of culture and artistic meaning, these references do not overwhelm or detract from the singular goal of an enjoyable movie going experience.

Kung Fu Hustle’s success as an entertaining piece of culture brings me to an important point for which I must briefly digress, but that I’m sure many reading will find relatable.
Too often when encountering Chinese culture I adopt a straight-faced paranoia that keeps me from appreciating comedy or heart. Every piece of foreign popular culture that falls into my lap becomes an unavoidable search for meaning rather than face-value appreciation of the work’s entertainment value. I read through “Chaos and all that” and “Please Don’t Call me Human” with all the intensity and seriousness of a CIA code-breaker, certain somehow that if I could just study the foreign words in front of me I could unlock some hidden substrata of international understanding. It wasn’t until I heard Jennifer read passages in class that I suddenly realized that these works were meant to be funny. I was somehow shocked that culture was meant to entertain (then again after watching Platform that’s an easy perception to have).

However Kung Fu Hustle remains enjoyable while ensuring that every aspect of its complex combination of cinematography, choreography, comedy, and music is well crafted and cleverly utilized. It's not often that a zany comedy is so brilliantly shot. Not just the choreography, but CGI effects, fast cutaways, the slow panning, high angles and the tracking through intricate sets, even tried and true bullet-time seems fresh when Stephen Chow has his chance at the helm.
No aspect of the movie seems out of place or detracts from its seamlessness, all aspects pointing towards a deliberate cinematic purpose.
The film’s music in particular is extremely relevant, comprised largely of traditional Chinese with only a few more modern exceptions it serves to subtly underline differences in tone between the humble inhabitants of Pig Sty and the nefarious Axe Gang. While the poor peasants are accompanied by folk-like Chinese melody, the Axe Gang and Beast warrant darker tunes, low jazzy trumpet rumbles and sinister tones that display a degree of sophistication and danger.
Throughout the film the music holds up well, often as overtly indicative of drama, triumph, and terror as any traditional action adventure movie music (think Indiana Jones) with the addition perhaps of an eastern flair.

Perhaps the cost of Sing’s slapstick misfortunes and childish hilarity is that Kung Fu Hustle ends up having less to say than a strictly “art” film of comparable skill. Even if that is the case, it’s a reward well worth the cost. In the end, Kung Fu Hustle succeeds in more treacherous territory than most filmmakers would dare tread The film’s sharp, silly dialogue, acutely funny allusions to pop culture, and sudden lurches between humor and seriousness never delay the action or feel tacked on. What actor/director Stephen Chow lacks, is the maturity to invest his work with anything that might provoke a deeper more heartfelt emotional response to his characters beyond momentary sympathy. Nonetheless, Kung Fu Hustle is very entertaining. A film with the sophistication not to overreach, Kung Fu Hustle is a must see for anyone looking for brilliant comedy with artistic bite that translates well across international borders.

Bridges Across China

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2011-03/18/content_12193590.htm

This article takes something commonplace in China, bridges, and shows how the many varied styles reflects different periods in Chinese history and culture. We generally think of things as culturally important only if there are a limited number of them, but there are millions of these bridges all across China.

Schadenfreude and Sympathy in Shanghai

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/11/schadenfreude_and_sympathy_in_shanghai

China's reaction to the unfolding Japanese tragedy has been mixed. On the one hand; an opportunity to display their status as a "great nation" by assisting, and on the other; a sympathetic confliction of emotions as anti-Japanese sentiments collide with the tragedy of the disaster. This article explores how the average Chinese feels about the destruction of their Japanese neighbors....

Perspective on Changes to Cinema from Taiwan

Thought some of you might be interested, it's the English translation of a talk given by Tsai Ming-liang.  He speaks a bit to the conversation we had on Friday:

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2011/feature-articles/on-the-uses-and-misuses-of-cinema/

chinese rescue team leaves for China.

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-03/13/content_12163012_4.htm

There are 15 members in the Chinese rescue team. This number seems rather small compared: one, to the number of casualties and damage caused by the earthquake and the tsunami in Japan and two, to the number of people in China. In addition, it seems that there are more news reporter than actual members.
I don't really know how to see it. In a way, symbolically, it could be seen as good since the two countries have had strain relations.
But it could also be seen as China saying to Japan: "Here you go it is all you get".

Young migrants changing the face of China's cities

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031203054.html

More and more of China's young rural population is migrating to the cities. Whereas in years previous, these migrant workers had merely come to find jobs to earn money and then return home, these new immigrants show no signs of this, with a survey showing that 56% of migrants under the age of 30 had plans to buy a house in the city in which they worked. With China's cities already facing overcrowding, estimates suggest that China's population will be primarily urban by 2015.

China Will Hold Local Governments More Responsible in Reducing Pollution

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-12/china-will-hold-local-governments-more-responsible-in-reducing-pollution.html

As part of its new 5 year plan, China has issued carbon dioxide emission quotas to provincial governments. As the worlds leading polluter, China is seeking to decrease its pollution, especially from heavy metals and non bio-degradable waste. This new 5 year plan is set to decrease its pollution growth by an even greater amount than its last 5 year plan, a goal it failed to meet. Chinese officials have stated that they can no longer ignore the environment in favor of economic growth.

"Platform" goes at its own pace

Jia Zhang Ke's “Platform” portrays a unique view of the commercialization of China with the story of a traveling performance troupe almost as a background. Of course it is hard to tell which side of the story is the major focus. The cinematography usually calls for wide distant shots of the various characters which tends to emphasize the stark environments around the characters even when they are indoors.

The pacing of this film reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Many long stretches of silence exist throughout and the human side of the story could have easily been shrunk down to an hour and a half or so of screen time or maybe even less. Of course like 2001, the stark environment is meant to be a character in and of itself. As the years in the film go by we see the rural towns slowly change and take on more commercial appearances as the influence of Mao fades away. The troupe itself adopts a pseudo rock and roll personality to its performances upon the ascension of Deng Xiaoping and the rise in popularity of Theresa Teng.

The human story of the relationships between the various members of the troupe usually takes a backseat to the environments they occur in. The various young people become increasingly more independent and break away from the old ideological ways. As the film progresses they become more and more westernized. By the end at least one of the couples looks like a very western nuclear family as the screen finally fades to black.

This film asks for a lot of patience from its viewers. Critics seem to love it by default, by virtue of its unique artistic style. However, if you can pay close attention to the various depressing looking landscapes throughout the almost three hour run time and pick up on all of the subtle hints of change occurring as the film progresses than Jia Zha succeeded in his artistic vision.

Platform,

Platform, directed by Jia Zangke, premiered in 2000.
As soon as its debut, the movie was welcomed and presented as a “sophisticated and cinematic poem about time, change, and coming of the age” and "defining piece of a generation". As for its director, cinema critics all over the world gave him recognition and a place along the masters of Chinese Cinema. Nevertheless after three hours of watching the movie, the word “end” was welcomed with a sight of relief by most of the students in the room; myself included.
The movie was a breakthrough in the sense that it touched the area of transition between 1979 and 1989; transition from the madness of Mao’s Cultural Revolution to the money frenzy brought by Deng Xiaoping’s “Socialism with Modern Characteristics” (in other words: capitalism). The story illustrates this period through the eyes of the young individuals of a performing troop. The death of Mao induced a change in dynamics of the troop. Previously, the group was a tool of propaganda used to “educate the masses”. Everything they were involved in and/or responsible for was decided following Mao’s desires. At the contrary during the new era, the members of the troop have to find for themselves what they want to do and what direction to take in order to be able to survive as artists.The movie reflects this period of transition by long periods of awkward silence, absence of transition and untold sufferings and feelings which act as (cultural?)barriers for the spectator to relate. Fortunately a few beautiful scenes save the movie from being desperately long.
It is said that “silence speaks louder than words”, but in the case of the movie, I found the silence awkward and frustrating. It exists some silence of beauty, of sadness, of incomprehension, of faith. But here, the omnipresent silence makes it oppressing and underlines the uncertainty. It seems to indicate the lack of expression of the people, who try to lead their life but don't know how to give it a direction. Those confused silence make it hard for the viewer to understand what is happening in the mind of the protagonists and thus difficult to relate. In addition, silence and the lack of transition brings the impression of untold sufferings and untold emotions. The snow falling and the music remind the viewer that the time goes by, but the protagonists seem to be trapped in an uncomfortable present. For example, two of the member form a couple: Zhong Ping and Zhang June. Arrives a moment where Zhong has to take the decision to get an abortion. Zhong, Zhang and the director of the troop can be seen in an empty hospital. After first chickening out of the abortion, Zhong finally enters a room, suggesting that she did go for it. In the following scene, the same members minus the director of the troop and add Cui Mingliang, Yuin Ruijuan(the other main protagonists) and a friend are found playing mahjong in a room. Zhong stand on the side, sitting on a bed. She appeared to be disturbed and screams several times unsucessfully for Zhang to stop playing. The other characters keep also on playing, barely giving her any attention. The following scene show the group as a whole on the road again and no words are uttered about the abortion. There are no transitions. As a spectator we are conscious that Zhong made a life-changing decision and that she must be still shocked and traumatized by the abortion, that it is an ordeal in her young life. Yet it is not developed. The viewer doesn't know whether or not the other members know the fact but nobody seems to be willing to help her, all seem lethargic and insensitive to her call. Worst, Zhang doesn't seem to take responsibility for his act. The quick change of scenery show that the sufferings rather than being dealt with are buried and that life keeps on going.
Thankfully, amidst the awkward moment, a few beautiful scenes emerge, such as the scene with the truck stuck in the middle of nowhere. The troop is driving to perform in another remote area; they have to go through an empty valley surrounded by mountains. But the truck breaks down. Everybody gets off. Cui Mingliang get up and sits behind the drivers wheel and put a tape of music influenced by the West. It reminded me of one of those American road trip movies, with the loneliness of the empty landscape emphasized by the rock music. The lyrics of the song goes along the protagonists situation and reflects the whole movie, they are longing for something to happen to direct their lives. It says "The long and empty platform, the song that's never ending, the long wagons are carrying m short lived love, the long and empty platform, lonely we can only wait, all my love is out-bond, nothing on the n-bond train, there the train is coming, my heart waits, waits forever". And then a train goes by and they all go after it.

In my opinion, the movie is easier to watch if one has prepared intellectually for it, in the sense that readings have been done to understand Jia Zhangke's goal (portrait the transition and the confusion) and to know the period in China's history represented in the movie. Without doing so, it makes it very difficult to relate. The "art and poetry" of the movie is out of reach, replaced by boredom.

Dali Lama

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/09/india.dalai.lama/index.html

The Dali Lama retiring must be very emotional for many people. But he is right, the Dali Lama has every right to retire just like any one else. It must be worrisome though when thinking who will take his place as or if any one will be able to take his place. Will China allow another Dali Lama?

Um, about democracy…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12697997

China’s second in command, Wu Bangguo, announced to China’s National People’s Congress that the Chinese government will have nothing to do with democracy. Apparently, there will be extreme consequences if they convert to a democratic system. Previous advances in the economy will become obsolete, and China will succumb to chaos. But last year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiaobao said otherwise: “China could possible introduce democratic reforms.” He said that reforms were needed to make sure that the people had power. As we can see, however, China is still under Communist power, and what they say is the law.

Platform

Platform is one of those movies that critics are supposed to love and admire for its artistic shots and real story. It won many awards and played at many film festivals. Platform explores many things like controversial topic of the westernization of China as seen through the bellbottom jeans and other things like the flamingo dance. All of these are worthy reasons to see this film unfortunately the film is extremely dull, boring, monotonous, and too long for its content and subject by at the very least an hour and a half. The length of the film just leads to confusion. I was lost by the first hour of film, three plus hours is too much for any film. The version we saw was around 150 minutes but it felt more like 100 plus hours to me.

The scenery is nice enough, the landscapes are pretty, however the filmmaking is so humdrum that anything we would have gained from the scenery is lost because of the time sent on each scene. He holds shots long past the end point of a scene, showing people walk further out of frame or just having them stand still as the camera slowly pans away only to stop when the actors are out of frame on a piece of scenery for another minute or two. I feel as though the characters in the film are so board and unhappy with their lives that, that combined with the filming combine to make us just as unhappy with the fact that we have to watch the film.

Also music was supposed to play a big part in this movie. I can see why that should be considering that the main characters were actors in a traveling performance group. But to be honest I didn’t notice any music at all in the movie aside from the two dance scenes (if you can call whatever they were doing dancing) and whenever it was a part of the movie, like when they were listening to the radio. The only other time I know they played music was when he was lighting the fire at night. Even then it seemed like a child edited it in because it started up out of nowhere and didn’t even fade in. Also the scene ended without warning, cutting out the music I know it was supposed to be this great film but it all seemed too amateur to be made by a professional.

The film’s ending was supposed to be some big moment in modern filmmaking. I don’t see it. All I saw was a man passed out in a chair and a women walking back and forth holding a baby over a stove. He entire last scene is exactly two minutes long. That is way too long in my opinion for a scene with no camera movement. At about a minute and twenty-five seconds into the scene there is this obnoxious noise that starts to sound. I couldn’t tell if it was a siren or the teapot. Either way the movie cuts to black for a whole ten seconds before fading the sound out and rolling the credits. When I saw this I had no idea that it was the last scene of the movie. So when it cut out randomly to a black screen still playing the background noises I figured it was going to switch to another scene where I would be equally board. But instead the credits started to roll. I didn’t know weather to be confused that the film ended that way or be happy the film was over.

Nothing (also known as Platform) by Jia Zhangke

Platform begins and ends in a small village in rural China, most likely a western province due to the lack of colors. There is a group of friends/couples/morons that are part of a song-and-dance troupe used as a mouthpiece for the Maoist government. After a long time of nothing happening, they leave the city to go out into the world and do, surprise, nothing. After more nothing happens they return to their hometown to do, again, nothing. During this time they are surrounded by a colorless and uninspiring landscape which only adds to the sense of a complete lack of substance in this movie (if one goes so far as to classify it under this term).

There is a complete and utter difference between a silent film and a film about nothing. This concept, however, is clearly one that Jia Zhangke never bothered to learn. The American films of the early 1900’s were silent yet packed with action and meaning. Platform, on the other hand, was not a silent movie yet contained little to no meaning. This reversal leads to a three-hour-long movie that is about nothing and has no significant meaning or impact. If a movie is so completely devoid of these necessary features, as Platform is, it might as well be thrown in the garbage can and set alight in an all-consuming conflagration. Jia’s detachment from the viewers of his movie is painfully evident in the fact that few people can even remember the names of his “characters,” if one can stretch what they do to the role of a character which is meant to portray something significant to the viewers.

This detachment is, unfortunately, a hallmark of the “artistic” set of films that attempt to convey some social or political meaning rather than earn billions of dollars. While there are many of these films that adequately portray their intended ideological significance, the majority are mere ignominious, shoddy collections of film thrown together in a barely logical order. These movies almost never gain the respect of the public yet frequently are heaped with praise from the artistic community. This dichotomy between popular and artistic culture reveals the elitist nature of Western artistic culture which is often composed of fellow artists and academics. To these individuals, “artistic” is defined as something that is different or abrasive to the popular norm, which translates to the common individual as a blatant attempt at high-browing the artistic community into something above public appreciation. A perfect example of this is the movie Avatar, which became the highest-selling movie of all time in a matter of months yet received almost no awards from the “artistic” community. In fact, Avatar and Platform represent the perfect contrast between popular and “artistic” culture that acts as empirical evidence for my argument: Avatar received few awards while Platform got almost every one possible (surprisingly, ‘The Most Boring Movie of the Year’ or ‘Biggest Waste of Film Space’ awards were not among of them).

Kent Jones of the Film Society of Lincoln Center has said that the ending scene of Platform is ‘one of the finest moments in modern movies,’ a comment he most assuredly wished to retract as soon as he came down from his hallucinogen-induced high. This scene, which was supposedly to serve as the climax, is nothing of the sort. The word ‘climax’ invokes a sense of action that occurs as a result of a buildup of tension. Climaxes usually involve deaths, explosions, or fairy tale-like perfect endings. They do not, however, consist of a man sleeping and a woman rocking a baby. Furthermore, the buildup or tension or suspense that ends in a dramatic and final manner is totally absent due to the lack of anything to build upon. Yes, the ending was most likely intentionally set in this manner as to emphasize that the entire film itself is about nothing, yet this still prevents the audience from enjoying any facet of the movie. Jones was clearly on a psychotropic drug of some sort in order to feel this scene had any particular meaning, for what begins in nothing can only end in nothing; matter can neither be created nor destroyed.

虽然这个电影真没有意思，但是我懂为什么江老师要我们看。如果中国人觉得很有意思的话，我们就得看看。然而，我还挺不喜欢站台。对不起！

-安均奕 / Jayson Eckert