Xiao Ji and Bin Bin are aging teenagers at a loose end. When Xiao meets the singer Qiao Qiao, he decides to approach her, but comes up against her mafioso protector.
After Platform, Jia Zhang-ke returns here to the tones of his first film, Xiao Wu, Artisan Pickpocket (1997, which was awarded at F3C): the idea of “bootleg” filmmaking, with a camera slung over his shoulder and melting into the crowd. With this film shot in betacam, the filmmaker and his cinematographer began working with digital images. Shortened distances, the mundane resolution of textures and tones and the harsh white colour encounter a raw reality against which the characters collide or even stumble.
M.M.
