‘Caught by the Tides’ Review: Jia Zhangke Sees Constant Flux

The story, as it is, open in the northern city of Datong and gradually emerges without the preamble and the usual cinematographic indications. If he has ever read a script writing manual, hey he probably threw it immediately, laughing. His work fits more easily to the traditions of Cinema Art than those of Hollywood, but it is never periodic insistently not program. “Trapped by the tides” takes place in about 20 years that, unlike the Convention, they are not formed in three perfectly defined acts (four or five). Instead, time in the film flows, as in life. A minute, Qiaoqiao is young and has a bob and bangs; The next one is clearly greater, and seems more directed inwards, his hair now stopped in a horsetail.

The emotionally tensioned romance of Qiao and Bin is enroll through “trapped by the tides”, but the heart of the film and its obvious sympathies are more with her than with him. About half an hour of the movie, one night appears watching a cheerful and strident crowd flooding the street. It is 2001, and China has just been named as the host of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. (“China won!”) The country is moving, and Qiaoqiao will soon be. Little of that, Bin is divided to pursue a business business alder, and she continues. She will continue to follow him for the rest of the film in the midst of national milestones, more crowds, dramatic turns, many songs and a multitude of young and old faces, without phrases and worn.

It is never clear what qiaoqiao sees in bin, apart from its careless and almost quiet intention towards it, which, of course, can be a demanding romantic cats. Whatever the reason, she feels attracted to him despite her schemes and her traveling eye. The first time they appear together in a scene is in a club where she is comfortably sitting next to a woman who carries the type of white chalk makeup, elaborate headdress and costumes used in the traditional Chinese opera. The differences between that woman and the problems of Qiaoqiao of the old and new China could not be more surprising. Same remarkable is how Bin treats Qiaoqiao, who tells him abruptly that he feels, he feels towards a seat in front of him.

The spectators who have seen Jia’s drama “unknown pleasuros” (2002) could ask if they are experiencing Déjà Vu while looking at this scene. This is because in the first two thirds of “trapped”, Jia has been extracted from the material that filmed years before, including alternative shots, some movies, especially “pleasures” and “Ash it is more pure to have the same), in it), blank), this creates a continuity of sprinkler because in” trapped “, you do not see only the characters in a few hours, but also the actors, the actors also change the changes in the changes in the changes. Look.