By Michael Atkinson
As the Fifth Generation of Chinese cinema squander their seriousness trying to out-"Crouching Tiger" each other, the subsequent "Sixth Generation" has raised the bar without going ancient-era historical or relying on the hotsiness of Gong Li. Namely, Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye and Zhang Yuan have favored a kind of philosophical realism, and if the films haven't hit the mass audience sweet spot like the feminist/liberal melodramas of the '90s did, they've nevertheless made the films of Zhang Yimou look like a new brand of orientalism and painted life in contemporary China as despairingly as the gorgeous Gong movies used to portray the past. Meanwhile, a subgenre has emerged . the traditional family saga/bildungsfilm-as-haunted-by-the-Cultural-Revolution film, à la Zhang Yimou's "To Live," Gu Changwei's "Peacock," Xiao Jiang's "Electric Shadows," etc. Zhang Yang's "Sunflower" (2005) is a paradigmatic example, with its 30-year span, its timeless father-son battle of wills,...
As the Fifth Generation of Chinese cinema squander their seriousness trying to out-"Crouching Tiger" each other, the subsequent "Sixth Generation" has raised the bar without going ancient-era historical or relying on the hotsiness of Gong Li. Namely, Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye and Zhang Yuan have favored a kind of philosophical realism, and if the films haven't hit the mass audience sweet spot like the feminist/liberal melodramas of the '90s did, they've nevertheless made the films of Zhang Yimou look like a new brand of orientalism and painted life in contemporary China as despairingly as the gorgeous Gong movies used to portray the past. Meanwhile, a subgenre has emerged . the traditional family saga/bildungsfilm-as-haunted-by-the-Cultural-Revolution film, à la Zhang Yimou's "To Live," Gu Changwei's "Peacock," Xiao Jiang's "Electric Shadows," etc. Zhang Yang's "Sunflower" (2005) is a paradigmatic example, with its 30-year span, its timeless father-son battle of wills,...
- 7/8/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
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