FALL 2008
December 2

Still Life
(Sanxia haoren)

Hong Kong/China 2006, 108 min, drama
Director:  Jia Zhang Ke

A haunting and lyrical tale of the human costs of the massive Three Gorges Hydro Project, Still Life depicts a world in which traditional ties of language, family and culture are literally flooded away. The film focuses on Han Samning, a miner who comes to Fenjie looking for the wife and child whom he has not seen in sixteen years, and Shen Hong, a nurse in search of the husband who abandoned her to make his fortune in the redevelopment project. Dozens of other minor characters also struggle to establish emotional connections despite their lack of a common dialect or culture.  This deeply perceptive film won the Grand Prize at the 2006 Venice Film Festival.

LINKS

»  Drowning in Progress Village Voice review by J.Hoberman.
»  Moral Landscapes. “Still Life,” “Summer Palace,” and “Cassandra’s Dream.” by David Denby in The New Yorker.

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