Still Life on DVD (2006)

Problems with Still Life

herisson from Cowick Lane, Exeter [Highly rated reviewer] , 14/09/2008

Never before after seeing a movie have I found it so difficult to decide how to rate it.Seen simply as a documentary, showing how 'progess' can destroy people's homes and their dignity and integrity, even treating them as cheap labour, out of their need for employment, to demolish their own village before the new dam drowns it, set against a background of superb photagraphy it deserves 5 stars, in spite of it being very slow moving.

On the other hand the introduction of two couples, facing each other on meeting again after the debacle, brings fiction into the film in a dismally frustrating way. Without a hint of their personalities via closeups and expression reduces them to small static figues seen from a distance, adding nothing further to the message of the documntary, and prolonging pointlessly what is anyway a long film. This, I felt, deserved only one star.

When I saw the distribution of rating from members I was struck by the almost equal number of one and five star ratings, both taller than any in between, and this confirmed my reactions. Nothing for it but to allot 3 stars.

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Still life, sad life

A customer from Sandgate , 23/11/2008

An intriguing snapshot of Chinese life, perhaps full of symbolism. Certainly worth watching

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Good

A customer from Falmouth , 19/12/2008

i watched this twice to take in the scenery, although the trail of story was interesting enough to enjoy, and the angles of the moralities were revealling.

Worth watching just to imerse yourself in China, although with the rate of change there it may already be quite different.

Well filmed and pleasantly NOT proseletysing (for China).

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As the 21st century passes this is likely to become an all time great movie

A customer from ESSEX , 20/12/2008

I struggled to watch this film and for so much of it found the pace and acting too slow and frustrating.

Then when I watched the excellent documentary bonus features I had to retrace scenes to truly grasp what will in time I feel will be acknowledged as a masterpiece.

My justification for this is to compare the movie to three classic post 2nd World War cinematic triumphs; 'Tokyo Story'; 'Germany Year Zero' and 'Bicycle Thieves'.

What these masterpieces and 'Still Life' have in common are a record of a time in a country's existence when the landscape was changed dramatically by mankind and the lives of communities were changed forever. Albeit 'Still Life' wasn't caused by war, but the seemingly endless vistas of demolished buildings and towns and the effect on the communities along the Yangtze River is demonstrated in the movie to have marked similarities with the others..

Director Zhang Ke Jia has with a simple story recorded how communities are existing and facing the changes thrust on them by the building of the Three Gorges Dam and the flooding of countless valleys to accommodate China's dynamic expansion.

On reflection a fabulous piece of movie making.

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Problems with Still Life

herisson from Cowick Lane, Exeter [Highly rated reviewer] , 14/09/2008

Never before after seeing a movie have I found it so difficult to decide how to rate it.Seen simply as a documentary, showing how 'progess' can destroy people's homes and their dignity and integrity, even treating them as cheap labour, out of their need for employment, to demolish their own village before the new dam drowns it, set against a background of superb photagraphy it deserves 5 stars, in spite of it being very slow moving.

On the other hand the introduction of two couples, facing each other on meeting again after the debacle, brings fiction into the film in a dismally frustrating way. Without a hint of their personalities via closeups and expression reduces them to small static figues seen from a distance, adding nothing further to the message of the documntary, and prolonging pointlessly what is anyway a long film. This, I felt, deserved only one star.

When I saw the distribution of rating from members I was struck by the almost equal number of one and five star ratings, both taller than any in between, and this confirmed my reactions. Nothing for it but to allot 3 stars.

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Good

A customer from Falmouth , 19/12/2008

i watched this twice to take in the scenery, although the trail of story was interesting enough to enjoy, and the angles of the moralities were revealling.

Worth watching just to imerse yourself in China, although with the rate of change there it may already be quite different.

Well filmed and pleasantly NOT proseletysing (for China).

Read all highest rated reviews