Release Date: 10/14/2008
Label/Distributor: New Yorker
Rating: Unrated
Prebook DVD: 09/17/2008
Retail Price: $29.95
Genre: Art House & International Cast: Wang Hong Wei,Zhao Tao,Zhou Lin,Han Sanming,Li Zhubin
Director: Jia Zhang Ke
Running Time: 108
DVD Video Options: Color,DVD-Video,NTSC
DVD Audio Options: English;Subtitled,Mandarin Chinese;Original Language
DVD Extras: “Dong” feature film, interview
UPC Code: 717119111748
In Still Life, great changes have come to the town of Fengjie due to the construction of the Three Gorges hydro project on the Yangtze River. Countless families that had lived there for many generations have had to relocate to other cities. Fengjie's old town, which has a 2000-year history, has been torn down and submerged forever. There are still things that need to be salvaged and yet there are also things that must be left behind. In Still Life, such life-changing choices face both Sanming, a miner traveling to Fengjie in search of his ex-wife of sixteen years, and Shen Hong, a nurse who has come to Fengjie to look for her husband who she hasn't seen in two years. Both Sanming and Shen will find who they're looking for, but in the process they too will have to decide what is worth salvaging in their lives and what they need to let go of.
Still Life is an empathetic portrait of those left behind by a modernizing society and, as in director Jia Zhang-ke's earlier films (Platform, Unknown Pleasures, The World), it is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction.
Special Features:
- Additional feature film, Dong (68 minutes)
- Interview with director Jia Zhang-ke
- Theatrical Trailer
- Scene Selections
- Dolby Digital 5.1
- Enhanced for 16x9 TVs
- Optional English subtitles
"A BREATHTAKING collision of fact and fiction. A movie to change one's view of both cinema and life. As such, it's very, very dangerous." John Anderson, NEWSDAY
"Extremely beautiful!" David Denby, THE NEW YORKER
"Extraordinary!" Lisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Still Life
By Ed Hulse -- Video Business, 9/29/2008
NEW YORKERStreet: Oct. 14
Prebook: now
> Brilliant, ethereal look at contemporary Chinese life.
Glacially paced but hypnotically fascinating, this beautifully photographed Chinese drama sports a minimalist plot revolving around the submersion of an old village as part of a massive hydroelectric construction project. Two people search for long-missing spouses: middle-aged miner Han (Han Sanming) and young nurse Shen Hong (Zhao Tao). Their respective quests are successful—to a point, anyway—but along the way, both make hard choices and reevaluate what’s really important to them. Director Jia Zhang-Ke demonstrates unerring narrative judgment and succeeds in making a triumph in cinematic lyricism.
Shelf Talk: Still Life has the appropriate pedigree for renters who enjoy serious-minded foreign films and arthouse product. The film has received uniformly glowing reviews and picked up several prizes at international film festivals. Within its niche, Still Life should do very well with lovers of Far Eastern arthouse titles.
Foreign-language drama, color, NR (mature themes), 108 min., DVD $29.95, Mandarin with English subtitlesExtras: bonus feature film
Director: Jia Zhang-Ke
First Run: L, Jan. 2008, <$1 mil.
