Saturday 24th February 2:00 PM - Theatre By The Lake
Mountains May Depart
Details
Director: Jia Zhangke Country:Cert: TBC Year: 2015 Length: 131 minsLanguage: China
Synopsis
Mountains May Depart is a film by Jia Zhangke, who has spent most of his 20-year career sounding off on the downside of what he considers his country's too-enthusiastic embrace of globalization, and the influence of Western capitalism and ideals (read: greed) that come with it. Set in 1999, 2014 and 2025, Mountains May Depart revolves mostly around its everyday heroine, Tao (Zhao Tao, Jia's muse on and offscreen), a woman caught somewhere between the dream and the reality of modern China.
Critics

Jia's languid style and exquisite framing complement his understated approach to the material, which opts for depth over melodrama. ...Mountains ... is grounded in Zhao's delicate performance, a character caught between progress and tradition, her life running in place, each day blending into the next.

San Francisco Chronicle