Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

ZHANTAI / PLATFORM (2000)

Early feature from Jia Zhang-Ke watches with eerie precision, using long simple takes, as the 1980s play out in and around the town of Fenyang, Northern China. Seen thru the eyes & changing lives of a gaggle of twenty-something traveling performers, it’s no longer the Mao, Mao, Mao, Mao World of their parents & the authorities, but what’s to replace the old verities? Surely, there’s more to it than Pop music culture (with its heavy Western seasonings) and colorful, inexpensive clothing. But just try putting a name, number or ethical standard on it; especially for a new generation going thru a very delayed adolescent rebellion. Jia Zhang-Ke plays this as an ensemble piece, people come & go, or get replaced by younger members joining the troop with more up-to-date/Westernized styles. Personal identification, at least for a non-Chinese audience, can be tricky, making this less a story or character driven pic, than one of fast-devolving mores & moods. It's the sort of cultural dislocation you might get moving from one side of the world to the other, all happening while running in place. A change that goes all the way down to that new No Smoking sign on the bus. Economically executed, it’s a tough memory film with cascading emotions unexpectedly popping up at inconvenient moments.

DOUBLE-BILL: Must see more Jia Zhang Ke!

No comments: