Jia Zhangke, A Touch of Sin, and the Use of Animals to Represent Corruption.

Jia Zhangke’s newest feature, A Touch of Sin, is a giant departure from his more neo-realist inspired films. A Touch of Sin has been compared to the work of Quentin Tarantino and Johnnie To, often using violence for symbolic meaning. However violence towards animals specifically is a reoccurring motif, bypassing that would be ignoring an important message in Zhangke’s feature.

Zhangke uses violence throughout towards animals and humans interchangeably. Violence against both is used by those who have lost hope within China’s new found wealth, and is seen as their only means to regain any sort of control. We are repeatedly shown that when people have been reduced to their weakest point, lashing out seems the only logical response. This is most clearly portrayed in the opening section of A Touch of Sin.  Dahai (Wu Jiang)is a man who has lost faith with trying to do things fairly, and instead lashes out in a rage of gunfire. Dahai however, doesn’t just shoot those who have become corrupt and have taken advantage of the locals, he also kills an average man who we are shown has relentlessly been whipping his horse. We can assume this man is whipping the horse due to this his frustration at, perhaps, his only source of income, one that has become tired, and old. He knows that if the horse gives up, he is left hopeless in a country that has developed too rapidly for him and is quickly leaving him behind. The man has been left with nothing but this last resort, to let out his frustrations with violence, even though he is surely aware this will only exacerbate the problem. He has become part of the cycle of corruption and violence through no fault of his own, with Zhangke suggesting that corruption and violence are two of the same thing. As Dahai is attempting to rid the whole area of this corruption/violence, and placing the innocent first, this man becomes a victim of Dahai’s rage.  Dahai is aware of the corruption that happens around, and with being aware of this, as well at the fact that he has lost faith in the government, accepts the fact that he must resort to killing. Dahai however ensures that he will instead use this in order to defend the innocent, both human and animal. With Dahai killing this man, a person who could be seen as a symbolic representation of a man attempting to reassert dominance over an ‘inferior’ creature, Dahai takes upon a duel role, where he becomes the symbolic revenge of those who have fallen victim of an abusive, corrupt government for both humans and animals. Dahai (a character that could be seen as Zhengke’s release of his own frustrations with the government) sees the abuse of power not only in those who take advantage of humans, but also those who take advantage of animals. By wrapping his gun with the image of a tiger, he has symbolically become a defender of both the down-trodden human and animal, and given power back to both. Both gun and tiger are, after all, seen as the most powerful weapon for mankind, and most powerful creature in the animal kingdom.

The image of whipping is repeated later on in the film, where Xiao Yu (Zhao Tao) is beaten in the same manner, this time however with wads of cash. This far more explicate use of symbolism shows Zhangke’s belief that money has become the dominate force in modern China, and this has lead to the abuse of power. By repeating the image of the beating of the horse, this time on Xiao Yu, Zhangke lays the abusive nature of the Communist Party as not being mutually exclusive to just humans or animals. Zhangke see’s the rise of importance of money, and the governments shift towards capitalism as being the key reason why rural China has seen itself left behind the urban, increasingly cosmopolitan sprawls that the cities have become. Money, for Zhangke, has become a weapon as powerful as the gun, or the tiger.

Corruption has become intertwined with violence for Zhangke, and A Touch of Sin shows how quickly this has gone out of control. By using the basis of real stories found on Weibo, Zhangke stitched together stories the breadth of the country in order to reinforce this belief, and to demonstrate the far-reaching impacts that the dramatic reforms made by the Chinese government have had on the average citizen, and to attempt to demonstrate why a rise in extremely violent crime has recently become an important talking point in Chinese social media.

Cannes 2014 - What will happen, and what to look for.

Cannes is rarely unpredictable on the surface, certain names regularly crop up in main competition. I will make a few predictions on the likely receptions the films in the main competition will receive, followed by some films that I am excited about, or shake up Cannes to an extent.

After the announcement of the main competitions at Cannes, the British media focused on the obvious, Leigh and Loach. Sadly, these two represent the past of British cinema, and perhaps we should be looking at why there is a lack of young British talent at Cannes this year. These two will be solidly received at Cannes, but have little impact on any awards. Loach may however receive some token gesture if this is to be his last feature. Goodbye to Language, the latest by Jean-Luc Godard, shot in 3D also inevitably received a lot of attention, however will just as inevitably split audiences and not win much. Other big names, Cronenberg, the Dardenne's and Miller are all likely to be well received, but unlikely to win the main prize (in the Dardenne case, largely because of fear of criticism they can 'do no wrong' in Cannes eyes). Hazanavicius, director of The Artist, is likely to face heavy backlash with The Search that always meets directors after Oscar success. I will revisit these after the awards have been handed out, just to see how predictable these all are...

Now, to the ones that have something exciting about them:

Palme d'Or

Winter Sleep - Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Perhaps the most likely winner of the Palme d'Or, Ceylan has been one of the most exciting directors that Cannes seemed to have plucked from nowhere for a long time. Ceylan has won awards at Cannes regularly, including with his last feature, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, and as long as it isn't below par (Three Monkeys being the only slightly poor feature out his current six features), Cannes look likely to reward him for his whole filmography. Will receive criticism in some parts who complain it is too slow and long, coming in at 196 minutes.

Mommy - Xavier Dolan

Dolan is easy to hate, but his rate of high-quality features is impossible to ignore. Five features at the age of 25 is incredible, and Mommy has made a leap up into main competition. Tom at the Farm is the only feature of his I am yet to see, however many commentators have stated of the maturity of this work, and the Cannes selection panel seem to agree with this if it has continued into his newest feature. Dolan will face criticism of shallowness, however the talent and consistent quality cannot be ignored. Dolan will be around for a long time, and make genuine works of important cinema. Is unlikely to receive any award, as I am sure Cannes sees the fact that he is even in the main competition as reward enough. Will have to wait a few more features into his career before he has 'earned' the right.

Timbuktu - Abderrahmane Sissako

The token African film that is starting to become a regular feature in main competition, and will receive absolutely nothing in terms of awards, and more than likely receive little attention in the press. However, although even if it is a token gesture, Cannes need to be congratulated for forcing this into the mainstream. Sissako does have a track record in film festivals, as well as links with France, which helps ease him into acceptance with Cannes. Sadly though, this will be the most ignored film in the main competition.

Un Certain Regard

Lost River - Ryan Gosling

Sadly changed its name from How to Catch a Monster. Has an extremely interesting premise. I would normally be weary of big name Hollywood actors being entered into Un Certain Regard, believing it is likely purely for the chance of another star name at Cannes, while also being able to hide the film if it is poor, however Gosling has a good track record with directors he has worked with, and hopefully some of it will rub off.

Snow in Paradise - Andrew Hulme

The one British director to come out of nowhere really into Cannes, it is fair to say there really is no idea of how this will turn out. Hulme has worked as an editor on a fair number of big films in the past, including the well received films of Anton Corbijn. The slow, steady pace of Corbijn is likely to follow through with Hulme's work.

Fantasia - Wang Chao

Has previously won Un Certain Regard, and is likely to be among the favourites again. Sadly Chinese cinema is under-represented this year. Hopefully however, this will make a strong impression on the jury.

Others

The Rover - David Michod

Suprising that The Rover was not up for the Palme d'Or, however still extremely likely that recieve positive reviews. Interesting to see what step Michod makes after the universal acclaim for his debut, Animal Kingdom.

Whiplash - Damien Chazelle

The fact that the winner of Sundance, Whiplash, is so far down the pecking order at Cannes this year, shows just how poor the festival was this year. However, Chazelle making it into the Directors Fortnight is still a great step for perhaps the least likely Mumblecore film-maker to make it big. The fun and playful  Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench seemed like a one off that would sink into obscurity, however Chazelle has seemingly made a niche for himself.

Catch Me Daddy - Daniel Wolfe

Very little is known about this feature, however the work of his previous shorts suggests that Wolfe may become a big name in cinema in the future.

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks – Revisited

In 2003, Wang Bing released the tremendously in-depth, 9 hour documentary, Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks. Bing selects a small corner of an average Chinese city, Shenyang, to capture a distinctive period of Chinese history, as it pulls away from traditional Maoist communism, and enters into its Chinese interpretation of capitalism. We see factories become empty, workers not being paid for months on end and lots of standing around. Bing opens doors into groups of people who are never even acknowledged, let alone given a voice. In return, they allow him into their homes, work places, and extremely personal conversations. We see young man crying hysterically because he has missed his Father so much, workers taken to ‘hospitals’ on the outskirts to try and remove some of their high levels of lead poising that they have received at their work place and people forcibly driven out of their homes. Bing does this all with a simple, small digital camera, and captures the most beautiful and startling images. We are regularly placed at the front of trains or work equipment, and are swung around the tracks or factories. These factories are nearly always empty, and the train tracks are nearly always covered in old dirty metals and snow. The workers, Shenyang, and China all find themselves in a strange purgatory where life is day-by-day, everything looks stale and the same, and distinctively grey.

Shenyang, however, has an extremely personally connection to me. In 2012, 10 years after the filming of Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, I spent 6 months living in China, 5 of which were in Shenyang as an English teacher. I went to Shenyang completely blind. I knew nothing of the city, and nothing of its history, except that it was extremely cold in the winter, and had a small population for a city in China (only eight million), and the Japanese invasion during World War 2. Upon arrival the city, I was welcomed with a mixture of huge sky-rise buildings, empty six lane roads, and bustling, dirty markets all covered in snow. Like most things in China, things have both changed rapidly, as well as remaining strangely the same, meaning contradictions and huge contrasts are a common occurrence. Modernisation was a key feature in Shenyang, however this meant a lot of the stuff we saw were in a constant state of half-built building sites, often just left in the same way for weeks. This modernisation was focused on the centre of the city, with shopping malls and supermarkets being frequently dotted around, however these places were never too far from someone trying to sell baskets of junk.

The longer we stayed in Shenyang, the more the gulf between the growth of the country, and its people, seemed further apart. In Tie Xi Qu, we see a whole village being kicked out of their homes in the pursuit for modernisation, with little government regard for the people there. Many people seem to just accept this, which can seem startling to the viewer, but perhaps shouldn’t be. It was extremely hard to get close to people while living there, mainly due to lack of language skills, but often when conversation did start, in a mix of broken English and Mandarin, the idea of acceptance became clear. Whatever the government wants to happen, will happen, and we just have to work around it. For every big, new building in the centre of Shenyang, around the corner there is a street full of dirty children playing in piles of dirt that reach as up as tall as they are. In the pursuit for modernisation, as we see in Tie Xi Qu, and still see in modern Shenyang, the people are pushed into the background and left behind the façade of modernity.

Piles of rubbish, just like in Tie Xi Qu, were a regular site, even next to our local noodle restaurant.

The Shenyang skyline in all its grey beauty,

Being held up on the way to school, by a man and his donkey.

As seen in Tie Xi Qu, its never a bad time to play a game.

The new Underground system, extremely clean and efficient.