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Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Posted By: FNB47
Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)
1465.6 MB | 2:19:47 | Mandarin with English s/t | XviD, 1200 Kb/s | 720x320

Acclaimed director Jia Zhangke casts a compassionate eye on the daily loves, friendships and desperate dreams of the twenty-somethings from China’s remote provinces who come to live and work at Beijing’s World Park. A bizarre cross-cultural pollination of Las Vegas and Epcot Center, World Park features lavish shows performed amid scaled-down replicas of the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, St. Mark’s Square, the Pyramids and even the Twin Towers. From the sensational opening tracking shot of a young dancer’s backstage quest for a Band-Aid to poetic flourishes of animation and clever use of text-messaging, Jia pushes past the kitsch potential of this surreal setting—a real-life Beijing tourist destination. The Village Voice called Jia Zhangke “the world’s greatest filmmaker under forty,” and THE WORLD is his funniest, most inventive and touching work to date. Zeitgeist Films

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

"The World" is a theme park on the outskirts of Beijing, sixteen kilometers from the Chinese capital, designed around scaled representations of the world's famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower or the Leaning Tower of Pisa.The site is seen here not from the visitors' point of view but through the eyes of a few of its staff, lonely people, communicating poorly, a bit disillusioned with life, glittering for the tourists but dull and restricted as far as they are concerned. We meet, among others, pretty young dancer Tao and Taisheng, a security guard who is fond of her but not of personal commitment… (http://imdb.com/title/tt0423176/plotsummary)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

One of the year's most highly praised pictures, Jia Zhangke's ravishing epic opens in a rush of color and sound. Here's young China in action, optimistic and bursting with life. First there's yelling (for a badly-needed Band-Aid), then music–gurgling synths atop a pan-ethnic beat–as the sequin and feather-bedecked performers of the "Five Continents" company take the stage of the real-life World Park. (–Kathleen C. Fennessy - Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

As the ads say, "See the world without ever leaving Beijing," and 106 of the globe’s major sites are recreated in miniature, like a third-scale Eiffel Tower and mini-Lower Manhattan–complete with Twin Towers. Doll-faced Tao (Tao Zhao), ever-present cell phone in hand, is at the center of the maelstrom. Her boyfriend, Taisheng (Taisheng Chen), is a security guard with a sideline in fake IDs (and infidelity). (–Kathleen C. Fennessy - Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

When some Russian guest workers join the troupe, Tao's increasingly insular world briefly expands. She and Anna (Alla Shcherbakova) don't speak the same language, but do what they can to communicate. Tao envies her new friend’s "freedom"–she's never been beyond China's borders–unaware that Anna's nomadic existence is by necessity rather than choice. When she finds that Anna has become an escort, Tao's world snaps back to its previous dimensions, ultimately shrinking down to nothing. (–Kathleen C. Fennessy - Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

Jia Zhang-Ke - Shijie ('The World') (2004)

The World is unambiguously ambitious, with elaborate dance sequences, animated text messages, and tragic subplots. Unlike 2000's Platform, Zhangke's fourth feature isn't set in the past or the provinces, but he surpasses that success with his finest–and most cynical–film to date. (–Kathleen C. Fennessy - Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com)