Spanning a decade of change in mainland China

A study of change would these words be enough to describe Jia's second film, a film many consider a masterpiece?

Well, of course, not! A film that travels through the experiences of its four protagonists teenaged provincial theatre performers from the town of Fengyang, Platform released in the year 2000 and autobiographically charts the years 1980-90, a time when the China we know now was quite different.

The repressive mores of the time are ably reflected in the film, which at three hours long, tells a story that spans many observations. One of those is that the people Jia speaks about are those that live on the fringes of society.

Those that are so out of sync with what's happening in the world around them, that it becomes impossible to adapt to the modern world.u00a0

A film like this needs to be watched with a certain degree of patience. Without that, you might as well be watching a documentary made by a nostalgic man, who weaves a tale around the attachment for a life long past.

Platform

Dir: Jia Zhang-Ke
Label: Excel Home Videos
Price: 499
Region: 5