Platform (Zhan Tai) (2002)Tom Dawson
Shot without the consent of the authorities, the follow-up to "Xiao Wu" from independent Chinese writer-director Jia Zhang Ke examines the cultural and social changes that swept through China during the 80s after the death of Chairman Mao. The film's young characters are all members of a performance troupe, the Peasant Culture Group, growing up in the dingy provincial town of Fenyang (where Ke himself once lived). Initially the likes of accordion player Minliang (Wei) and singer Ruijuan (Tao), and their friends Chang Jun (Dong) and Zhong Pin (Yi), help stage Maoist propaganda tracts. Shorn of state funds, however, and influenced by the newly available commercial sounds emanating from Hong Kong and Taiwan, the privatised group renames itself the All Star Rock and Breakdance Band and embarks on a series of provincial tours to spread the pop gospel. (The film's title actually derives from an 80s hit song.) Filmed in long, static takes which avoid close-ups, "Platform" occasionally feels overly detached and elliptical, making it hard to completely engage with its characters. Yet it's also pleasingly ambivalent towards the impact of historical forces on ordinary lives. Minliang and his colleagues yearn to escape the restrictions of the past, and they enthusiastically adopt new fashions in clothes, hairstyles, and music, but their personal happiness remains an elusive commodity - Chang Jun and Zhong Pin find their futures affected by the state, whilst Minliang finds it hard to escape Fenyang's ancient walls. In Mandarin with English subtitles.
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