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+---- Thread: Caught by the Tides (2024) (/showthread.php?tid=8567)
Caught by the Tides (2024) - Drunk Monk - 09-17-2025
This is another Jia Zhangke movie that was up for the Palm d’Or at Cannes last year. It took him over 20 years to make it. It’s the tale of a dysfunctional couple told in 3 eras and locations: Datong at the turn of the millennium, the 3 gorges flood zone & Guangdong, and back to Datong during the pandemic. The actors and the PRC physically age - not CGI. And it’s another existential tale that ends ambiguously, packed with visually stunning imagery like only Jia can capture. The contrast of the urban squalor with its stained paint-chipping walls and fading posters, the majesty of the Chinese panoramas, the authenticity of the common people, the moments of beauty amidst the chaos - it’s a slow burn but every frame is composed like a still life. The first act is uses faded colors and scratchy film with a cinema verite style. The second act is like an expanded version of Still Life ( https://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum/showthread.php?tid=8495 ) that uses some of the same footage. The last act captures modern China, where I was last year, with its bullet trains, supermarkets and severe pandemic restrictions.
Another masterpiece of an art film - not for everyone as existential art films from China are an acquired taste, but D00M recommended for sinophile cinephiles. Jia’s work is sublime - definitely a filmmaker you need to know if you profess any understanding of global cinema.