Still Life

Released Jan 18, 2008

1h 48m

Drama

TRAILER

for Still Life: Trailer 1

List

91%

55 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Still Life, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction. Great changes have come to the town of Fengjie due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam: Countless families that had lived there for generations have had to relocate. Fengjie's old town, which has a 2000-year history, has been torn down and submerged forever. There are still things that need to be salvaged and yet there are also things that must be left behind. Such life-changing choices face both Sanming, a miner traveling to Fengjie in search of his ex-wife of sixteen years, and Shen Hong, a nurse who has come to Fengjie to look for her husband who she hasn't seen in two years. Both Sanming and Shen will find who they're looking for, but in the process they too will have to decide what is worth salvaging in their lives and what they need to let go.

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Critics Consensus

Zhangke spellbindingly captures the human cost of rapid industrialization in modern China.

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Jenny Nulf

Austin Chronicle

In Still Life, with progress comes change, and it doesn't care if you are ready for it or not.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 25, 2020

Full Review

Shubhra Gupta

The Indian Express

Still Life is more than about China's Three Gorges Dam, or industrialisation, or modernisation, or its implications for individuals, or its consequences on society. Yes, these are all parts of Still Life, but like life, the film is more than this.

Apr 29, 2019

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Ben Kenigsberg

Time Out

Rated: 4/5

Nov 18, 2011

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David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

It has been said before ... that it's not possible to provide a significant picture, or even a smaller 'slice of life' in the long run, without troubling oneself with social and artistic perspectives.

Feb 14, 2021

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Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

More than just a window into a disappearing world, it is a requiem for the soul of a nation.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 6, 2019

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John Powers

NPR's Fresh Air

Jia is a great director, and much of Still Life's power comes from the way he depicts his characters moving through the landscape... Jia's eye for composition recalls Antonioni in its rigor and poetry, but he isn't after mere pictorial splendor.

May 17, 2018

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dave d

Jia Zhangke hits the right notes in the Chinese drama of lost and found, 'Still Life'. Two spouses look for their respective partners the old village of Fengjie. It's slow, but steady and thoroughly engaging. The one take approach certainly helps things feel authentic. Final Score: 8.0/10

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Jia Zhangke is one of China's most influential director. Jia's camerawork in Still Life is constantly on the move, panning across men and vistas. Slow pans of men and landscapes marks the film's primary visual style. This style has been compared to the work of Italian film maker Michelangelo Antonioni. The story about the underdogs of Fenjie village (centers around 2 characters) as they struggle with urban displacement in the building of the Three Gorges Dam Project. The construction of the world's largest hydro-electric project ultimately benefits other villages more although it is the villagers of Fenjie who sacrificed most for it. The film premiered at the 2006 Venice Film Festival and was a winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Jia Zhangke's STILL LIFE is a prime example of the effectiveness of observational filmmaking and how the weight of the subject alone (and its themes) can not only propel but impact the drama forward. Although it seemingly presents two separate narratives following two different characters traversing a bleak but exquisitely framed developmental atmosphere (small villages directly affected by the Three Gorges Dam project that make for cinematic locations), the film unfolds with care and precision by never forcing dramatic elements and allowing the viewers to learn, feel, and decide as they go; both characters go about their way with a sense of clustered urgency as we learn the ways in which the society has impacted their personal lives, relationships, and families - we know and see just as much as we need to (a credit to a superbly tight script). This is a film that rewards the viewer once the credit rolls - allowing the punch to reveal itself gradually as the grounded, painful, and raw message sinks in. It is, in fact, a devastating realization, and likewise a great film, that is bolstered by Jia's patient approach, unintrusive cinematography and storytelling, and bold commentary on a specific aspect of his country's real-life issues.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I'm going to rip on this movie so much, so first I'll talk about what I like. I like that it partially deals with a regional issue - a flood which has caused people to move out from the area in which the film takes place. I like the aspect of the two characters having the same quest - looking for somebody to finish unsettled business, though one is more successful than the other. Basically, the rest of the film was not captivating to me at all. There weren't really any memorable lines, and good lines are what people take away from films because words sometimes inspire us more than just the images within film even though film is a visual medium. There was a use of special effects at one point of this film, and I really did not understand its purpose at all. We see this certain structure a few times throughout the film (it is difficult to describe) and at one point, this structure randomly produces fire at its base and takes off like a rocket. It seemed so out of place for this movie, which seemed to deal with very real dramatic situations. Though I know art cinema deals with narration over narrative, the narration wasn't even worth the experience for this film (should I even call it an art film?) Maybe it's just me, but I really didn't relate to any characters in this film, it didn't look great visually, and there was no memorable dialogue in Still Life. While it dealt with dramatic situations this film was the antithesis of entertaining. If you're an avid film critic, give this a spin and prove me wrong, but you will hate this if you're looking for a good time.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

For those interested, it's a Yimou style slow dramatized doc. Could've used a little something more but it has breath taking environments mixed with modern squalor. Interesting and meditative.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

É por meio de seu belo "Em Busca da Vida" que o cineasta chinês Zhang Ke Jia efetua um sutil retrato da constante concentração das forças e anseios humanos em uma imagem idealizada da realidade coletiva e/ou particular - e para tanto o diretor ainda se utiliza de outro instigante retrato relacionado à condição econômica, social e cultural de seu país. Leia mais: http://cinema-mon-amour31.webnode.com/news/em-busca-da-vida-sanxia-haoren-de-zhang-ke-jia-china-2006-/

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

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Zhang-Ke Jia

Director

Han Sanming

Sanming

Tao Zhao

Shen Hong

Li Zhu Bing

Actor

Hongwei Wang

Wang Dongming

Zhou Lan

Huang Mao

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Still Life: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Still Life, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction. Great changes have come to the town of Fengjie due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam: Countless families that had lived there for generations have had to relocate. Fengjie's old town, which has a 2000-year history, has been torn down and submerged forever. There are still things that need to be salvaged and yet there are also things that must be left behind. Such life-changing choices face both Sanming, a miner traveling to Fengjie in search of his ex-wife of sixteen years, and Shen Hong, a nurse who has come to Fengjie to look for her husband who she hasn't seen in two years. Both Sanming and Shen will find who they're looking for, but in the process they too will have to decide what is worth salvaging in their lives and what they need to let go.

Director: Zhang-Ke Jia
Screenwriter: Zhang-Ke Jia
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Production Co: Shanghai Film Studio
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 18, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 17, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $68.2K
Runtime: 1h 48m

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