24 City

Jia Zhang-ke’s latest chronicle of 21st-century China in transition is an audacious mix of documentary and fiction. The film recounts the radical transformation of a massive Communist-era industrial complex in Chengdu City called Factory 240, formerly a top-secret site producing aviation engines, into a luxury apartment development called 24 City. “Jia has yet to disappoint cinephiles with his visually sumptuous and cunningly crafted portraits of modern China. 24 City is as alluring and affecting as Jia’s devotees could hope. Integrating interviews with actual workers and fictional monologues by actors (including Joan Chen and Jia regular Zhao Tao) alongside haunting views of the industrial (and newly post-industrial) landscape . . . Jia examines the impact of China’s industrial and cultural reforms on the people most likely to be tossed around in the turbulence. Jia’s playful, even heretical mixing of real and fabricated remembrances also upends the conventions of the documentary, leaving us with the question of whether the contributions of the non-actor subjects have greater value just because they happen to be true” (Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly). “A bold stroke . . . Jia’s newest masterwork asks what gets us closer to truth: documentary or fiction?” (Shelly Kraicer, Vancouver I.F.F.). Colour, 35mm, in Mandarin with English subtitles. 112 mins.