Still Life/ Dong @ HKIFF

A great chance to get fuller picture of the intention of making Still Life through watching the documentary Dong at the same time.

Here i talk about Dong first. Dong was filmed during the production of Still Life. It portraited the director Jia Zhangke's long-time partner Liu Xiaodong (which is why the film called Dong). To be frank, i don't care what Liu's thinking... it was just rubbish ... what i care is how to link this film to Still Life.

There were some scenes which later reappeared in Still Life. The collapse of wall, Han Sanming viewed Three Gorges, officials disinfected the ruin ... Those repeated scenes make me wonder the trueness of the documentary. In parallel, the film followed Liu and went to Thailand. A scene followed a Thailand's girl, who was recruited as Liu model . When she knew flooding in her homeland, she immediately bought train ticket and back home. In addition, after Liu claimed that being his models, they can feel dignity. Later the film showed two blind street performers. In general, i think Dong provide additional explanation on Still Life.

Then Still Life, altogether contained four scenes (cigarette, liquor, tea, and toffee). Han Sanming 's story was in scene 1,2,4, whereas Zhao Tao's story was in scene 3. Han Sanming performed very well as an experienced mid-age guy. Judged from his appearance, he seemed to be fooled easily. In fact it wasn't. Among guys surrounded him, he was self-conscious. The others were eager to get fame and fortune ASAP. Being content become more and more difficult to us... Lure is everywhere.