Favorite Film Series

People always ask me what my favorite film is. I generally dislike that question because 1) there are too many films to just pick one and 2) if I tell them what my favorite films are, they will stare at me blankly because they've never heard of the film, since most of them are foreign films.

Then, recently, I had this brilliant idea to use this blog to talk about my favorite films and give people reasons to watch them. I don't know why I didn't think about this before, but I tend to be late on a lot of things. Oh well.

So, I will begin a blog series, My Favorite Films Series. Most of these films are films that you've probably never heard of, which is all fine and good. It's always good to watch something different and unique, unlike most mainstream films that are mostly all the same.

Hopefully, I will be able to open you guys up to new films. And, if you do watch them, please let me know what you thought.

Okay, enough pretense. Here is the first film (in no particular order):

Still Life (2006) Dir. Zhang Ke Jia



Why this film: In my humble opinion, since I am no expert on foreign cinema, I believe that Director Zhang is the best and most important filmmaker out of China. A number of his films could probably be a part of this series. This film is essentially social commentary on modern China and the country's conflict of past and present. If you know anything about China, it's that things are changing very rapidly and Director Zhang film comments on its human impact. The danger of this approach, however, is that the film can become an overt, preachy, talking heads piece that takes the typical Western-model of Big Bad China vs. The Poor People. Rather, Director Zhang works in irony and subtlety with both the narrative and the images. Watching his films does take some patience for the Hollywood-raised audience, but if you're paying attention, you yourself may feel the conflict that is going on for both country and individual.
Both Tao Zhao (Shen Hong) and Zhou Lan (Huang Mao), who play two of the film's main protagonist, have great performances in working with the film's style and theme. If you have any interest in China, at all, "Still Life" is a must-watch.

(I'll limit my reviews, so I don't spoil it or talk it up too much and let the film speak for itself)

Language: Mandarin, with English subtitles

Availability (San Diego)
Netflix: Available
UCSD: Available
SDSU: Not Available
San Diego Circuit: Available (Limited)
San Diego Public Library: Available