Still Life (2006, Jia Zhangke)

Poetic beauty oozes from the very first frame of Still Life, unscathed and transparent making Zhangke's film a ruminative and pensive piece on the mundanity of life, which though looks striding but is as stagnant as a warm, clear blue sky.

Set in the backdrop of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam which led to the relocation of about a million people, Still Life feels like a painting of vitality under mercantilism. The buildings getting demolished and the anguish of people losing their homes elicit a form of alienation in its most profound way.

Still Life is a socio-economic film at its core, shedding light on murky politics and state capitalism. Zhangke doesn't emphasize much on political and social commentary and lets it just drift smoothly with the narrative.

Still Life follows two distinct protagonists simultaneously voyaging to locate their long-gone partners. A softspoken person and a doubtful wife, both unearthing unfortunate truths along the way, truths that make their lives even more miserable.

Zhangke's camera is stationary like the title of his film but the lives of the people of his world aren't, it is rather shabby and is torn up in the process of undergoing severe alteration in their localities and their own predicaments. Zhangke encapsulated the crumbling and deterioration of the small town of Fengjie in real-time in a dreamlike foggy atmosphere, reminiscent of the essence of Antonioni.

The city feels desolate at times, only surrounded by landmasses, crushed buildings and a misty aura all around, maintaining an opaque tone throughout. A sense of uncertainty amidst the estrangement and pathos is always lingering in the emotions of the protagonists and the audience.

Still Life makes one ponder about his existence, his surroundings, his moralities, the mundanity that one lives in, or the coalition that governs the region he dwells in. There lies the universality of Zhangke, who knows the craft of canvassing questions rather than making one discover the answers in his works.

Still Life is a scintillating portrait of the postmodern intricacies of a city under gradual metamorphosis.