ArnoldStill Life review and clip
Still Life was the winner of the 2006 Golden Lion at the Venice film Festival. This film is very much in the tradition of the great Italian neo-realists: many non-actors (whom the director frequently uses), simple locations (though beautifully shot), natural lighting, no flashy editing patterns, simple human stories. Still Life is remarkable for it's ability to tell a modest story that has little to do with the actual themes of the film, and still manage to fully develop those themes. It centers in a Chinese village called Fengjie, at the heart of the Three Gorges project. The film is trying to portray the devastation that will come from the completion of the Three Gorges Dam. (If you haven't read about this project it's an interesting story, it has been in the works for over fifty years and will displace over one million people). There are some weird surrealist pieces of the film (maybe totalling one minute of actual air time) but on the whole this is an incredibly interesting film that is finally coming to the US (I'm not sure about the UK and Australia - it's being distributed by New Yorker Films). If you have the opportunity, see this film. It's beautiful. For my full review go here
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