Photo: Wu Qiong as Xiao Ji and Zhao Tao as Qiao Qiao in Jia Zhang-ke's Unknown Pleasures
Unknown Pleasures, Jia Zhang-ke's haunting follow-up to Platform, tracks various stages of underdevelopment. In an impoverished area of China, two disenchanted teenagers struggle with unemployment and raging libidos: Xiao Ji (Wu Qiong) falls in love with Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao), a singer-prostitute who promotes Mongolian King liquor for her boyfriend-pimp, and his friend Bin Bin (Zhao Wei Wei) struggles against depression and his nagging mother. Shot on digital video and staged in real time, the film achieves an unprecedented level of docu-realism. Jia envisions a hopeful period of social transition despite the overwhelming sense of devastation (a group of Datong textile mill workers celebrate Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympics and the riches it promises). Hope builds even as various apartment complexes fall to the ground; this remote, post-apocalyptic area of China could be the last place on Earth.
Unknown Pleasures, Jia Zhang-ke's haunting follow-up to Platform, tracks various stages of underdevelopment. In an impoverished area of China, two disenchanted teenagers struggle with unemployment and raging libidos: Xiao Ji (Wu Qiong) falls in love with Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao), a singer-prostitute who promotes Mongolian King liquor for her boyfriend-pimp, and his friend Bin Bin (Zhao Wei Wei) struggles against depression and his nagging mother. Shot on digital video and staged in real time, the film achieves an unprecedented level of docu-realism. Jia envisions a hopeful period of social transition despite the overwhelming sense of devastation (a group of Datong textile mill workers celebrate Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympics and the riches it promises). Hope builds even as various apartment complexes fall to the ground; this remote, post-apocalyptic area of China could be the last place on Earth.
