Unknown Pleasures (film)
Encyclopedia
Unknown Pleasures is a 2002
Chinese film
directed by Jia Zhangke
, starring Wu Qiong, Zhao Weiwei and Zhao Tao
as three disaffected youths living in Datong
in 2001, part of the new "Birth Control" generation. Fed on a steady diet of popular culture, both Western and Chinese, the characters of Unknown Pleasures represent a new breed in the People's Republic of China, one detached from reality through the screen of media and the internet.
The film was a co-production of four countries: Japan's Office Kitano
and T-Mark, China's Hu Tong Communications, France's Lumen Films, and South Korea's E-Pictures. It competed for the Palme d'Or
at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival
but would eventually lose to director Roman Polanski
's Holocaust film, The Pianist.
Unknown Pleasures is Jia's third feature film after 1997's Xiao Wu
and 2000's Platform, and it is sometimes considered the final film of an informal trilogy on a modern China in transition. The film also marked Jia's last production outside of the Chinese studio system. With 2004's The World
, Jia would work with the approval of the state film bureaucrats
(SARFT).
in China's Shanxi
province throughout 2001. Nineteen-year old Bin Bin (Zhao Weiwei) lives with his mother, an adherent of the Falun Gong
, in a small apartment near Datong's textile mill. Bin Bin's best friend, the reckless Xiao Ji (Wu Qiong), lives in an even smaller apartment with his father, and spends his time riding his motorbike around the city. The two friends eventually meet Qiao Qiao, a young singer and dancer working for the Mongolian King Liquor company as a spokesmodel. Xiao Ji immediately becomes enamored with Qiao Qiao, which gets him in trouble with Qiao Qiao's boyfriend, the loan shark and local thug, Qiao San (Li Zhubin).
For much of the early parts of the film, the three characters seem to follow an aimless lifestyle. Unemployed, Bin Bin meets with his girlfriend to watch television on most days, while Xiao Ji seems to do nothing at all aside from flirt with Qiao Qiao. When an explosion rocks part of the city's textile mill, the characters are briefly pushed into action. Qiao Qiao, desperate to get her injured father into the hospital, has Xiao Ji rush to the bank in order to withdraw ¥2000 for the entry fee. As thanks, she takes Xiao Ji and Bin Bin first to lunch, where Xiao Ji references watching Quentin Tarantino
's Pulp Fiction
, and then to a discotheque. While dancing, Xiao Ji is led away by Qiao San's men, who humiliate and beat him. Enraged, Xiao Ji tries to avenge himself but is stopped by Bin Bin, who tells him that Qiao San keeps a gun on his person. Undeterred, Xiao Ji continues to pursue Qiao Qiao, who is eventually abandoned by her boyfriend. When the two young people end up in a hotel room, Qiao Qiao tries to explain to Xiao Ji the philosophy of Zhuangzi
who, in his poem Ren Xiao Yao, "philosophized that we should do what feels good." Soon afterward, it is learned that Qiao San has died in a car accident. The film implies that Qiao Qiao nevertheless leaves Xiao Ji and is last seen wearing a blue wig as a prostitute in a run-down club.
Bin Bin, meanwhile, following the advice of his mother, tries to join the PLA
, but is rejected when it is discovered that he suffers from hepatitis
. Shattered, he borrows ¥1500 from a small-time crook Xiao Wu (Wang Hongwei
). Bin Bin uses the money to purchase a cell phone for his girlfriend, but when she tries to get close to him, he refuses, and notes only that there is no future for him anymore.
Bin Bin and Xiao Ji decide to rob a bank, as they have seen so often in American films. Attaching a fake bomb to Bin Bin's chest, Xiao Ji drives Bin Bin to a China Construction Bank
, where the latter is immediately arrested. Fleeing, Xiao Ji drives his motorbike down the highway until it breaks down and he hitches a ride to locations unknown. Bin Bin is left at the police station, where an officer informs him that robbery is a capital crime. The film ends as the police officer forces Bin Bin to stand and sing. Bin Bin chooses to sing Ren Xiao Yao, a pop song about being spiritually free through love.
, his entry in a documentary competition sponsored by the 2001 Jeonju International Film Festival
held in South Korea. The competition (which also drew entries from Tsai Ming-liang
and John Akomfrah) required that the shorts be filmed entirely in digital video. While Jia had originally intended only to film the derelict factories in Datong
, the filming with digital video would soon inspire the director to begin production of Unknown Pleasures. As Jia stated at a news conference: "At first it was the bleak and lonely buildings that attracted me. When I saw the streets filled with lonely, directionless people, I became interested in them."
Unknown Pleasures was filmed using digital video
in only nineteen days, as a result of time and budgetary constraints. In his production notes, Jia claims that the use of digital video produced a slight color discrepancy that lent itself to the tone he wanted the film to take. Additionally, the use of digital cameras meant a more streamlined production and greater ease of movement. As a result, Jia was able to begin shooting a mere three weeks after developing the idea for the film.
According to Jia, the final scene of Xiao Ji riding down the highway as a thunderstorm approaches would not have been possible had traditional film cameras been used. But because of the flexibility of digital video, Jia Zhangke was able to capture the scene with the storm and in the director's words, creates a moment where the "environment is complementing [Xiao Ji's] internal feelings." At the same time, use of digital video restricted Jia. He noted in an interview shortly after the release of the film that he and cinematographer Yu Lik-wai were forced to cut back on exterior scenes due to the drawbacks of filming on digital video in sunlight.
, who has served in the role in nearly the entire Jia filmography, returns once again for Unknown Pleasures. Editor Chow Keung is also a frequent Jia collaborator and would help produce several of his subsequent films, including 24 City
, The World
, and the Golden Lion-winning Still Life. Along with producer Li Kit Ming, Chow and Yu have been described by Jia as the "core of his creative team." Among the cast, Zhao Tao
(Qiao Qiao) and Wang Hongwei
(Xiao Wu) are also Jia regulars.
was meant to illustrate the "birth control" generation, or the generation to emerge out of China's One-child policy
. With no brothers or sisters, Jia wanted to show these individuals as isolate, alone, "confronted with an existential crisis of individuality." In a separate interview, Jia noted that unlike his own generation, this generation is often detached from reality, filtering their experiences through the internet, television, and other media. In one oft-referenced scene, Xiao Ji discusses the film Pulp Fiction to Qiao Qiao, after which Jia quickly cuts to the two dancing in a club with music sampled out of that film. Critics and scholars also picked up on this existentialist strain in the characters of Unknown Pleasure. Elvis Mitchell
, for example, wrote, "[t]he saddest thing about it is that the social ineptitude of the Pleasure youth doesn't even belong to them -- they've sampled it from Western culture, just like the clangorous funk of the dance club music. They want to soak up someone else's dream." Similarly, Kevin Lee of Senses of Cinema
writes how "the attitudes of these kids are almost completely derived by the electronic mass media that they consume and that consumes them." As J. Hoberman notes in his review, for Xiao Ji, Bin Bin, and Qiao Qiao, Unknown Pleasures are those that "are everywhere in evidence, yet satisfaction itself is beyond reach."
Each of the three main characters therefore try to achieve a state of "Ren Xiao Yao" - freedom from all constraints. This phrase and concept arises multiple times in the film. As described by Qiao Qiao, it is part of the philosophy of the Taoist Zhuangzi
. She refers to the belief that life is the pursuit of absolute freedom and pleasure. Jia writes, however that In another reference, "Ren Xiao Yao" is the name of a pop song from 2001, and is the song that Bin Bin sings in the film's ironic final scene in a jail cell. Freedom, it seems, is harder than it looks. In a running theme, Bin Bin and Xiao Ji consistently refer to the Sun Wukong
, the Monkey King. Bin Bin explicitly draws the point that unlike himself, the Monkey King has no parents and no burdens. For Jia, the story of the Monkey King "reflects the fatalism of [Unknown Pleasures]" in that unlike the Monkey King, these characters "struggle desperately. They pull themselves out of difficult situations, but they always fall back into new problems because no one can escape the rules of the game. True freedom doesn’t exist in this world."
with the United States, China's entry into the World Trade Organization
, a sabotage in a factory in Datong itself, and China's successful bid to become the host city of the 2008 Summer Olympics
. For Jia, the year 2001 was particularly significant:
province. Whereas the earlier film ended with the destruction of a city block, in Unknown Pleasures, the entire city of Datong
seems to be in a state of disrepair and ruin. Jia noted in an interview that in one sense, Datong was "truly a city in ruins, and the people that inhabit it very much live in a spiritual world that reflects their environment." In contrast to Datong, the film paints Beijing as a dream world. Bin Bin's girlfriend, the only character with real ambitions and goals, is trying to get to Beijing in order to attend university. Meanwhile, when Beijing is selected as the host city for the 2008 Olympics, a crowd of people gathered around a television burst into cheers. Towards the end of the film, a newscast states that the Datong-Beijing Highway is soon to be completed, hinting that escape and progress are not far behind. For Jia, however, the depiction of the provincial town only highlights "the gap between rich and poor" and the gap between the image of cities like Shanghai
and Beijing as depicted on television, and the lives of those who live in cities like Datong
. For these characters, Beijing is the "Moscow of Three Sisters
-- dreamland as a receding horizon."
, then New York Times
critic Elvis Mitchell
commented on the film, noting that even if "the world doesn't need another picture on disaffected youth...Unknown Pleasures is about more than alienation." Stylistically, however, Mitchell felt that Jia's long-takes and slow pans started to feel repetitive, a sort of "reductive neo-realism." The Village Voice
's J. Hoberman
gave the film a much stronger review than many of his contemporaries, arguing that Unknown Pleasures was "Jia's most concentrated evocation of contemporary China's spiritual malaise."
The film was not universally praised, however, and many critics found significant flaws in the film's style and pacing. One common complaint was that like the film's aimless protagonists, Unknown Pleasures seemed lost in its own narrative. One critic argues that the film's story "goes nowhere" and as a result the audience never "understand[s] the motivation of the characters." The industry magazine Variety
also gave the film only a middling review, with a similar complaint that the film "is far more diluted thematically, touching on a number of interesting points but failing to bring them together in any cohesive way." Two internet review aggregates reflect the film's somewhat average impression among western critics; coincidentally, both Metacritic
(ten reviews) and Rotten Tomatoes
(twenty-eight reviews) give Unknown Pleasures scores of "61" (out of 100), or "Generally favorable reviews" and "fresh," respectively.
2002 in film
The year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
Chinese film
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
directed by Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....
, starring Wu Qiong, Zhao Weiwei and Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...
as three disaffected youths living in Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
in 2001, part of the new "Birth Control" generation. Fed on a steady diet of popular culture, both Western and Chinese, the characters of Unknown Pleasures represent a new breed in the People's Republic of China, one detached from reality through the screen of media and the internet.
The film was a co-production of four countries: Japan's Office Kitano
Office Kitano
Office Kitano is a Japanese talent management and film production company founded and managed by Takeshi Kitano. It launched the Tokyo Filmex in 2000....
and T-Mark, China's Hu Tong Communications, France's Lumen Films, and South Korea's E-Pictures. It competed for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival
2002 Cannes Film Festival
The 2002 Cannes Film Festival started on 15 May and ran until 26 May. The Palme d'Or went to the Polish-French-German-British co-produced film The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski.-Jury:* David Lynch * Sharon Stone* Michelle Yeoh...
but would eventually lose to director Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
's Holocaust film, The Pianist.
Unknown Pleasures is Jia's third feature film after 1997's Xiao Wu
Xiao Wu
Xiao Wu also known as The Pickpocket is a 1997 Chinese movie directed by Jia Zhangke.The film was the directorial debut of Jia Zhangke, one of the major figures of the so-called Sixth Generation of Chinese cinema and stars Wang Hongwei in the titular role along with Hao Hongjian and Zuo Baitao...
and 2000's Platform, and it is sometimes considered the final film of an informal trilogy on a modern China in transition. The film also marked Jia's last production outside of the Chinese studio system. With 2004's The World
The World (film)
The World is a 2004 Chinese film written and directed by Jia Zhangke. Starring Jia's muse, Zhao Tao, as well as Chen Taisheng, The World was filmed on and around an actual theme park located in Beijing, Beijing World Park, which recreates world landmarks at reduced scales for Chinese tourists. The...
, Jia would work with the approval of the state film bureaucrats
State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television is an executive branch under the State Council of the People's Republic of China...
(SARFT).
Plot
Unknown Pleasures follows three disaffected, aimless young people in the industrial city of DatongDatong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
in China's Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
province throughout 2001. Nineteen-year old Bin Bin (Zhao Weiwei) lives with his mother, an adherent of the Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
, in a small apartment near Datong's textile mill. Bin Bin's best friend, the reckless Xiao Ji (Wu Qiong), lives in an even smaller apartment with his father, and spends his time riding his motorbike around the city. The two friends eventually meet Qiao Qiao, a young singer and dancer working for the Mongolian King Liquor company as a spokesmodel. Xiao Ji immediately becomes enamored with Qiao Qiao, which gets him in trouble with Qiao Qiao's boyfriend, the loan shark and local thug, Qiao San (Li Zhubin).
For much of the early parts of the film, the three characters seem to follow an aimless lifestyle. Unemployed, Bin Bin meets with his girlfriend to watch television on most days, while Xiao Ji seems to do nothing at all aside from flirt with Qiao Qiao. When an explosion rocks part of the city's textile mill, the characters are briefly pushed into action. Qiao Qiao, desperate to get her injured father into the hospital, has Xiao Ji rush to the bank in order to withdraw ¥2000 for the entry fee. As thanks, she takes Xiao Ji and Bin Bin first to lunch, where Xiao Ji references watching Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
, and then to a discotheque. While dancing, Xiao Ji is led away by Qiao San's men, who humiliate and beat him. Enraged, Xiao Ji tries to avenge himself but is stopped by Bin Bin, who tells him that Qiao San keeps a gun on his person. Undeterred, Xiao Ji continues to pursue Qiao Qiao, who is eventually abandoned by her boyfriend. When the two young people end up in a hotel room, Qiao Qiao tries to explain to Xiao Ji the philosophy of Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...
who, in his poem Ren Xiao Yao, "philosophized that we should do what feels good." Soon afterward, it is learned that Qiao San has died in a car accident. The film implies that Qiao Qiao nevertheless leaves Xiao Ji and is last seen wearing a blue wig as a prostitute in a run-down club.
Bin Bin, meanwhile, following the advice of his mother, tries to join the PLA
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
, but is rejected when it is discovered that he suffers from hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
. Shattered, he borrows ¥1500 from a small-time crook Xiao Wu (Wang Hongwei
Wang Hongwei
Wang Hongwei is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang starring in Jia's breakthrough short film Xiao Shan Going Home in 1995...
). Bin Bin uses the money to purchase a cell phone for his girlfriend, but when she tries to get close to him, he refuses, and notes only that there is no future for him anymore.
Bin Bin and Xiao Ji decide to rob a bank, as they have seen so often in American films. Attaching a fake bomb to Bin Bin's chest, Xiao Ji drives Bin Bin to a China Construction Bank
China Construction Bank
China Construction Bank is one of the 'big four' banks in the People's Republic of China. To date, it is ranked as the nation's second largest and the second largest bank in the world by market capitalization and 12th largest company in the world. The bank has approximately 13,629 domestic branches...
, where the latter is immediately arrested. Fleeing, Xiao Ji drives his motorbike down the highway until it breaks down and he hitches a ride to locations unknown. Bin Bin is left at the police station, where an officer informs him that robbery is a capital crime. The film ends as the police officer forces Bin Bin to stand and sing. Bin Bin chooses to sing Ren Xiao Yao, a pop song about being spiritually free through love.
Production
The idea for Unknown Pleasures first came from Jia Zhangke's short film, In PublicIn Public (film)
In Public is a short documentary film directed by sixth generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke. In Public was filmed digitally for the 2001 Jeonju International Film Festival....
, his entry in a documentary competition sponsored by the 2001 Jeonju International Film Festival
Jeonju International Film Festival
The Jeonju International Film Festival has been held annually since 2000 in Jeonju, South Korea, focusing on digital, independent and art films.-2000:*April 28-May 4: 184 films from 21 countries...
held in South Korea. The competition (which also drew entries from Tsai Ming-liang
Tsai Ming-liang
Tsai Ming-liang is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese Cinema, along with earlier contemporaries such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang...
and John Akomfrah) required that the shorts be filmed entirely in digital video. While Jia had originally intended only to film the derelict factories in Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
, the filming with digital video would soon inspire the director to begin production of Unknown Pleasures. As Jia stated at a news conference: "At first it was the bleak and lonely buildings that attracted me. When I saw the streets filled with lonely, directionless people, I became interested in them."
Unknown Pleasures was filmed using digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
in only nineteen days, as a result of time and budgetary constraints. In his production notes, Jia claims that the use of digital video produced a slight color discrepancy that lent itself to the tone he wanted the film to take. Additionally, the use of digital cameras meant a more streamlined production and greater ease of movement. As a result, Jia was able to begin shooting a mere three weeks after developing the idea for the film.
According to Jia, the final scene of Xiao Ji riding down the highway as a thunderstorm approaches would not have been possible had traditional film cameras been used. But because of the flexibility of digital video, Jia Zhangke was able to capture the scene with the storm and in the director's words, creates a moment where the "environment is complementing [Xiao Ji's] internal feelings." At the same time, use of digital video restricted Jia. He noted in an interview shortly after the release of the film that he and cinematographer Yu Lik-wai were forced to cut back on exterior scenes due to the drawbacks of filming on digital video in sunlight.
Creative team
The cast and crew of the film consisted of a mix of Jia regulars and newcomers. Cinematographer Yu Lik-waiYu Lik-wai
Yu Lik-wai is a Hong Kong cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu was educated at Belgium's INSAS where he graduated with a degree in cinematography in 1994...
, who has served in the role in nearly the entire Jia filmography, returns once again for Unknown Pleasures. Editor Chow Keung is also a frequent Jia collaborator and would help produce several of his subsequent films, including 24 City
24 City
24 City is a 2008 film directed and co-written by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. The film follows three generations of characters in Chengdu as a state-owned factory gives way to a modern apartment complex...
, The World
The World (film)
The World is a 2004 Chinese film written and directed by Jia Zhangke. Starring Jia's muse, Zhao Tao, as well as Chen Taisheng, The World was filmed on and around an actual theme park located in Beijing, Beijing World Park, which recreates world landmarks at reduced scales for Chinese tourists. The...
, and the Golden Lion-winning Still Life. Along with producer Li Kit Ming, Chow and Yu have been described by Jia as the "core of his creative team." Among the cast, Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...
(Qiao Qiao) and Wang Hongwei
Wang Hongwei
Wang Hongwei is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang starring in Jia's breakthrough short film Xiao Shan Going Home in 1995...
(Xiao Wu) are also Jia regulars.
Cast
- Zhao Weiwei as Bin Bin. A young man most often seen wearing an oversized dress shirt, Bin Bin is frustrated by his life in Datong. His relationship with his girlfriend is distant but tender, while his relationship with his mother is strained. Despite his seeming timidity, it is Bin Bin who eventually carries out the poorly thought through plan to rob a bank.
- Wu Qiong as Xiao Ji. The long-haired Xiao Ji is Bin Bin's best friend. Considerably more reckless than Bin Bin, Xiao Ji's infatuation with Qiao Qiao drives much of the film's narrative.
- Zhao TaoZhao TaoZhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...
as Qiao Qiao. Jia ZhangkeJia ZhangkeJia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....
's frequent collaborator (she also appears in Jia's Platform, The WorldThe World (film)The World is a 2004 Chinese film written and directed by Jia Zhangke. Starring Jia's muse, Zhao Tao, as well as Chen Taisheng, The World was filmed on and around an actual theme park located in Beijing, Beijing World Park, which recreates world landmarks at reduced scales for Chinese tourists. The...
, Still Life, and 24 City24 City24 City is a 2008 film directed and co-written by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. The film follows three generations of characters in Chengdu as a state-owned factory gives way to a modern apartment complex...
) plays the female lead of Qiao Qiao. Slightly older than both Bin Bin and Xiao Ji (the film states that she is born in 1980 making her 21 years old), Qiao Qiao serves as the singing and dancing enticement for the Mongolian King Liquor company. It is Qiao Qiao that explains the philosophy of "ren xiao yao," a form of hedonismHedonismHedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
. Jia wrote the character of Qiao Qiao to reflect the modern Chinese woman, who struggle between conservative tradition and modernity. According to Jia, Qiao Qiao is unable to continue her relationship with Qiao San because she cannot reconcile her hidden conservatism with the idea of becoming a mistress. - Li Zhubin as Qiao San, Qiao Qiao's older boyfriend, former gym teacher, and current "agent." Unknown Pleasure's closest thing to a true villain, Qiao San is essentially a local thug in Datong. Though he is rarely physically violent himself, he carries a gun with him and has several of his cronies restrain and humiliate Xiao Ji at a dance club.
- Wang HongweiWang HongweiWang Hongwei is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang starring in Jia's breakthrough short film Xiao Shan Going Home in 1995...
as Xiao Wu. A small-time crook, Xiao Wu appears in the very beginning of the film attempting to hustle a few RMB out of the two male protagonists. Shortly thereafter he is arrested and taken away for unknown reasons. Xiao Wu shows up again later in the film to provide a loan to Bin Bin. The character of Xiao Wu, as played by Wang Hongwei, is presumably the same character from Jia Zhangke's debut film, Xiao WuXiao WuXiao Wu also known as The Pickpocket is a 1997 Chinese movie directed by Jia Zhangke.The film was the directorial debut of Jia Zhangke, one of the major figures of the so-called Sixth Generation of Chinese cinema and stars Wang Hongwei in the titular role along with Hao Hongjian and Zuo Baitao...
. In one of the film's more lighthearted moments, Xiao Wu asks Bin Bin if he has Xiao WuXiao WuXiao Wu also known as The Pickpocket is a 1997 Chinese movie directed by Jia Zhangke.The film was the directorial debut of Jia Zhangke, one of the major figures of the so-called Sixth Generation of Chinese cinema and stars Wang Hongwei in the titular role along with Hao Hongjian and Zuo Baitao...
, Platform or Love Will Tear Us ApartLove Will Tear Us Apart (film)Love Will Tear Us Apart is a 1999 Hong Kong drama film directed by Yu Lik-wai. It was entered into the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Tony Leung Ka-fai - Jian* Liping Lü - Yan* Ning Wong - Ying* Rolf Chow - Chun...
(directed by cinematographer Yu Lik-waiYu Lik-waiYu Lik-wai is a Hong Kong cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu was educated at Belgium's INSAS where he graduated with a degree in cinematography in 1994...
) DVDs. According to the director, this self-reference was possible in part because Xiao Wu (and Wang Hongwei) had become a cultural icon in China's independent film scene. - Zhou Qingfeng as Yuan Yuan, Bin Bin's studious girlfriend. Throughout the course of the film, Yuan Yuan has dreams of getting into a Beijing university in order to study international tradeInternational tradeInternational trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...
. Yuan Yuan's character was consciously set apart from the main three characters, in that she is the only character with set goals for life and the possibility to escape provincial life. - Bai Ru as Bin Bin's mother, a proponent of the Falun Gong.
- Liu Xi'an as Xiao Ji's father, an uneducated man who mistakes a single US dollar to be a fortune.
- Jia ZhangkeJia ZhangkeJia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....
plays a small role in his own film as the opera-singing man seen throughout Unknown Pleasures.
The "Birth Control" generation
In his production notes, Jia has stated that the portrayals of youth by Wu Qiong, Zhao Weiwei, Zhao TaoZhao Tao
Zhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...
was meant to illustrate the "birth control" generation, or the generation to emerge out of China's One-child policy
One-child policy
The one-child policy refers to the one-child limitation applying to a minority of families in the population control policy of the People's Republic of China . The Chinese government refers to it under the official translation of family planning policy...
. With no brothers or sisters, Jia wanted to show these individuals as isolate, alone, "confronted with an existential crisis of individuality." In a separate interview, Jia noted that unlike his own generation, this generation is often detached from reality, filtering their experiences through the internet, television, and other media. In one oft-referenced scene, Xiao Ji discusses the film Pulp Fiction to Qiao Qiao, after which Jia quickly cuts to the two dancing in a club with music sampled out of that film. Critics and scholars also picked up on this existentialist strain in the characters of Unknown Pleasure. Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell is an American film critic, host of the public radio show The Treatment, and visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has served as a film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the LA Weekly, The Detroit Free Press, and The New York Times...
, for example, wrote, "[t]he saddest thing about it is that the social ineptitude of the Pleasure youth doesn't even belong to them -- they've sampled it from Western culture, just like the clangorous funk of the dance club music. They want to soak up someone else's dream." Similarly, Kevin Lee of Senses of Cinema
Senses of Cinema
Senses of Cinema is a quarterly online film magazine founded in 1999 by filmmaker Bill Mousoulis. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Senses of Cinema publishes work by film critics from all over the world, including critical essays, career overviews of the works of key directors, and coverage of many...
writes how "the attitudes of these kids are almost completely derived by the electronic mass media that they consume and that consumes them." As J. Hoberman notes in his review, for Xiao Ji, Bin Bin, and Qiao Qiao, Unknown Pleasures are those that "are everywhere in evidence, yet satisfaction itself is beyond reach."
Each of the three main characters therefore try to achieve a state of "Ren Xiao Yao" - freedom from all constraints. This phrase and concept arises multiple times in the film. As described by Qiao Qiao, it is part of the philosophy of the Taoist Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...
. She refers to the belief that life is the pursuit of absolute freedom and pleasure. Jia writes, however that In another reference, "Ren Xiao Yao" is the name of a pop song from 2001, and is the song that Bin Bin sings in the film's ironic final scene in a jail cell. Freedom, it seems, is harder than it looks. In a running theme, Bin Bin and Xiao Ji consistently refer to the Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong , also known as the Monkey King is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West . In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices...
, the Monkey King. Bin Bin explicitly draws the point that unlike himself, the Monkey King has no parents and no burdens. For Jia, the story of the Monkey King "reflects the fatalism of [Unknown Pleasures]" in that unlike the Monkey King, these characters "struggle desperately. They pull themselves out of difficult situations, but they always fall back into new problems because no one can escape the rules of the game. True freedom doesn’t exist in this world."
2001
Jia's production notes also reveal the importance of the film's time period: 2001. At numerous instances in the film, newscasts and other media link the characters to external current events. These include the Hainan Island incidentHainan Island incident
On April 1, 2001, a mid-air collision between a United States Navy EP-3E ARIES II signals intelligence aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8II interceptor fighter jet resulted in an international dispute between the United States and the People's Republic of China called the Hainan...
with the United States, China's entry into the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
, a sabotage in a factory in Datong itself, and China's successful bid to become the host city of the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. For Jia, the year 2001 was particularly significant:
Datong and Beijing
The film's setting carried its own significance. Like in Xiao Wu, Unknown Pleasures takes place in a run down industry town in China's ShanxiShanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
province. Whereas the earlier film ended with the destruction of a city block, in Unknown Pleasures, the entire city of Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
seems to be in a state of disrepair and ruin. Jia noted in an interview that in one sense, Datong was "truly a city in ruins, and the people that inhabit it very much live in a spiritual world that reflects their environment." In contrast to Datong, the film paints Beijing as a dream world. Bin Bin's girlfriend, the only character with real ambitions and goals, is trying to get to Beijing in order to attend university. Meanwhile, when Beijing is selected as the host city for the 2008 Olympics, a crowd of people gathered around a television burst into cheers. Towards the end of the film, a newscast states that the Datong-Beijing Highway is soon to be completed, hinting that escape and progress are not far behind. For Jia, however, the depiction of the provincial town only highlights "the gap between rich and poor" and the gap between the image of cities like Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
and Beijing as depicted on television, and the lives of those who live in cities like Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
. For these characters, Beijing is the "Moscow of Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
-- dreamland as a receding horizon."
Reception
Unknown Pleasures was relatively well-received by western critics but with qualifications. Upon its premiere at the New York Film FestivalNew York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
, then New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
critic Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell is an American film critic, host of the public radio show The Treatment, and visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has served as a film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the LA Weekly, The Detroit Free Press, and The New York Times...
commented on the film, noting that even if "the world doesn't need another picture on disaffected youth...Unknown Pleasures is about more than alienation." Stylistically, however, Mitchell felt that Jia's long-takes and slow pans started to feel repetitive, a sort of "reductive neo-realism." The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
's J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
James Lewis Hoberman , also known as J. Hoberman, is an American film critic. He is currently the senior film critic for The Village Voice, a post he has held since 1988.-Education:...
gave the film a much stronger review than many of his contemporaries, arguing that Unknown Pleasures was "Jia's most concentrated evocation of contemporary China's spiritual malaise."
The film was not universally praised, however, and many critics found significant flaws in the film's style and pacing. One common complaint was that like the film's aimless protagonists, Unknown Pleasures seemed lost in its own narrative. One critic argues that the film's story "goes nowhere" and as a result the audience never "understand[s] the motivation of the characters." The industry magazine Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
also gave the film only a middling review, with a similar complaint that the film "is far more diluted thematically, touching on a number of interesting points but failing to bring them together in any cohesive way." Two internet review aggregates reflect the film's somewhat average impression among western critics; coincidentally, both Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
(ten reviews) and Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
(twenty-eight reviews) give Unknown Pleasures scores of "61" (out of 100), or "Generally favorable reviews" and "fresh," respectively.
Awards, nominations, and honors
- 2002 Toronto International Film Festival2002 Toronto International Film FestivalThe 2002 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 5 to September 17 and screened 343 films from 50 countries. Of these 263 were feature films, of which 141 were in a language other than English...
- Official Selection
- 2002 Cannes Film Festival2002 Cannes Film FestivalThe 2002 Cannes Film Festival started on 15 May and ran until 26 May. The Palme d'Or went to the Polish-French-German-British co-produced film The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski.-Jury:* David Lynch * Sharon Stone* Michelle Yeoh...
- Official Selection
- 20022002 in filmThe year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
New York Film FestivalNew York Film FestivalThe New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
- Official Selection
- 20032003 in filmThe year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
Singapore International Film FestivalSingapore International Film FestivalThe Singapore International Film Festival was launched in 1987. The festival is an annual film event, held around April/May each year, and screens about 300 films from over 45 countries...
- FIPRESCIFIPRESCIThe International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
/NETPACNetwork for the Promotion of Asian CinemaThe Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries. It was created as the result of a conference on Asian cinema organized by Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, in New Delhi in 1990 at the instance and with the support of UNESCO, Paris.Headquartered...
Award — special mention
- FIPRESCI
Top ten lists
Several American critics placed Unknown Pleasures within their top ten lists for 2003.- 2nd - Dennis Lim, The Village VoiceThe Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
- 10th - Jonathon Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
- [no ranking] - Robert Koehler, VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
(tied with Platform) - [no ranking] - Manohla DargisManohla DargisManohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
External links
- Postsocialist Grit An essay on ideology and aesthetics in Platform and Unknown Pleasures at Offscreen Journal