Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.
Wang Bing's nine-hour fly-on-the-wall epic is one of documentary cinema's singular achievements. The plot — if it can be called that — is a slow, immersive witnessing of industrial collapse and human displacement in post-socialist China, earning a genuine 4 for its structural ambition and emotional accumulation over its vast runtime. The 'acting' (naturalistic behavior of non-actors caught on DV camera) is compelling but uneven across subjects, landing at 3. Cinematography is a true 4: Wang Bing's handheld DV work, often in extreme cold and industrial darkness, achieves an aesthetic of decay and intimacy that is wholly distinctive and visually powerful despite — or because of — its rough texture. Novelty is 4 without question: nothing else in documentary history looks, feels, or operates quite like this film in its scale, patience, and proximity to its subjects. The ending is affecting but somewhat diffuse given the sprawling nature of the work, earning a 3 rather than a 4.