WORLD - DVD review

Everything that a writer writes becomes a part of a macro-diary. The same holds true for the reviews that a movie reviewer pounds out on his keyboard. A reviewer reveals his attitudes, his beliefs, his maturity, his intelligence, and his experiences when he responds to a movie. My review of Jia Zhangke's "The World" ("Shi Jie") is more of a diary entry than it is a "straight" review because, given what has happened in my life during the past twelve months, I have an intensely personal reaction to Jia's fourth directorial effort. Jia is already being hailed as one of the masters of contemporary cinema. "The World" covers much of what I saw first-hand. I appreciate it as much for being a visual memoir as for being an excellent movie.

In May of 2005, I completed my master's thesis about Ang Lee's first three feature films. In June and July, I visited several European countries for the first time. On 26 July, I set foot in China for the first time; even though I was born in Taiwan, China is my ancestral homeland because I am a wai sheng ren. The first movie that I saw in a Chinese movie theatre was Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds". While in China, I received a note from James Schamus, Ang Lee's long-time collaborator. Schamus patted me on the back about my thesis. I visited a KTV lounge and became friends with two ladies who work there. Not long after my first visit to the KTV lounge, I saw my favorite actress Zhang Ziyi in Wong Kar-wai's "2046", in which she played a "hostess" in a complicated relationship with a writer. After I returned to the United States in December, I saw Zhang Ziyi in "Memoirs of a Geisha", in which she played a "hostess" in a complicated relationship, and Steven Spielberg's "Munich" on the same day. I also saw Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain". Even though it was made in 2004, I saw "The World" in mid-January of 2006. On 31 January, I woke up to hear that Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg would be going head-to-head in several categories at the Oscar ceremony.

"Freedom of choice" is a good idea in principle, but sometimes, people want bad things. One of the most-noticeable bad things in big Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai is the abundance of KTV lounges, which started in Japan and quickly spread to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, and South Korea. KTV lounges are the kind of decadent vices that old-time communists railed against. In East Asia, groups of men visit KTV lounges to "unwind"; this involves a "Mami" (a female pimp) leading a line of girls into a room, the men picking female companions, and everyone pretending to have a good time listening to bad singing while kissing and groping. There's also an attendant in the room; she's in charge of picking songs on the computer, bringing in food and drinks, and throwing away trash. The evening concludes with drunkards staggering out into the streets. (Some companion girls also make money "after hours", though KTV lounges don't officially encourage this business. On the other hand, when you stay in a major hotel, you'll likely be the recipient of business cards advertising "massages" slid under your door even though prostitution is illegal in China.)

Why did Eddie patronize a KTV lounge? Disclaimer: two of my uncles took me there to "show me how it is". I can't sing, and I hate playing dice games. I wasn't even interested in having a companion girl, as I was afraid of getting into more than meets the eye. My uncles picked one for me anyway. What was a guy to do? I talked. While my uncles sang and bullshitted about being Sichuanese with their Sichuanese girls for four hours, I chatted with my companion girl. (Sichuan Province is famous for its spicy peppers. In Chinese, the term for spicy can be used to describe sexiness, ala "hot" in English. "La mei" is a literal translation of both "hot chick" and "Spice Girl", which is an example of how English is transforming Chinese. "La mei" is also the reason why my uncles wanted Sichuanese girls.)

Because of my upbringing, I had never really met truly poor people before going to China. Despite the fact that China now has the fourth-largest economy in the world, at least 70% of its people live in third-world conditions. In the four hours that Mao Yuanyuan and I spent on chatting, I learned a lot about what it's like for the hundreds of millions of Chinese who have not enjoyed any of the benefits of China's economic boom.

Mao Yuanyuan stayed in my mind, and a month later, I visited her again. On subsequent visits, I also became friends with Luo Huiqin, an attendant there. I can't sing, and I hate playing dice games. What was a guy to do? The three of us just talked. I wanted to know as much as possible about growing up in China, and they wanted to know about growing up in the U.S. I was a bit of a curiosity in the KTV lounge. I speak Mandarin Chinese without an accent, but my reading and writing skills are not so good. It took a while before the KTV's employees believed that I really was an American. (They weren't flattering me. Some of them got mad at me when I told them I wasn't from any part of China, and they accused me of lying.)

Though the two girls hate their jobs and though I encouraged them to find other jobs, my repeat visits were good news to them and made me guilty of perpetuating their situation. The standard "tip" for companion girls is 200 RMB ($25 USD) per girl; the standard "tip" for attendants is 100 RMB ($12.50 USD). This is for the whole night, and while cheap by American standards, is a lot of money for people in China. The good news for Mao Yuanyuan and Luo Huiqin is that I gave them more money than the standard, sometimes as much as they could earn in a week. My guilty part was that I was Mr. Easiest-to-Please; they got more money from me doing less than usual, so why would they feel compelled to look for other employment?

In China, education is compulsory until 9th grade. After that, you can leave and start working. Hordes of young people swarm into big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Yes, people in big cities make more money than they would in rural areas, but living expenses in big cities negate the notion of savings. Also, even though people are lucky to earn 800 RMB to 1600 RMB ($100 USD to $200 USD) per month, it seemed to me that everyone had a 3200 RMB ($400 USD) Moto Razr mobile phone. You know, every mobile phone I've ever had has been free, and I make more than 800 RMB to 1600 RMB per month.

Since leaving China, I've kept in touch with Mao Yuanyuan and Luo Huiqin by calling them with Skype. I sent them letters, lucky spending money, and stuffed toy dogs for Chinese New Year since 2006 is the Year of the Dog. My letters included maps of the world and maps of the U.S. to show them where I've been in my nomadic life. Since all of China uses Beijing time, it has been difficult for them to understand that I now live fourteen hours behind them. It turns out that I got involved in more than meets the eye after all.

When I got back to Texas in mid-December, critics were issuing their best-of-2005 lists. Several mentioned Jia Zhangke's "The World"; when I heard about the characters' frequent reliance on mobile-phone text-messaging, I was reminded of all the text-messaging that my friends and I did in China. I lucked out when I caught "The World" here in Austin. It had already played for a week, which was its contracted length, but because it did so well, it played for another week, so I was able to see it on the big screen.

"The World" isn't about KTV lounges, but there is a key sequence set in one. Tao (Zhao Tao), the main character, is invited by her friends to join a party. While in the restroom, she runs into Anna (Alla Chtcherbakova), a Russian woman whom she knew at another place. Anna got a job at the KTV lounge because she wants to make money quickly in order to visit her sister in Mongolia. A person could be flippant and say that capitalism empowers people to achieve goals quickly. The reality of the situation is that a rapid shift to free-market economics reduces people to commodities. Remember the saying about the guy who knows the price of everything but knows the value of nothing? That's what's on display in "The World", from the rampant use of mobile phones, simultaneously connecting and distancing people, to construction companies handing out money for job-related deaths without implementing safety precautions (it's cheaper to pay for a death than to prevent a death).

While given only a few scenes, the friendship between Tao and Anna is the most-powerful relationship in the movie. They don't understand each other's languages, but talking to each other allows them to vocalize their dreams and frustrations. Tao says that she admires Anna because Anna can travel all over the world while Tao has never been anywhere other than her hometown in Shanxi Province and Beijing. Anna, like many Russians and North Koreans, works in northern China because the economy of her country is in shambles. Anna is unable to communicate to Tao the idea that traveling abroad is a necessity rather than a luxury. Yet, the depth of feeling conveyed by the actresses transcends the fact that their characters are talking past one another. This is in stark contrast to Tao's relationship with her boyfriend; they speak the same Shanxi dialect and text-message each other constantly, yet they're not in dialogue.

Most of "The World" is set inside Beijing's World Park, a theme park with a collection of re-creations of global landmarks. I spent five months in China without ever hearing about this place. Apparently, this kitschy attraction isn't advertised for foreigners. What would be the point of showing people what they've already seen? As "The World" makes abundantly clear, most of the park's visitors are Chinese who, like Tao, will never have the chance to step foot outside of China.

"The World" has a large cast and examines several issues, but most of our attention is directed to Tao. Tao works at World Park in varying capacities--as an Indian in front of the Taj Mahal, as a flight stewardess in a now-grounded airplane, as a dancer in the park's several stage productions, etc. Her boyfriend followed her from the countryside to Beijing and works as a security guard in the park. They love each other, but their relationship has plateaued. Therefore, the boyfriend strikes up a close friendship with an associate's sister; he's not "cheating" on Tao because he's a sex fiend but because their holding pattern seems destined for an end.

While the movie is a drama through and through, it is the funniest non-dramedy drama that I've seen. The movie begins with Tao bellowing, "Does anyone have a bandage?" for three and a half minutes while she walks down a hall filled with dressing rooms. It's not possible to convey how hilarious this is; you'll have to see it for yourself. Me? I was doubling over at the sight of Tao dressed in a sari while looking for a bandage.

Zhang Ziyi isn't the only Chinese actress who has pretended to be a Japanese geisha. In "The World", Tao and her co-workers sometimes dress up as geishas in the Japanese areas of World Park. Precisely because these simulations were assembled with great care but are so atrocious due to their campiness, every new "attraction" will make you giggle or laugh out loud. At one point, Tao is dressed as a bride, and she stands in a doorway with an impressive view of the Arc de Triomphe. Getting married under the Arc de Triomphe is about as majestic as weddings can get, but we know that there is a huge disconnect between the apparent image and reality. World Park even includes a monorail that is so creaky that it makes sense that only Tao is brave enough to ride in it.

"The World" also comments on the superficiality of piracy and knock-offs. In the West, you only hear about how Hollywood and fashion designers lose billions of dollars to piracy and knock-offs. While this has some basis in fact, it is also an ugly claim to make; forget about the moral rights related to intellectual property--we just want money! In China, the piracy of movies has a powerful political value; people get to see movies that are banned and "subversive". One could argue that piracy is a good thing for many reasons in politically oppressive countries. On the other hand, fashion knock-offs reflect and fuel the materialistic vanities of young people. This is indicative of the vicious cycles perpetrated by the pursuit of money for the sake of physical benefits without improving the quality of life.

It's not interesting watching people look at their mobile phones or computer screens. Jia Zhangke knows this and inserted brief animation sequences into the movie when the characters receive text messages. These animation sequences do a great job of illustrating how the characters feel. For example, when Tao's boyfriend receives a message from his associate's sister, the movie shows him charging to the rescue on a white horse while pink hearts escape from his mouth. Later, when Tao realizes that her boyfriend has been "close" with another woman, the movie shows an underwater scene with rising bubbles. This indicates that Tao is drowning in despair.

Watching "The World" barely a month after leaving China was an act of immediate nostalgia. The sights and sounds were things that had become familiar to me, from uniformed guards carrying giant water bottles on their shoulders to KTV girls wearing gaudily shiny dresses, from the use of Roman-alphabet transliterations on street signs and documents to restaurants that were as noisy as rock concerts, from the melting pot of Chinese voices all speaking different Chineses to the incessant rings of text-message alerts. Before I went to China, "The World" would've seemed foreign; after having lived in China, "The World" was a showcase of things that were simultaneously a part of and not a part of my reality.

You might be wondering by now, what the hell do Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg have to do with "The World"? Not much, really. Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg make movies about characters with daddy issues, and I have daddy issues. They both released movies when I had a busy year circumnavigating the world, and they, like Jia Zhangke with "The World" and Zhang Ziyi, made movies that left deep impressions on me for personal reasons. Like I wrote at the beginning of this "review", movie-reviewing is more about reviewers than it is about movies.

Video:
The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image was shot with digital-video cameras. (I don't know if the DVD video transfer was taken from a digital source such as a hard drive or a digital-video tape or from a film print.) People familiar with shooting with film and shooting with DV will be able to notice the tell-tale signs when watching "The World", such as the much-lower resolution of DV when compared to film (1,000 lines to film's 5,000 lines), image ghosting, muddy colors, and the presence of "noise" rather than film grain. Still, it's a sign of how far DV has come when I felt that most of the movie looked like it was shot with low-grade 16mm film stock. The video image is completely free of debris. While the colors are rather muted and the picture is a tad dark, it's easy to see how affordable digital video enables more and more people to make their voices heard. (To be sure, some voices are worthless, but they still deserve to be heard.)

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Chinese (various dialects) audio track is a lively affair, which makes sense given the chaos of voices and the use of beat-intensive techno music. I remember seeing this in a theatre and being hit by raucous mix (previous low-budget imports from China usually had constricted, muffled audio). Still, the audio is more energetic than it is "good" in that this is not an innovative sound design. It does its job well, but it doesn't venture into new territory.

Optional English subtitles support the audio. I strongly recommend using them even if you understand Mandarin Chinese. The actors use several different dialects, and some of them speak Mandarin with thick accents.

(The subtitles aren't perfect. In one instance, the subtitles translate "Chi cu" as "eat vinegar". Yes, "Chi cu" is literally "eat vinegar", but "Chi cu" actually means "to be jealous".)

Extras:
The DVD offers a collection of still photos from the production, including shots of scenes that did not make it into the final cut of the movie and shots of the camera-shy director. These photos are of better quality than the main feature's video, so they are definitely worth a look.

What's billed as an interview with critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, who's a big champion of this movie, is actually a trailer that was used in Canada. This trailer offers a few superficial comments that are much less illuminating than Rosenbaum's review for the "Chicago Reader".

You also get the American trailer.

--Miscellaneous--
A glossy booklet provides cast, crew, and DVD credits; director's notes about various issues in the movie; promotional notes about Beijing's World Park; notes about the movie's many characters; and chapter listings. This informative booklet is helpful in distinguishing the movie's many key characters.

Film Value:
As my colleagues Chris Long and Hock Guan Teh wrote in their reviews of "Platform" and "Unknown Pleasures" (respectively), Jia Zhangke has a tendency to let his movies ramble. "The World", clocking in at 138 minutes, is also guilty of padding. (I've read that the movie is shorter in China than elsewhere, though it was trimmed for commercial reasons rather than political ones.) Yet, it has an undeniably powerful effect on patient, intelligent viewers as it quietly observes how empty and destructive capitalism can be when free-market development occurs without a strong sense of moral responsibility. "The World" does not have a political agenda in that it doesn't attack the Chinese government, but like so many other Chinese movies of this ilk, by simply showing viewers the harsh realities of contemporary life for average Chinese citizens, the movie is an indictment of both an economy run amok and Western greed in demanding access to Chinese consumers.