24 City

Jia Zhang Ke's unusual 24 City is half-documentary and half-fictional narrative, but never wholly satisfactory. Set in Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan Province, the film focuses on a former munitions factory established in the 1950s to build engines for the Maoist-era air force. Long since abandoned, the plant has been sold to real estate developers representing contemporary China's industrial development. Jia recruited five factory workers from the plant's manufacturing halcyon days, who recall the monotony of assembly line work and the confusion they felt as their country segued from rabid communism to a unique brand of capitalism. For no clear reason, however, Jia inserts four monologues into the mix performed by professional actors—the most notable (and distracting) being Joan Chen of Twin Peaks and The Last Emperor fame. For those with a serious interest in China's remarkable socioeconomic evolution, 24 City offers a ground-level view from the people whose lives were disrupted as the country reinvented itself with a new focus on urbanization and consumerism. But Jia's hybrid approach ultimately feels odd—a straightforward documentary or a tightly scripted feature would have served the subject better. A strong optional purchase. (P. Hall)