Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang

Brazilian director Walter Salles's portrait of maverick Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke incorporates Jia's signature theme—concerning the heady changes occurring in his country—through the simple but clever expedient of following Jia around his hometown (and other locales) as he talks about the great alterations since he last visited. On these jaunts, Jia is sometimes accompanied by colleagues who add their own recollections, and he occasionally bumps into acquaintances with whom he chats about the old days. This unusual way of providing a selective but informative biographical sketch—complemented by short conversations with Jia's mother and sister (often about Jia's fondly remembered late father)—dovetails with an introduction to Jia's highly personal films. Jia comes across as an affable, modest man from an ostensibly commonplace background, raised by parents who differed from others in their appreciation of literature beyond the Maoist propaganda of the time. The tone in which Jia speaks about the government's refusal to permit his films—widely admired abroad—to be shown in Chinese theatres, is one of melancholic regret rather than anger. A Guy from Fenyang will appeal primarily to cinematic connoisseurs who have embraced Jia's films, but credit must also go to Salles, who displays his own ingenuity by finding an unconventional but effective way of capturing the spirit of the man and his work. Recommended. (F. Swietek)