24 City
{{Short description|2008 Chinese film by Jia Zhangke}}
{{Infobox film
| name = 24 City
| image = 24 City.jpg
| caption = Cannes Film Festival poster
| native_name = {{Infobox Chinese/Chinese|child=yes|hide=no|header=none|t = 二十四城記
| s =二十四城记
|l= story of twenty-four city
| p = èrshísì chéng jì}}
| director = Jia Zhangke
| producer = Jia Zhangke
Shozo Ichiyama
Wang Hong
| writer = Jia Zhangke
Zhai Yongming
| starring = Joan Chen
Lü Liping
Zhao Tao
Chen Jianbin
| music = Yoshihiro Hanno
Lim Giong
| cinematography = Yu Lik-wai
Wang Yu
| editing = Lin Xudong
Kong Jinglei
| distributor = MK2 Diffusion
Cinema Guild (USA)
| released = {{Film date|2008|05|17|Cannes|2009|03|06|China}}
| runtime = 107 minutes
| country = China
| language = Mandarin
Sichuanese
Shanghainese
| budget =
| gross = $396,044https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=24city.htm BOM
}}
24 City ({{lang-zh|s=二十四城记}}) is a 2008 Chinese film directed and co-written by Jia Zhangke. The film follows three generations of characters in Chengdu (in the 1950s, the 1970s and the present) as a state-owned factory gives way to a modern apartment complex. The film was also known as The Story of 24 City during production.{{cite web|url=http://chinafilmjournal.com/2008/03/26/the-world-is-not-enough-has-jia-zhangke-permanently-left-the-art-house/|title=The World Is Not Enough: Has Jia Zhangke Permanently Left the Art House?|publisher=China Film Journal|author=China Film Journal Staff|date=2008-03-26|accessdate=2008-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628234135/http://chinafilmjournal.com/2008/03/26/the-world-is-not-enough-has-jia-zhangke-permanently-left-the-art-house/|archive-date=2008-06-28|url-status=dead}}
Production
The apartment complex featured in the film is an actual development (also called "24 City") built on the former site of an airplane engine manufacturing facility.{{cite web |url=http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/moving_pictures |title=Moving Pictures |accessdate=2008-05-01 |last=Jia |first=Zhangke |others=Phil Tinari (translator) |work=GOOD Magazine |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430213541/http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/moving_pictures |archivedate=30 April 2008 |url-status=dead }} Jia will also produce a documentary about the location.{{cite news|first=Min |last=Lee |title=Films focus on factory upheaval |date=2007-04-04 |url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=7&art_id=41614&sid=12999180&con_type=1&d_str=20070404&fc=4 |agency=Associated Press |accessdate=2008-05-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211185609/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=7&art_id=41614&sid=12999180&con_type=1&d_str=20070404&fc=4 |archivedate=2013-12-11 }}
The film's narrative style is described by critics as a blend of fictive and documentary story-telling, and it consists of authentic interviews and fictive scenes delivered by actors (but presented in a documentary format).{{cite magazine|url=http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=38781|title=24 City (Er Shi Si Cheng Ji)|author=Dan Fainaru|magazine=Screen International|date=2008-05-17|accessdate=2008-07-13|archive-date=2009-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320222608/http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=38781|url-status=dead}}
Release
24 City made its debut shown in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/awards_festivals/news/e3i2ebcd68bdc5ad9af6fd280ba545194fc |title=Cannes unveils Competition lineup |work=The Hollywood Reporter |accessdate=2004-04-26 |date=2004-04-23 |author=Leffler, Rebecca |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080426183159/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/awards_festivals/news/e3i2ebcd68bdc5ad9af6fd280ba545194fc |archivedate=April 26, 2008 }} Film Comment, the official journal of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, listed the film at the end of 2008 as the second-best unreleased (without U.S. theatrical release) film of the year.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/jf09/ct50.htm |title=FILM COMMENT'S END-OF-YEAR CRITICS' POLL |magazine=Film Comment |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122024748/http://filmlinc.com/fcm/jf09/ct50.htm |archivedate=2009-01-22 }}
= Reception =
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 89% approval rating based on 44 reviews, with an average score of 7.4/10. The consensus reads, "One of China's most talented directors blurs the lines between non-fiction, drama, and musical theater in this vivid portrait of a country in cultural flux."{{cite web|title=24 City (2008)|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/24_city/#contentReviews/|url-status=live|work=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango Media|accessdate=31 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081211021108/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/24_city/ |archive-date = 2008-12-11 }} On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 75 out of 100, based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/24-city/ |title=24 City Reviews |work=Metacritic |publisher=CBS Interactive |accessdate=23 October 2019}}
The Hollywood Reporter called the film a "moving elegy to modern-day China" and said of the film's documentary strain that it "prevails to simple, yet emotionally reverberating effect".{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/reviewsNews/idUSN1846231420080519|title="24 City" a moving elegy to modern-day China|publisher=Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter|date=2008-05-18|accessdate=2008-07-13}}{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/asia/reviews/e3iac5edbea24551b653c03725194f1e18e |title=Film Review: '24 City' |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=2008-05-21 |accessdate=2008-07-13 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602085835/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/asia/reviews/e3iac5edbea24551b653c03725194f1e18e |archivedate=2008-06-02 |url-status=live }}
Time also reviewed the film favorably: "the film interweaves the political overview — of a city institution being torn down to be replaced by commercial and residential buildings — with personal anecdotes that are poignant and charming."{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1807446-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829211027/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1807446-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 29, 2008|title=Cannes Gets Real|magazine=Time|date=2008-05-17|accessdate=2008-07-13 | first1=Richard | last1=Corliss}}
Screen International states "the latest chapter in Jia Zhangke's chronicles of modern Chinese history is certain to reinforce the director's status as an international arthouse icon."
The New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis gave the film a rave and stated "...the often amazing and intricately structured '24 City,' the latest from the Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke...shot in digital so sharp it looks hyper-real and projected digitally, the movie takes as its point of departure the closing of a state-owned munitions factory in southwest China... Mr. Jia is one of the most original filmmakers working today, creating movies about a country that seems like a sequel."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/movies/19cann.html?_r=1&scp=13&sq=Cannes+Film+Festival&st=nyt&oref=slogin#|title=Reality Rudely Intrudes in the Screening Rooms|work=The New York Times|date=2008-05-19|accessdate=2008-07-13 | first1=A. O. | last1=Scott | first2=Manohla | last2=Dargis}}
Anthony Kaufman of IndieWire praised the film and states "Jia's masterful aesthetic remains consistent, mixing documentary and fiction with intriguing results."{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/iw/20080518/121116826600.html|title=Desplechin's "Tale" Stands Out In Competition, "Three Monkeys," "24 City," Also Impress|author=Anthony Kaufman|publisher=Yahoo! Movies|date=2008-05-18|accessdate=2008-07-13}}
J. Hoberman of the Village Voice described the film as "so meaningfully framed that it could have been shot by Andy Warhol or Chantal Akerman", and called the film as one of the stand-outs of this year's films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-05-20/film/shots-in-the-dark/|title=The Cannes Film Festival Thus Far|author=Jim Hoberman|publisher=The Village Voice|accessdate=2008-07-13}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|1103963|24 City}}
- [http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/10802550/year/2008.html 24 City] at 2008 Cannes Film Festival
- [http://www.dianying.com/en/title/21044 24 City] at the Chinese Movie Database
- {{rotten-tomatoes|24_city|24 City}}
{{Jia Zhangke}}
Category:2000s Mandarin-language films
Category:Sichuanese-language films
Category:Films set in the 1950s
Category:Films set in the 1960s
Category:Films set in the 1970s