(DVD) (First Viewing, 2nd Jia film)

Platform has the running time of an epic, but is all little slivers of story and actions and emotions, which can make it quite difficult to latch onto. This is the type of film I appreciate on a cerebral level: I was really attracted to its technique of allowing an overarching story of major political change to be told through intimate, personal stories, but lacking a general knowledge of Chinese culture and history can make long sections of the film seem distant and uninvolving. There’s the occasional transcendent moment—best exemplified in a giddy group chase after a train—there are also a lot of sequences that are forgotten as soon as the next scene begins. And yet, the banality gives the film a distinctly “lived-in” quality, heightened with the knowledge that a lot of autobiographical elements are weaved into the narrative. Still, this is one of those films better remembered than watched, which actually isn’t the knock that it might seem to be.