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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.
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (4) | DVD (1)
Through interviews with retired workers and faux interviews with scripted characters, Jia brings long-repressed history to life on an intimate scale. Jul 23, 2018 | Full Review…
Through interviews with retired workers and faux interviews with scripted characters, Jia brings long-repressed history to life on an intimate scale.
Richard Brody
A blend of documentary and drama which is by turns movingly authentic and deliberately artificial. Sep 14, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
A blend of documentary and drama which is by turns movingly authentic and deliberately artificial.
Liam Lacey
In [Jia Zhangke's] chronicle of the changing fortunes of a defunct but once glorious aeronautic factory and its workers through talking heads and wordless images exclusively, the documentary strain prevails to simple, yet emotionally reverberating effect. Jul 6, 2010 | Full Review…
In [Jia Zhangke's] chronicle of the changing fortunes of a defunct but once glorious aeronautic factory and its workers through talking heads and wordless images exclusively, the documentary strain prevails to simple, yet emotionally reverberating effect.
Maggie Lee
24 City includes evocative footage of Factory 420's dismantling, but emphasizes people over place. Jul 6, 2010 | Full Review…
24 City includes evocative footage of Factory 420's dismantling, but emphasizes people over place.
Mark Jenkins
Strongest moments are when the pristine HD lensing by Hong Kong's Yu Lik-wai (a Jia regular) and Wang Yu, and warm string music by Yoshihiro Hanno, take over in montages showing the gradual dismantling of the factory. Jul 6, 2010 | Full Review…
Strongest moments are when the pristine HD lensing by Hong Kong's Yu Lik-wai (a Jia regular) and Wang Yu, and warm string music by Yoshihiro Hanno, take over in montages showing the gradual dismantling of the factory.
Derek Elley
A deeply serious and sombre film, trying to find a way of telling the stories of people affected by the gigantic political and economic changes sweeping that country whose concerns must in the end affect us all: 21st-century China. Apr 30, 2010 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
A deeply serious and sombre film, trying to find a way of telling the stories of people affected by the gigantic political and economic changes sweeping that country whose concerns must in the end affect us all: 21st-century China.
Peter Bradshaw
A fond, quietly ironic look at the past and the present facing the global problem of individual obsolescence and urban uprooting. Feb 11, 2016 | Full Review…
A fond, quietly ironic look at the past and the present facing the global problem of individual obsolescence and urban uprooting.
Donald J. Levit
Jia purposely refrains from voicing any opinions here and its authenticity may be arguable, but if pure fiction is so often taken as historical testimony, why shouldn't half-fiction qualify for the same honours? Aug 4, 2015 | Full Review…
Jia purposely refrains from voicing any opinions here and its authenticity may be arguable, but if pure fiction is so often taken as historical testimony, why shouldn't half-fiction qualify for the same honours?
Dan Fainaru
Jia Zhangke seems to be entering a new phase of his fascinating career with 24 City, a documentary/fiction hybrid that reworks the director's signature techniques and strategies to stunning and self-critical effect. Aug 2, 2015 | Full Review…
Jia Zhangke seems to be entering a new phase of his fascinating career with 24 City, a documentary/fiction hybrid that reworks the director's signature techniques and strategies to stunning and self-critical effect.
Michael Joshua Rowin
In the end, the filmmaker's fragmented approach marks an interesting, if not entirely successful, departure for one of China's most talented working directors. Aug 2, 2015 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
In the end, the filmmaker's fragmented approach marks an interesting, if not entirely successful, departure for one of China's most talented working directors.
Derek Smith
24 City belies its documentary origins with overtly poetic film language: the film is an elegiac visual symphony of carefully framed compositions, trompe l'oeil camera movements, posed portraits, internal rhymes and mysterious vignettes. Jun 18, 2012 | Full Review…
24 City belies its documentary origins with overtly poetic film language: the film is an elegiac visual symphony of carefully framed compositions, trompe l'oeil camera movements, posed portraits, internal rhymes and mysterious vignettes.
Tony Rayns
A familiar scenario both here and in China, but Jia Zhang-ke has shaped it into a complex and lucid cinematic poem about identity, transience, and loss. Jul 6, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
A familiar scenario both here and in China, but Jia Zhang-ke has shaped it into a complex and lucid cinematic poem about identity, transience, and loss.
Peter Keough
Compelling story of a decision to destroy a long time munitions factory to make way for a condo development. It is a story that is told worldwide as politics and economics change. Would merit a higher rating but the director chose to use both real former factory workers and actors. The result is slightly disjointed and a bit misleading.
Super Reviewer
Thankfully, "24 City" is not a continuation of the television series "24." All kidding aside, it is easier to describe what "24 City" is not, than what it is. Ostensibly, it is about the tearing down of Factory 420 in Chengdu City in order to make way for luxury apartments. That is only a starting point for an exploration of the recent history of China as it has moved from a country always on a war footing to one that is now ruled by capital, with the airplanes once made in the factory now museum pieces. This is told through static interviews with former workers, managers and others involved in the factory, the last of whom being Su Na(Tao Zhao), a professional shopper who frequently travels to Hong Kong for her clients. And as you can see and I have read elsewhere, some of these subjects are played by actors and I am not really sure which ones are which. One interviewee, Gu Minhua, who claims she was once compared to Joan Chen is actually Joan Chen. So, basically, "24 City" sits on the edge of documentary and experiment, not totally successful, that maybe should have been attempted on a stage, instead.
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