China on Film

In the 1990s China's newest crop of film directors cast aside the romanticized, big-budget mise-en-scene of their 1980s predecessors in favor of a more contemporary and urban style of cinema with a grittier, documentary feel. The so-called Sixth Generation turned a wary camera eye on the breathlessly rapid pace of development in China, leaving the values of earlier film by the wayside in the same sense that the country itself fled tradition with an aggressive leap toward a free market future. In a similar juxtaposition of modernity and tradition, the High Museum of Art screens its final offering of China on Film, presented in coordination with the much lauded exhibit The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army. Spanning three decades in Sunflower, Sixth Generation director Zhang Yang explores a messy father-son relationship and the balancing act of tradition vs. modern, with China's rippling effect as a globalization giant serving as backdrop. In Mandarin with subtitles.

 This content was published in the digital and print editions of Creative Loafing.