Platform, a film by Jia ZhangKe, is about political, economic, and social change in China during the 1980s and the effect it has on four young performers in a provincial performance troupe. Set in Fenyang, a small town west of Beijing, Platform begins after the Chinese Cultural Revolution has run its course with the dramatization of Maoist orthodoxy by the Peasant Cultural Group. As the 80s progress, Jia shows the changes that led China away from Mao-inspired collectivism to the influence of Western ideas under Deng Xiaoping. Color TVs replace black and white and popular music videos appear on TV.
By the end of the decade, the performance troupe has reconfigured themselves as the All-Stars Rock 'n' Breakdance Electronic Band, offering Western-oriented pop music. They perform in the same towns but now use electric guitars and the girls wear sparkly outfits. The performers -- accordion player Cui Mingliang (Wang Hongwei), his girl friend, singer Yin Ruijuan (Zhao Tao), her best friend, Zhong Ping (Yang Tianyi), and Zhong's boyfriend Zhang Jun (Liang Jingdong) all adopt new fashions. The boys wear bell-bottom trousers, the girls get perms, and the band delivers the latest pop disco music. The boys are sullen, however, and their romances with Zhong and Ruijuan seem lethargic. Zhong Pin becomes pregnant by Jun and has an abortion after Jun is arrested for having sex out of wedlock.
They smoke cigarettes, go to the movies, and become enmeshed in petty squabbles -- all seemingly to no end, as their personal happiness remains elusive. In one scene that underscores their loneliness, the female dancers of the band stand alone looking desolate as they perform on the back of a truck while uninterested motorists drive past without noticing. Their lives that started out so promising seem to deliver very little. Toward the end, the All-Star Band returns to Fenyang, and Cui Mingliang is reunited with Ruijuan, who has become a tax collector.
Platform takes its title from a popular 1980s Chinese pop song that includes the line "We are waiting, our whole hearts are waiting forever". As in the film "Unknown Pleasures" by Jia, the youngsters find themselves doing a lot of waiting. Jia captures this desultory mood but after two and half-hours the grim tone becomes oppressive. Platform is an "important" film and a realistic depiction of a turning point in Chinese history, yet I found the characters to be poorly defined and the film did not come alive as an experience.
By the end of the decade, the performance troupe has reconfigured themselves as the All-Stars Rock 'n' Breakdance Electronic Band, offering Western-oriented pop music. They perform in the same towns but now use electric guitars and the girls wear sparkly outfits. The performers -- accordion player Cui Mingliang (Wang Hongwei), his girl friend, singer Yin Ruijuan (Zhao Tao), her best friend, Zhong Ping (Yang Tianyi), and Zhong's boyfriend Zhang Jun (Liang Jingdong) all adopt new fashions. The boys wear bell-bottom trousers, the girls get perms, and the band delivers the latest pop disco music. The boys are sullen, however, and their romances with Zhong and Ruijuan seem lethargic. Zhong Pin becomes pregnant by Jun and has an abortion after Jun is arrested for having sex out of wedlock.
They smoke cigarettes, go to the movies, and become enmeshed in petty squabbles -- all seemingly to no end, as their personal happiness remains elusive. In one scene that underscores their loneliness, the female dancers of the band stand alone looking desolate as they perform on the back of a truck while uninterested motorists drive past without noticing. Their lives that started out so promising seem to deliver very little. Toward the end, the All-Star Band returns to Fenyang, and Cui Mingliang is reunited with Ruijuan, who has become a tax collector.
Platform takes its title from a popular 1980s Chinese pop song that includes the line "We are waiting, our whole hearts are waiting forever". As in the film "Unknown Pleasures" by Jia, the youngsters find themselves doing a lot of waiting. Jia captures this desultory mood but after two and half-hours the grim tone becomes oppressive. Platform is an "important" film and a realistic depiction of a turning point in Chinese history, yet I found the characters to be poorly defined and the film did not come alive as an experience.