So last time around I said I was done with films by director Jia Zhangke, yet here is another one of those again. The answer is that this one dates from much back and is in fact one of the director’s earliest films. I had this on my list for a very long time but finding it was very difficult. As it turned out we found this one to be a fair bit better his newer films but it is still flawed.

Tao and her boyfriend Taisheng both work at Beijing World Park, a theme park featuring smaller scaled replicas of famous landmarks from around the world. She is a performer who wears a variety of costumes representing different cultures while he is a security guard. One day, Tao’s ex-boyfriend from her home town comes to visit, making Taisheng jealous. However, he is only stopping by on his way to Mongolia. Meanwhile Taisheng helps a friend from his own home town to find a job as a construction worker in Beijing. Tao makes friends with Anna, a Russian who has been hired by the park as a performer. Other characters include Wei, another female performer whose boyfriend Niu is extremely jealous and possessive, as well as Qun, an older woman who is introduced to Taisheng by an associate of his with criminal connections. Qun is married but her husband has been living overseas for many years now so Taisheng tries to pursue her to have an affair.

Though Tao and Taisheng are the main characters, the film freely dips into the lives of the many minor characters rather than stay on a central plot. This makes the film feel a little diffuse and somewhat stunts the emotional impact of the drama surrounding Tao and Taisheng but it does provide a wider picture of the society around them. The acting here is nothing special but as my wife commented, after seeing Zhao Tao in all of the director’s films, it’s gratifying to see her in a younger role where she is allowed to look forward to things in life whereas in the director’s later works she mostly looks backward and is all world weary and sad. Similarly the visuals here aren’t exceptional, save for the fact that the setting is a real park in Beijing. It’s quite impressive that the director managed to get permission to base an entire film there and it works perfectly to complement the themes in play. Unfortunately the director himself fails to keep the plot on theme and the result is a lot of mixed messaging.

At first everything fits together perfectly. The park’s employees see replicas of places around the world everyday yet they are trapped in it and never get to see the real thing. This is set in an age where Chinese still dream of going overseas to seek their fortune and even a passport in someone’s hand is still something miraculous. This is reinforced by how all of the characters are in Beijing but they are also all originally from somewhere else, here to work and make money. This is beautifully illustrated by how the characters of diverse origins speak to one another in Mandarin but speak to the people from their own home towns in their own local dialects. The irony is that the hicks from the hinterland are enthusiastic about working in Beijing and envious of those who are already well established in the capital yet they themselves dream of leaving the country entirely. Unfortunately the director can’t resist straying into more general issues like the poverty and poor working conditions of those from the provinces or how people resort of less than ethical means to get ahead in life. Even the romantic drama between the two main characters is a distraction from what ought to be the driving theme of the film.

This scenario wouldn’t fly today as now it is the world that goes to China and Chinese have no difficulty finding opportunities to prosper within their own country. This film has all of the ingredients for being a fantastic depiction of what things were like at the time and yet it fails to put them all together as the director seemingly cannot help but be embroiled in romantic stories about the characters his wife plays. It is still better in my opinion than his newer works as it has a clear sense of purpose but it is infuriating to realize that it could have been so much better.