24 City (Er shi si cheng ji) (2008)
85%RT Audience Score: 76%
Awards & Nominations: 1 win & 6 nominations
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
24 City is a documentary/fiction hybrid that takes a look at the changing fortunes of a defunct aeronautic factory and its workers. Through interviews with retired workers and faux interviews with scripted characters, the film brings long-repressed history to life on an intimate scale. While some critics found the film confusing and lacking in social and historical perspective, others praised its poetic film language and emotional impact. Overall, 24 City is a fascinating and bittersweet film that offers a fond, quietly ironic look at the past and the present facing the global problem of individual obsolescence and urban uprooting. Plus, who doesn’t love a good documentary/fiction hybrid?
Production Company(ies)
Otto Preminger Films,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
China
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2009
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):Mandarin, Shanghainese
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Nov 17, 2009
Genre(s)
Documentary/Drama
Keyword(s)
documentary, drama, China, factory, apartment complex, cultural flux, ZhangKe Jia, directed by ZhangKe Jia, Shozo Ichiyama, written by ZhangKe Jia, Yongming Zhai, starring Jianbin Chen, Joan Chen, Liping Lu, Tao Zhao, MPAA rating, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Richard Brody, Tony Rayns, Liam Lacey, Maggie Lee, Mark Jenkins, Derek Elley, David Walsh, Mattie Lucas, Donald J Levit, Dan Fainaru, Michael Joshua Rowin, Derek Smith, produced by Shozo Ichiyama
Worldwide gross: $402,917
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $556,876
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,711
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 60,728
US/Canada gross: $30,800
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $42,569
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,765
US/Canada opening weekend: $6,082
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $8,406
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,737
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Joan Chen – Little Flower
Liping Lu – Hao Dali
Tao Zhao – Su Na
ZhangKe Jia – Director, Writer
Director(s)
ZhangKe Jia
Writer(s)
ZhangKe Jia, Yongming Zhai
Producer(s)
Shozo Ichiyama
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
1 win & 6 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (5)
Through interviews with retired workers and faux interviews with scripted characters, Jia brings long-repressed history to life on an intimate scale.
July 23, 2018
Richard Brody
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
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.
June 18, 2012
Tony Rayns
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
A blend of documentary and drama which is by turns movingly authentic and deliberately artificial.
September 14, 2010 | Rating: 3/4
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
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.
July 6, 2010
Maggie Lee
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
24 City includes evocative footage of Factory 420’s dismantling, but emphasizes people over place.
July 6, 2010
Mark Jenkins
NPR
TOP CRITIC
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.
July 6, 2010
Derek Elley
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Things are confused here, and the documentary/drama suffers. A lack of social and historical perspective lies at the heart of the problem.
February 13, 2021
David Walsh
World Socialist Web Site
A fascinating and bittersweet film, its structure creating a wholly original and moving viewing experience that takes the plight of people half a world away, and makes it stunningly, hauntingly, our own.
August 5, 2019 | Rating: 3/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row
A fond, quietly ironic look at the past and the present facing the global problem of individual obsolescence and urban uprooting.
February 11, 2016
Donald J. Levit
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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?
August 4, 2015
Dan Fainaru
Screen International
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.
August 2, 2015
Michael Joshua Rowin
Stop Smiling
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.
August 2, 2015 | Rating: 3/5
Derek Smith
Tiny Mix Tapes…
Plot
24 City is a documentary-drama that explores the lives of eight people affected by the closure of a factory in China and its replacement with an apartment complex, blurring the lines between non-fiction, drama, and musical theater.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film features interviews with retired workers and faux interviews with scripted characters.
ZhangKe-Jia.jpg
