China Concerto 2012
Distributed by Icarus Films, 32 Court St., 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 800-876-1710
Produced by Bo Wang
Directed by Bo Wang
DVD, color, 50 min.
Jr. High - General Adult
Activism, Area Studies, Censorship, Advertising, Communism, Experimental Film, Government, Mass Media, Storytelling
Date Entered: 12/11/2014
Reviewed by Brad Eden, Ph.D., Dean of Library Services, Valparaiso UniversityThis film has been labeled an "observational essay" focused on images related to the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. The filmmaker has interposed street and professional performances, advertising, mass media, and various images from the city, along with a narration provided by an ambiguous female voice. Chongqing was the focus of an intense campaign by local politician Bo Xilai to revive Mao-era "Red culture," which included the public singing and dancing of Communist songs, and the filmmaker captured this advertising blitz before Xilai was publicly disgraced. It is an interesting experimental film that has its inspiration from Chris Marker's Sans Soleil (1983). Film studies, Chinese language and literature courses, and popular culture programs will find this film a fantastic media commentary on contemporary Chinese capitalism and post-Mao culture.