STILL LIFE tells the story of two misplaced Chinese nurse Sanming (Han Sanming) and coal miner Shen Hong (Zhao Tao) as a result of industrialization.  Both arrive in the town of Fengjie to look for their missing spouses.  Trouble is that the Three Gorges Dam hydroelectric dam has destroyed or rather flooded the old villages and towns. 

Writer/director Jia Zhanj-ke (who directed a similarly paced THE WORLD) tells his two stories apart with dialogue as sparse as the shrinking Chinese landscape.  The audience follows Sanming – he does not speak much, being somewhat of a simpleton – as he joins demolition workers while continuing his search.  Meanwhile, a more educated Shen seeks the help of an acquaintance in her quest.  Trouble is that the other people are more interesting than these two.

STILL LIFE won the grand prize of the lion d’or at the Venice Film Festival, no doubt for its simplicity in the conflict between urbanization and human living.  The film is appropriately titled STILL LIFE as Jia’s film moves at the pace of a still painting.  Ignoring normal conventions of filmmaking such as narrative (linking of the two stories), cross-cutting (of scenes or stories) or explanation of his stories (why the time lapse before the protagonists hunt down their spouses), Jia creates a film that offers the impression of an art-house classic.  But STILL LIFE just plods along.  Simple it is, but Jia does not provide insight, solutions or comment – juts bland observation.  Despite the film’s occasional stunning cinematography, STILL LIFE is to me (but to each his own), a complete bore.