Jia Zhangke turns a bus stop into a whole mood. Thirty minutes of strangers being devastatingly human.
A fragmentary landscape for a little train station in a suburban area and a bus stop in a mining town. A lonely soldier in his heavy coat, a tired old man, a bubbly young lady, a punk, a woman waiting in the street... From all those different people in these unfamiliar places, we can feel the exhaustion of every life.
Direction
Jia's patient gaze finds entire novels in bored faces.
Cinematography
Digital video that makes ugly places feel holy.
Director
Jia Zhangke
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Jia's first work shot on digital video, made for a Korean anthology film that barely got released.
The mining town bus stop captures China's rapid economic transformation leaving ordinary people spiritually stranded—years before Jia made this his signature theme in films like Still Life.
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