Jia Zhangke takes up the iPhone for a new short… | Little White Lies

Incoming

Jia Zhangke takes up the iPhone for a new short film

06 Feb 2019

Words by Charles Bramesco

Portrait of a middle-aged Asian man wearing a warm coat with a fur-lined hood, looking pensive.
Portrait of a middle-aged Asian man wearing a warm coat with a fur-lined hood, looking pensive.
The Chi­nese director’s The Buck­et is much more than a commercial.

Chi­nese great Jia Zhangke is cur­rent­ly work­ing the press cir­cuit for the upcom­ing US release of his lat­est fea­ture, Ash Is Purest White. Along with the usu­al inter­views and pub­lic appear­ances, he’s unveiled a minor new project sure to give his pro­file a bump in vis­i­bil­i­ty just in time for a fresh picture.

His new short titled The Buck­et focus­es on a young city-dweller vis­it­ing his rur­al fam­i­ly for the Lunar New Year, and tak­ing a full load of good­will gifts with him back to his urban home. On the return jour­ney, he has to keep a close eye on the large con­tain­er with which his moth­er sent him off, com­ing to view it as a sym­bol of a parent’s endur­ing care and love.

Get more Lit­tle White Lies

Most notably, Jia shot the entire thing using only the iPhone XS, mean­ing his short dou­bles as a show­case for the flu­id slow-motion cap­ture and crisp def­i­n­i­tion of the cam­era. He also com­posed a pair of spots high­light­ing the film­mak­ing capa­bil­i­ties of Apple’s newest and shini­est giz­mo yet, under­scor­ing the com­mer­cial aspect of this par­tic­u­lar work.

Such a naked­ly sen­ti­men­tal, tech­nol­o­gy-for­ward endeav­or may seem out of char­ac­ter for Jia, who not so long ago sug­gest­ed that Google Trans­late may be tak­ing the place of young sons in Chi­nese soci­ety. But he’s always been fas­ci­nat­ed by new fron­tiers and dig­i­tal pos­si­bil­i­ty, so per­haps the prospect of keep­ing the pro­duc­tion in his pock­et proved too tempt­ing to pass up.

Ash Is Purest White arrives in US the­aters on 15 March. A UK release date has yet to be set.

You might like

Two men performing on stage, one holding a microphone and the other playing a keyboard. The image uses a blue and white tone.
Incoming

The great biopic brain drain

by Callie Petch

In an age of Walk Hard knock-offs, why are the biopics that con­tin­ue to play it safe the biggest suc­cess stories?
Collage of scenes from various films and media, including characters, settings, and visual elements. Diverse mix of human figures, creatures, and abstract shapes in a variety of colours and compositions.
Incoming

100 films to look forward to in 2025 – part two

by Little White Lies

Here’s the sec­ond half of our annu­al pre­view, fea­tur­ing upcom­ing films from Lynne Ram­say, Bong Joon-ho and many more.
Collage of scenes from various films and TV shows featuring diverse characters and settings.
Incoming

100 films to look forward to in 2025 – part one

by Little White Lies

We’ve put togeth­er our annu­al pre­view of some excit­ing films to look out for in the next year.
A woman with dark hair in a side bun wearing a dark jacket, with a surprised expression on her face.
Incoming

Fancy winning a neon sign used in The Souvenir Part 2?

by Little White Lies

Cin­e­ma for Gaza is host­ing a char­i­ty auc­tion rais­ing funds for Med­ical Aid for Pales­tini­ans (MAP) with incred­i­ble prizes donat­ed by the likes of Til­da Swin­ton, Josh O’Con­nor, Har­ris Dick­in­son, Annie Lennox, Mike Leigh and many, many more.
Collage of scenes from various films, featuring a range of characters, settings, and visual elements.
Incoming

100 films to look forward to in 2024 – part two

by Little White Lies

In the sec­ond half of our pre­view look­ing ahead to 2024’s upcom­ing releas­es, we look at work from David Low­ery, Lynne Ram­say, Mati Diop and many more.
Collage of diverse film stills featuring people in various settings and poses, with a range of colours, moods, and visual styles.
Incoming

100 films to look forward to in 2024 – part one

by Hannah Strong, Charles Bramesco and David Jenkins

New year, new movies! We look ahead to the films com­ing our way in 2024 – includ­ing new projects from Bong Joon-ho, George Miller, Rose Glass and many more.