#MountainsMayDepart might be #jiazhangke’s most melodramatic film to date, but it's any less great than his other films in chronicling the rapidly changing Chinese society. His hometown Fenyang is once again the backdrop - vast flat area of upturned earth and old ruins. His choice of different aspect ratio for each decade isn’t gimmicky or overstated. His muse/wife Zhao Tao might be a little too old to play 26 year old woman in the first part of the film. Jia's first hit Platform came out in 2000 & Zhao was in her early 20s then. But as many Asian women, she doesn’t crack. It’s more important to see her to show that they have weathered the tumultuous time together, that they are sharing that collective experience w/the audience. It's like predisposed collective melancholy that will hit China like tidal waves in the near future. Poignant and sad, Mountains is another great film from the modern master. #chinesecinema