‘Caught By The Tides’ Trailer: Jia Zhangke’s Ambitious Love Story Using Footage Shot Over 23 Years Is Coming To Theaters This May

Janus Films and Sideshow have shared with us a new trailer for the ambitious Chinese film “Caught By The Tides” from filmmaker Jia Zhangke, using footage from over multiple decades, that is coming to theaters on May 9.

In the pic, we mostly follow the perspective of Qiaoqiao, played by Zhangke’s “immortal muse” Zhao Tao, as she wanders an increasingly unrecognizable country in search of long-lost lover Bin (played by Li Zhubin), who left their home city of Datong seeking new financial prospects.

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“Caught By The Tides” explores Chain’s rapid 21st-century growth and social transformation. As director Zhangke has taken his boldest approach to narrative yet by assembling from footage shot over a span of 23 years—a beguiling mix of fiction and documentary, featuring a cascade of images taken from previous movies, unused scenes, and newly shot dramatic sequences—Caught by the Tides is a free-flowing work of unspoken longing, carried along more by music than dialogue as it looms around the edges of a poignant love story.

An official synopsis reads:

Traversing all of his past films, Jia Zhangke delivers an epic look at the romantic destiny of his perennial heroine, Qiaoqiao. Spanning 21 years of a country going through profound transformation, the film gives a new perspective to look into contemporary China as well as the individual experiences under the turbulent emotional and social changes.

“I’d been travelling to Datong often since 2001, and filming the city with whatever camera I was using at the time. Datong was renowned as a coal-mining city, but by the time I began spending time there, the mines were becoming exhausted, and coal prices were dropping. But China’s economy was rapidly opening up, and a new vitality was on display everywhere I looked. I captured singing crowds with my camera. I swirled with the dancers. I followed the young people to all their favourite places. The camera in my hand overflowed with unknown pleasures,” Zhangke said in an official statement announcing the theatrical release.

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You can watch the new trailer for “Caught By The Tides” below.