Platform, a film by Jia ZhangKe, is about political, economic, and social change in China during the 1980s and the effect it has on four young performers in a provincial performance troupe.
Set in Fenyang, a small town west of Beijing, Platform begins after the Chinese Cultural Revolution has run its course with the dramatization of Maoist orthodoxy by the Peasant Cultural Group. As the 80s progress, Jia shows the changes that led China away from Mao-inspired collectivism to the influence of Western ideas under Deng Xiaoping. By the end of the decade, the performance troupe has reconfigured themselves as the All-Stars Rock 'n' Breakdance Electronic Band, offering Western-oriented pop music. They smoke cigarettes, go to the movies, and become enmeshed in petty squabbles -- all seemingly to no end, as their personal happiness remains elusive.
Platform takes its title from a popular 1980s Chinese pop song that includes the line "We are waiting, our whole hearts are waiting forever". Jia captures this desultory mood in an important film that provides a realistic depiction of a turning point in Chinese history.
An ambitious film that follows the lives of four friends over a turbulent 10-year period of Chinese history from 1979-1989. A vivid insight into modern China and an absorbing document of the sweeping social changes experienced by its people.
