A film made over the span of 23 years opens May 23 at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. "Caught by the Tides" will play through May 29.
Continuing is "The Legend of Ochi," which will also close May 29.
The preeminent dramatist of China’s rapid 21st-century growth and social transformation, Jia Zhang-ke has taken his boldest approach to narrative yet with his marvelous "Caught by the Tides." Assembled 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. The film mostly adheres to the perspective of Qiaoqiao (Jia’s muse Zhao Tao) as she wanders an increasingly unrecognizable country in search of long-lost lover Bin (Li Zhubin), who left their home city of Datong seeking new financial prospects. The always captivating Zhao carries the film with her delicate expressiveness, while Jia constantly evokes cinema’s ability to capture the passage of time and the persistence of change: of people, landscapes, cities, politics and ideas.
"Caught by the Tides" is not rated.
From writer-director Isaiah Saxon, making his feature-film debut, comes a story of love, longing and acceptance centering on a teenage girl who befriends a mysterious forest creature. "The Legend of Ochi" follows Yuri (Helena Zengel), a teenager from a remote island known as Carpathia. Raised by a loving and comically militant father (Willem Dafoe), she is taught to fear and hunt the mythical species known as the Ochi. But when Yuri, closed-off and misunderstood, encounters a baby ochi, wounded and alone, she finds an inexplicable sense of kinship. Rebelling against the rules of her father and her world, she runs away from home and embarks on a quest to reunite the creature with its family.
"The Legend of Ochi" is rated PG.
For more information on films, including showtimes and ticket availability, visit the Ross' website.
