The High Life

In this feature debut, Zhao Dayong portrays the often desolate life of several people in the metropolis of Guangzhou. For instance there is Jian Ming, a petty conman who rips off newcomers to the city. The optimistic Xiao Ya is one of his victims. Jian’s surreptitious affair with a woman who is not really available is in danger after he helps a young country girl to find work in a shady massage parlour. And then there is Dian Qiu, a prison guard and writer of 'trash poetry'. His work is essential reading for the prisoners, because if someone doesn’t want to listen, solitary confinement awaits.
This film, granted the FIPRESCI Award at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, reveals Zhao's background as a documentary maker. City life is portrayed without commentary in a cinéma-vérité style with the ubiquitous bustle of the street as an apt soundtrack. In its substance and style, The High Life can be compared with the work of Sixth-Generation filmmakers such as Jia Zhangke.