Jalainur

  • 92'
  • China
  • 2008
The coal mines of Jalainur, in Inner Mongolia, are among the last places in the world where steam trains are still used on a large scale. It provides spectacular pictures of monumental socialist industry: the long plumes of steam left by a locomotive toiling across snow-covered steppes; the fumes spraying across the ground as the train stops; the clouds rising up from a dozen trains in the distance.
In the meantime there's bitter cold - during shooting, it was regularly 40° below. At the start of Jalainur, two train workers in a locomotive share one glass against the rules. The elder one is soon retiring; the younger man is very fond of him. In a drama that develops calmly and inexorably, he continues to follow in the footsteps of his old colleague who keeps sending him away without much conviction.
Zhao Ye, who previously displayed his poetic visual talent in Ma Wu Jia (2007), shot it on HD. The camera occasionally dives in among the people, for instance when an escaped pig is chased, and sometimes glides past majestically, as in an enormous repair workshop for locomotives. In the meantime, we see fragments of life for Communist workers. The train workers are addressed sternly because of their surreptitious drinking and a traditional music performance attracts hardly any audience - despite the singer's bold enthusiasm: ‘Come on, let’s go!’ (GT)

  • 92'
  • China
  • 2008
Director
Zhao Ye
Premiere
European premiere
Country of production
China
Year
2008
Festival Edition
IFFR 2009
Length
92'
Medium
Betacam Digi PAL
Language
Mandarin
Producer
Helen Cui
Production Company
TianlinFilm Productions
Sales
TianlinFilm Productions
Screenplay
Zhao Ye
Cinematography
Zhang Yi
Editor
Zhao Ye
Production Design
Li Jiang, Chen Houquan
Sound Design
Ting Chen
Music
Lin Chaoyang
Cast
Yuansheng Liu, Li Zhizhong
Director
Zhao Ye
Premiere
European premiere
Country of production
China
Year
2008
Festival Edition
IFFR 2009
Length
92'
Medium
Betacam Digi PAL
Language
Mandarin
Producer
Helen Cui
Production Company
TianlinFilm Productions
Sales
TianlinFilm Productions
Screenplay
Zhao Ye
Cinematography
Zhang Yi
Editor
Zhao Ye
Production Design
Li Jiang, Chen Houquan
Sound Design
Ting Chen
Music
Lin Chaoyang
Cast
Yuansheng Liu, Li Zhizhong