NYAFF 09 Review: PLASTIC CITY
[Our thanks to Pat Dahn for the following review.]
PLASTIC CITY is a dark, brooding new work from director Yu Lik-Wai (himself a frequent cinematographer for Jia Zhang-ke). An international production, it's set in a seamy São Paulo underground and features superstars from China and Japan acting alongside locals and speaking in Portuguese (more on this later).
Yuda (Anthony Wong) is a magnate of the counterfeit goods market in the Liberdade section of the city. Together with Kirin (Joe Odagiri), the young man he raised from a boy after encountering him in a vague jungle incident, he mocks legitimate shopping centers and spreads his wares throughout the city via street vendors. “Sell fake goods, make real money” they say.
If it were only so easy. Outside investors and US interests push in, disrupting business and forcing the duo into dealings with the corrupt politician Coelho. All of which sounds terribly dry and economic, but the plot is held largely at a distance, treated as a side detail. Increasingly as the movie progresses scenes don't really seem to connect, urged together instead by this kind of muted, heavy dampness. The narrative deteriorates and what remains is a confused, persistent feeling of doom.
Luckily, the movie is beautifully shot and I was able to just let it go for a while, let the atmosphere lead where it wanted: down down down, to a slow boil. But it got frustrating trying to keep it together, and became increasingly difficult to connect to the characters. This is not helped by the stilted dubbed/phonetic Portuguese dialog. I almost wonder if the effect was intended- another distancing tactic helping to create a world that, while it carries some distinct emotional heft, ultimately feels contrived: a plastic city, a counterfeit.
And then in the end everything goes to hell. The movie swerves madly: flashes of white tigers, vacation footage, severed limbs, and a street brawl filtered through a CGI samurai dream. Poetry. And it falls apart like a pair of cheap shoes.
PLASTIC CITY screens June 20th and 25th at the IFC Center
