Between Life and Death

Jia Zhangke

Against the flow

Within a life ever tightening in length, we move with faltering steps, seeking space continually crushed by reality. Life races past like a hastily drawn 2D sketch, and existence seems reduced to endless trades of bargaining chips. Only when utterly exhausted do we pause, sighing at the passage of time and life. Some call upon companions; others walk alone. The journey becomes a deviation from the norm—a path that, though unconventional, brings peace. Even if we cannot cast everything aside without hesitation, we still dance unrestrained in memory, in separation, in life and death, gazing upon the fleeting radiance within and beyond the cinematic frame.