Jia Hongshen's descent into desolation in "Quitting." Courtesy of sonyclassics.com.
Jia Hongshen Struggles with Quitting
Director Yang Zhang brings Jia Hongshen and his family together to act out and dramatize their real life story, coping with Hongshen's disastrous drug addiction.
Yang Zhang’s Quitting takes a unique spin on storytelling by creating a filmic hybrid that lands somewhere in between the narrative and documentary genres. This is the true story of actor Hongshen Jia’s struggle with drug addiction and eventual psychological fall that led him into a stint at a mental institution. All the characters in the film, down to the mental patients, are re-enacted by their real life counterparts.
The film begins with director Zhang asking Jia about writing a play based on his life. Jia was a rising movie star in the early '90s with lead roles in Chinese movies such as Frozen and Suicides. He was even known as “the thug idol” to his fans for his gangster/hero roles. However, his budding career was derailed when he was first introduced to drugs by the art director on the set of the stage production of Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was also directed by Yang Zhang. The consequences of Jia’s addiction hits him fast as he finds himself out of work, completely isolated and living off of his sister in her apartment. Desperate to help their son, Jia’s parents decide to retire early and leave their theater troupe in order to move in with their children.
This story is not so much about Jia’s demise, as it is about the family’s collective determination to pull together and unselfishly help him find redemption. There is a gap of incomprehension due to generational differences, but his father tries hard to relate, whether it is buying Jia a record by the Beatles or agreeing to wear his son’s jeans when Jia is embarrassed by the pants his father is wearing. Jia himself comes across as hostile, self-absorbed, senseless, and unsympathetic throughout a lot of the film, which could be a testament to the filmmakers’ quest for honesty. No false illusions of grandeur here, for we, the audience, along with his family, question whether he is worth all the difficulty and pain that he puts them through.
At one point, Jia slaps his father across the face, deriding his parents for their peasant background, making a cruel mockery out of their lives. He refuses to believe that he is their real son, instead harboring the delusion that he is John Lennon’s son. Not knowing what else to do, the family has him institutionalized. Often times, it seems as if the family is holding on by a thread and on the verge of giving up. But the point of the movie is that they never do.
The main intrigue of the film is watching these people relive painful moments in their lives. Zhang creates a delicate balance between reality and drama, by having the characters address the camera directly. Occasionally the camera pans out after a dramatic scene to reveal that actors are onstage in a theater with no one watching. Unfortunately, Zhang’s stylistic choice to film like a play sometimes causes the most dramatic moments to appear staged, as if we’re watching from a distance. Often, we see the anger and tension, but do not necessarily feel it. The more compelling parts of the film come from the quieter moments -- for example, Jia and his father drinking together in a park, or Jia’s father silently approaching his wife when she's crying outside on the curb after an intense argument. Simplicity is key, and the film shines when no words are needed. They already understand. They are family.
Quitting is out on DVD now.
Date Posted: 6/4/2004
