With rising unemployment and poverty due to the failure of communism, on one side, and the introduction of western decadence, on the other side, contemporary China is, in the eyes of many, a country without a moral compass, which leads to social alienation and a existential angst, which seems to be the motif of the sixth generation directors.

One of the most interesting directors of the sixth generation is Jia Zhang-Ke, who himself drifted until he began to study film and who after filmschool made a stunning debut with “Xiao Wu” (Pickpocket, 1997). In his latest film, “Unknown Pleasures”, Jia Zhang-Ke tells the story of two friends, who, in their last year as teenagers, face not only alienation from the expectations of their parents, but also an existential angst befalling them in a society without moral, where wealth seems to be the only value. Dissaffected they drift around in a enstranged contemporary China, which is changing far to fast to have a sense of purpose - unless you give in to capitalism.

Jia Zhang-Ke demonstrates complete control of the media. Where "Xiao Wu" looks amateurish, "Unknown Pleasures" has a very strict mise-en-scene, using space to isolate its elements. It also notes upon his motifs and style, which by now is so matured and developed, that even though there are visible lines Wenders and Bresson, Jia is independt enough, to allow himself to pay homage to Godard and Antonioni in two distinct sequences. Jia Zhang-Ke looks more and more as the key figure of the sixth generation.  out of      
 

Henrik Sylow