Crossing Over (Feng Huang)

November 29, 2007 Presented at the opening of Tokyo International Film Festival as a memorial screening of Sino-Japanese friendship, "Crossing Over" ("Feng Huang") is a co-production that is aimed more at the Japanese market than the Chinese one. Anachronistically appropriating the early period pieces of 5th generation directors such as Tian Zhuangzhuang and Zhang Yimou, Jin only occasionally comes close to recreating their historic vision and insight into humanity. Based on a true story and spanning more than three decades, the film represents prison as a microcosm of Chinese society -- its bureaucracy, factionalism, punitive control, barbarity, sexual repression and the Chinese's resilience, loyalty and altruistic love.

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