How rapidly is capitalism advancing in the People’s Republic of China? Jia Zhang-Ke has made a film about that speed. He looks at China through the biographies of socialist people who live that speed with their whole being. Zhao Tao performs the passage of time in the same place each time. Following Mountains May Depart (2015) and Ash is Purest White (2018), this third journey through time also serves as a commentary on Jia Zhang-Ke’s own films. Caught by the Tides picks up where Unknown Pleasures (2002) - filmed in Datong in 2000 - left off, with the lovers Bin and Qiao Qiao moving to Fengjie near the Three Gorges Dam in 2006, the place where they meet again in Still Life (and Ash is Purest White) and then part ways. The film unfolds almost as if it were using unused footage from those films to fill in the gaps. If you’ve seen these films, it will be deeply moving; if not, the lack of explanation might leave you puzzled. Then, after going through the COVID pandemic of Bin and Qiao Qiao meet and part once more in Datong in 2022. Caught by the Tides is a genre painting of China over the past 20 years, a chronicle of Jia Zhang-Ke’s filmography, and a portrait of Zhao Tao. (JUNG Sung-il, BIFF)