Chain (2004)
August 22, 2004Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
This Movie Is About.
Cast & Crew.
Miho Nikaido
Tamiko
Vanessa Hope
Corporate Executive
Mira Billotte
Amanda Timms
Tarik O'Regan
Currency Trader
Rick Aquino
Piano Store Salesman
Douglas A. Scocco
Piano Store Salesman
Jem Cohen
Director
Mary Jane Skalski
Producer
Bill Stuckey
TV Announcer
Minda Martin
Amanda's Half Sister
Davey Frankel
Editor
Robert C. Gibson
Motel Manager
Anne Truitt
Woman in Car and Parking Lot
Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte
Executive Producer
Ian MacKaye
Executive Producer
Guy Picciotto
Executive Producer
Media.
Details.
Wiki.
Chain is a 2004 docufiction film written and directed by Jem Cohen. It follows two young women from opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum. One (Miho Nikaido) is a Japanese professional who has been sent by her corporation to inspect theme parks in the United States. The other (Mira Billotte) is a runaway who is squatting near a mall and works a series of dead-end jobs. The women never meet or communicate with each other, but by the end of the film, their viewpoints have become similar as their lives are both impacted by the homogenization of retail culture and infrastructure.
It has been described as a "narrative/documentary" hybrid, with Stephen Holden of The New York Times saying it "deliberately blurs the lines between fiction, documentary and cinematic essay."