ON paper, the idea for the Chinese film “24 City” sounds like a real snoozer.
In reality, it isn’t, thanks to the talents of its director, Jia Zhang-ke, one of China’s leading filmmakers and a poet of the nation’s working class.
(His previous films include “The World,” “Platform” and “Unknown Pleasures,” all of which screened in New York.)
In a blend of fiction and documentary, “24 City” chronicles the loss of a munitions factory in the provincial city of Chengdu and its replacement by a luxury housing complex called 24 City.
By extension, Jia is commenting on China’s embrace of capitalism.
He interviews workers who recount life at the factory. He intersperses their stories with actors delivering scripted tales about the factory.
The result is surprisingly engrossing — even lively, due in part to brief musical numbers inserted amid the interviews.
In a nifty inside joke, popular actress Joan Chen plays a worker who was nicknamed Little Flower because her colleagues thought she resembled the star of a 1978 movie of the same name. (We get to see a clip from that film.)
The star? Why, Joan Chen, of course.
vam@nypost.com
24 CITY
Broken China.
In Mandarin, with English subtitles. Running time: 107 minutes. Not rated (nothing objectionable). At the IFC Center, Sixth Avenue at Third Street.