Based on the Wei and Jin dynasty motif of intellectuals living in exile, Yang Fudong's Seven Intellectuals in Bamboo Forest is an epic five-part film cycle exploring the place of the intellectual in modern society. Shot from 2002 to 2007, Molly Nesbit, contributing editor to Artforum, describes its premise as ''a group of seven twenty-year-old intellectuals, not scholars exactly, but thinkers starting out.'' Fudong, influenced by Western poets and philosophers including Jack Kerouac, follows the seven through rice paddies, beaches, and cities to explore the ''slowing of time.'' This hardcover offers dozens of black-and-white stills as well as interviews with critic Zhang Yaxuan.