‘Mountains May Depart’ is Jia Zhangke at the top of his form

When a young father promises his newborn son, “Daddy will make you lots of dollars,” you know he’s going to be the villain in “Mountains May Depart.”

That’s because this is a film by Jia Zhangke, who has spent most of his 20-year career sounding off on the downside of what he considers his country’s too enthusiastic embrace of globalization, and the influence of Western capitalism and ideals (read: greed) that come with it.

[...] because he’s not advocating a return to the Chairman Mao straitjacket either, the young father, Jinsheng, won’t be an evil villain, but a victim of circumstances.

In 1999, small-town Tao chooses the capitalist-minded gas station owner Jinsheng (Zhang Yi) over working-class coal miner Liangzi (Liang Jing Dong).

By 2014, Jinsheng and Tao are divorced, Tao left with the gas station and Jinsheng a budding Master of the Universe in Shanghai, and he has custody of their son, Doale (whom he calls Dollar).

Jia’s languid style and exquisite framing complement his understated approach to the material, which opts for depth over melodrama.

G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.