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| Rod |
 Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:43 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
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Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:31 am |
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One of the reasons I liked To Live and not Ju Dou was that the former had mostly likable characters, especially the two children, and the wife when she wasn't being suffering. By the end of Ju Dou, I hated all the major characters, including the lovers, who turn incredibly cruel. To Live also has the only moment when I was happy to see a picture of Mao Tse Tung.
To Live does have to be distinguished from about five other films that have used the title in translation, including Ikiru. Look for the one with a beautiful Chinese woman and child on the cover. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:46 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Raise the Red Lantern is my favorite Zhang YiMou. Similar dynamics to JuDou.
His first film, Red Sorghum, is more earthy and art housy, and worthwhile.
The Story of Qiu Ju was his first film set in modern times, and features Gong Li as a pregnant peasant trying to get redress from the gov't. His next film was To Live, which put Zhang officially in hot water with the authorities.
Then he made some crappy popular films in order to make some money and stay out of trouble.
I've lost interest since he moved into wushu (martial arts) films (ie Hero, etc.) |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:20 am |
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I like wushu, so I haven't minded the change. I don't care for the juggernaut-of-fate type of films where everything turns out for the worst. Especially if you have to rely on improbable coincidences and character stupidity to make things turn out badly.
Which reminds me of my biggest problem with Macbeth, which is still probably my favorite Shakespearean play. Macbeth has the prophecy of the three witches that he will become King of Scotland. So why kill Duncan? If the witches' prophecy is true, he's going to become king no matter what he does, and if he's patient, he won't have Duncan's vengeful sons out to kill him. It would be nice to have a job plan that doesn't include being beheaded. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:46 am |
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Location: Shanghai
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You never know if these witches are on their game or just some washed-up hags having some fun.
And of course you can never be sure these prophesies will come true until they come true.
But I like the notion that the prophesy itself spurs a character on to greater ambition, so that he forces it to come true, thereby resulting in his destruction. |
Last edited by gromit on Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:23 am; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:39 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
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Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Aeon Flux...it sux. |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:54 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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Rod wrote: Aeon Flux...it sux.
Terrific 4 word review. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:48 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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Syd wrote: This is in what I think of Zhang Yimou's early period; i.e. before he discovered Zhang Ziyi.
I may be misinterpreting what you're saying (no visual / aural cues!), but Zhang Yimou established himself with his work with Li Gong and in fact a lot of people who follow his films find her a much better actress than Zhang Ziyi. The switch between the two actress was, as was mentioned before, more of a genre shift (plus Zhang and Li broke up as a couple), with the resulting shift in audiences. But Zhang Yimou was famous - and famous with at least some Western audiences - long before he picked Zhang Ziyi out of her dance class (I think that's what the story is).
For what it's worth, I much prefer his films with Gong Li, and Raise the Red Lantern is hands down my favorite. I wish there were a decent DVD of it - what's available is apparently crap. |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:11 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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| I watched The Darjeeing Limited last night. An odd little film. Three brothers trying to re-bond on a train/road trip through India. They are all in varying degrees of disarray a year after the death of their Father. There are some nice moments, colorful cinematography. However some parts are rather sluggish or overly quirkly and self-conscious laden with symbolism (typical Wes Anderson). Its watchable, but not the most entertaining film by Anderson. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:53 am |
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lady wakasa wrote: Syd wrote: This is in what I think of Zhang Yimou's early period; i.e. before he discovered Zhang Ziyi.
I may be misinterpreting what you're saying (no visual / aural cues!), but Zhang Yimou established himself with his work with Li Gong and in fact a lot of people who follow his films find her a much better actress than Zhang Ziyi. The switch between the two actress was, as was mentioned before, more of a genre shift (plus Zhang and Li broke up as a couple), with the resulting shift in audiences. But Zhang Yimou was famous - and famous with at least some Western audiences - long before he picked Zhang Ziyi out of her dance class (I think that's what the story is).
For what it's worth, I much prefer his films with Gong Li, and Raise the Red Lantern is hands down my favorite. I wish there were a decent DVD of it - what's available is apparently crap.
Zhang Yimou and Gong Li were a very big deal in Santa Fe. Those films were always packed. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:02 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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From a NYTimes article about the many inane comedies coming up:
Quote: And Thomas Pollock, a partner in the Montecito Picture Company...pointed out that heavily tested, carefully tuned comedies were on the whole wonderfully predictable.
“Multiply the number of big laughs in the movie times $10 million, and you get the ultimate domestic box office,” Mr. Pollock said. “Ten big laughs, $100 million.”
Has anyone heard this formula before? |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:44 pm |
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lady wakasa wrote: Syd wrote: This is in what I think of Zhang Yimou's early period; i.e. before he discovered Zhang Ziyi.
I may be misinterpreting what you're saying (no visual / aural cues!), but Zhang Yimou established himself with his work with Li Gong and in fact a lot of people who follow his films find her a much better actress than Zhang Ziyi.
"Early" here is just to distinguish it from later. I could call them Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi periods, but Gong Li is the star of his most recent film, The Curse of the Golden Flower, and neither is in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. He seems to be alternating between big budget action films and smaller personal stories.
I like both women as actresses, but Zhang Ziyi's more erratic in her choices, and was pretty green at the time she did The Road Home and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She really didn't start impressing me as an actress until House of Flying Daggers and was outstanding in 2046, and good as The Banquet, where she was playing a character based on Gertrude in Hamlet (in this case a stepmother so the Oedipus complex would't be too icky). [By the way, The Banquet has been released in the US as The Legend of the Black Scorpion]
On the other hand Princess Raccoon was awful and incomprehensible, The Legend of Zu incomprehensible and in Memoirs of a Geisha, they were both outacted by Michelle Yeoh. Zhang Ziyi seems to have more trouble with English.
Gong Li aged 20 years convincingly in To Live. I haven't seen Zhang Ziyi do that yet. On the other hand, I haven't seen Gong Li do action films as well as Zhang Ziyi. Both were excellent in 2046 |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:16 pm |
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Syd wrote:
Gong Li aged 20 years convincingly in To Live. I haven't seen Zhang Ziyi do that yet. On the other hand, I haven't seen Gong Li do action films as well as Zhang Ziyi.
I was going to say that Gong Li doesn't do action films, but then remembered that she was in Miami Vice. But I think there she was the love interest or femme fatale. Didn't see it. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:58 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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| Gong Li married a wealthy guy in Hong Kong. I definitely get the feeling that her career is on hold. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:17 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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mo_flixx wrote: Gong Li married a wealthy guy in Hong Kong. I definitely get the feeling that her career is on hold.
I'm pretty sure she's been working consistently (her marriage was in 1996). In fact, she's supposedly separated from him.
There was another actress who got married and stopped working, but I don't remember her name. |
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