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Jul. 3rd, 2009 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafSo... long weekend. What a rare, precious thing. *sigh* We had early close at work yesterday (and this time my boss didn't insist on me starting one hour earlier than usual because of that, I might point out), so I spent the evening catching up with my teacher friend (the same one I saw last weekend, but we still had lots of catching up left to do, lol), who made me watch the first two episodes of True Blood (she is a serious vampire lover who has a cat named Buffy, btw ;). It was entertaining enough, even if I don't really see myself becoming a hardcore fan.:P Next time we're watching Alatriste (I'm NOT forcing it on her - she asked if I had the DVD, lol).
But speaking of movies - there is this cool 'movie journal' format for reviewing, which I have stolen fromcrimsonsenya. Apparently there are actual print journals like that, though I don't think I've even seen one. Anyway... it makes much more sense to do it online, so other people can read if they so choose. And it will make my movie gushing more 'organized' and easier to follow, should anyone wish to (or should I wish to go back and look up a certain film several years later, for example). So I might try to post about some movies I have seen over the past few months/years and somehow never got to mention here. I just looked up my Netflix list of highest rated titles, and I don't know where to start.:) So this may seem like a random pick. But it is, undoubtedly, one of the highest cinematic achievements I have ever seen.
English Title: Ju Dou
Original Title: Ju Dou
Year: 1990
Country: China
Genre: drama
Director: Zhang Yimou, Yang Fengliang
Screenplay: Liu Heng
Actors: Li Gong, Baotian Li, Wei Li
Rating (1-7): 7
What's it about: China in the 1920's. A wealthy silk dyer buys himself a young, beautiful new wife, with the intention of getting her pregnant and producing an heir to take over his family business. But he is old and sick and therefore unable to accomplish the above - so he just takes his frustration out on the poor girl, abusing her like there's no tomorrow. Understandably, the girl turns to the only person in the household who treats her like a human being - and that happens to be the old man's nephew, who works for him. So the wife and the nephew begin having a secret affair. Soon the wife gets pregnant. The old delusional tyrant believes it must be his doing, and that changes his entire attitude towards the wife. But then he begins to have suspicions, and repeatedly tries to harm the child once it is born. Until the day when the unsuspecting little boy calls him 'daddy'. The real parents keep up the pretense to protect themselves and their child - and so the boy grows up believing that the old creep is his true loving father, and hating the real father, because he senses his mother's feelings for the guy and sees that as a betrayal. The potential for drama is, of course, staggering. But I am not giving any more spoilers.:P
Music: Strangely enough, I don't have a clear recollection of it, but I'm sure it must have been perfectly blended with the images - in Chinese films, it always is.
Best: The movie is visually astounding. Each take is a masterpiece of composition and lighting, the colors carefully chosen and interwoven to perfection (the silk-dyeing mill with its endless swathes of vividly colored fabrics plays a crucial part in creating the atmosphere, mirroring and/or intensifying the emotions).
Worst: I don't know. I can't think of anything I didn't like about this film. You could perhaps say it was too heavy on the angst and suffering - but if you've seen any Chinese movies at all, you're not expecting lighthearted entertainment anyway, so I don't suppose it should be a problem. It's the kind of high cinematic art where no matter how depressing it gets, you still feel it's worth it.:)
A Memorable Line: The innocent little boy smiling up at the man who was just about to knock him over the head with a stick, and saying 'daddy'. And it's only one of several such chilling/heart-stopping moments, often without dialogue.
A Memorable Role: Gong Li as the heroine, Ju Dou. A wonderful actress, and a stunningly beautiful woman. I couldn't find a nice pic of her from this particular film, but here's some random promo shot:
Notes: Farewell, My Concubine is probably still my favorite Chinese movie of all time, but this one would be a close second.
Will I see it again? Definitely. More than once, I suppose.
And that's it for tonight. The fireworks seem to have quieted for now, and I need to catch up on my sleep (I didn't go to bed till around 2 a.m. last night, and then woke up around seven, because that's my usual wake-up time - no use trying to tell my body that it's OK to sleep on, it just won't listen). Unfortunately, I am of not much use to either myself or anybody else when I've had less than solid 6 hours.:/
But speaking of movies - there is this cool 'movie journal' format for reviewing, which I have stolen from
crimsonsenya. Apparently there are actual print journals like that, though I don't think I've even seen one. Anyway... it makes much more sense to do it online, so other people can read if they so choose. And it will make my movie gushing more 'organized' and easier to follow, should anyone wish to (or should I wish to go back and look up a certain film several years later, for example). So I might try to post about some movies I have seen over the past few months/years and somehow never got to mention here. I just looked up my Netflix list of highest rated titles, and I don't know where to start.:) So this may seem like a random pick. But it is, undoubtedly, one of the highest cinematic achievements I have ever seen. English Title: Ju Dou
Original Title: Ju Dou
Year: 1990
Country: China
Genre: drama
Director: Zhang Yimou, Yang Fengliang
Screenplay: Liu Heng
Actors: Li Gong, Baotian Li, Wei Li
Rating (1-7): 7
What's it about: China in the 1920's. A wealthy silk dyer buys himself a young, beautiful new wife, with the intention of getting her pregnant and producing an heir to take over his family business. But he is old and sick and therefore unable to accomplish the above - so he just takes his frustration out on the poor girl, abusing her like there's no tomorrow. Understandably, the girl turns to the only person in the household who treats her like a human being - and that happens to be the old man's nephew, who works for him. So the wife and the nephew begin having a secret affair. Soon the wife gets pregnant. The old delusional tyrant believes it must be his doing, and that changes his entire attitude towards the wife. But then he begins to have suspicions, and repeatedly tries to harm the child once it is born. Until the day when the unsuspecting little boy calls him 'daddy'. The real parents keep up the pretense to protect themselves and their child - and so the boy grows up believing that the old creep is his true loving father, and hating the real father, because he senses his mother's feelings for the guy and sees that as a betrayal. The potential for drama is, of course, staggering. But I am not giving any more spoilers.:P
Music: Strangely enough, I don't have a clear recollection of it, but I'm sure it must have been perfectly blended with the images - in Chinese films, it always is.
Best: The movie is visually astounding. Each take is a masterpiece of composition and lighting, the colors carefully chosen and interwoven to perfection (the silk-dyeing mill with its endless swathes of vividly colored fabrics plays a crucial part in creating the atmosphere, mirroring and/or intensifying the emotions).
Worst: I don't know. I can't think of anything I didn't like about this film. You could perhaps say it was too heavy on the angst and suffering - but if you've seen any Chinese movies at all, you're not expecting lighthearted entertainment anyway, so I don't suppose it should be a problem. It's the kind of high cinematic art where no matter how depressing it gets, you still feel it's worth it.:)
A Memorable Line: The innocent little boy smiling up at the man who was just about to knock him over the head with a stick, and saying 'daddy'. And it's only one of several such chilling/heart-stopping moments, often without dialogue.
A Memorable Role: Gong Li as the heroine, Ju Dou. A wonderful actress, and a stunningly beautiful woman. I couldn't find a nice pic of her from this particular film, but here's some random promo shot:
Notes: Farewell, My Concubine is probably still my favorite Chinese movie of all time, but this one would be a close second.
Will I see it again? Definitely. More than once, I suppose.
And that's it for tonight. The fireworks seem to have quieted for now, and I need to catch up on my sleep (I didn't go to bed till around 2 a.m. last night, and then woke up around seven, because that's my usual wake-up time - no use trying to tell my body that it's OK to sleep on, it just won't listen). Unfortunately, I am of not much use to either myself or anybody else when I've had less than solid 6 hours.:/
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-04 12:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-04 04:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-04 08:09 pm (UTC)True Blood was too weird. I watched one episode and all the characters felt so -for lack of a better word* stupid. Do you know what I mean? If I was a person from Louisiana I'd probably feel insulted.
Ju Dou sounds heartbreaking. I've only watched Chinese historical epics with empresses and warriors, but I think they often use composition, colour, lighting to maximum emotional impact the way you describe here. Maybe the aesthetics come from the Chinese opera?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-04 09:55 pm (UTC)Oh, I know. You're just not used to the typically American 'white trash' (or 'colored trash', for that matter) mentality.:P I think there might have been a bit of deliberate exaggeration involved, but generally speaking, extreme cleverness or high education are not that much in evidence among certain layers of American society. And that doesn't just apply to Louisiana.:D
But yes, it can be irritating, and that's possibly why I don't really feel the need to watch American TV shows. I mean, there are stupid people everywhere - but if you watch a European TV series, they rather tend to be a minority, LOL.
Plus, a redneck vampire is not really a concept I'm too interested in exploring further.:P (though I did like the main vampire character, Bill, who was a tiny bit more sophisticated than the others ;)
I've only watched Chinese historical epics with empresses and warriors
Oh, I love those too. I was totally enchanted by The House of Flying Daggers, for example (mostly due to the tragic love story - though the sweeping nature panoramas and fighting choreography were also amazing). In fact, I nearly developed a crush on the Chinese/Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro, who would make a perfect Elven warrior if he were ever transported to Middle Earth.:D
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-06 06:21 pm (UTC)Btw, what I like about the female characters is that they're always tough and elegant.
I first came to fan through Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fandoms. Had my fill back then and I haven't been excited about vampires since. So no ignorant!redneck!vamps for me either. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 12:20 am (UTC)Yes, they can be quite intimidating - and they fight just as skillfully as the men.:)
Well, my favorite vampires are the ones from Anne Rice's books - slim and graceful, with sharp cheekbones, brooding eyes and a burden of ancient wisdom upon their shoulders, lol. Quite a far cry from the True Blood universe...:D