Caught in the Web (2012) User Reviews

Did not know who Kaige Chen was. Now I know that guy.

[achi_oragvelidze · 7/10 · 15 December 2013]

It appears that, surfing through the styles and methods of cinematography mostly end up as either disgusting, or shallow. It is most entertaining in a way to see some amazing ideas disgruntled by those so called "innovations"... This one though... Well I've never seen anything like this before. It is very refreshing.

Truth be told, i review movies on IMDb only when i feel other people left something out, and in this case, users are not the only ones. It is amazing how little does the imagery and marketing of this film help people like the movie. In my case, (considering that i was not familiar with Chen Kaige at all.) the poster almost made me skip this one out. (it is really really retarded.) Though i'm glad i did not.

The story of the movie is VERY VERY VERY unique. I'm sure that this kind of storytelling is nowhere else to be found. Though the plot is very complex and filled with "hidden" symbolism, the flow of the movie is lighthearted, easygoing and even "eye candy/entertaining"... But don't let it fool you. There is a gigantic drama hidden beneath those "sweets", which perfectly manages to hit you like a loaded truck... Given the fact that the film is about emotions, love and personal attitudes, it is BEYOND belief, how the hell did Mr Chen manage to NOT turn this into a mainstream "DOLLY" trash. The story in the beginning is very simple, but you will be amazed how brutal and complex it gets with seemingly "little things" in the end...

Actors and actresses are selected well. Their actual "greatness" comes not from their "heavy" and dramatic moments, but in an "overall" characteristics which are stretched through some crazy salad of coincidences and hidden "fate" element. Deep character study indeed, it just shows very little of that "depth", thus making it even more enigmatic.

The only thing i did not like in the movie was music, which did not stand out at all. (except for some parts which were total ripoff of some famous musical scores) but later i realized that it fits very well. I might be compromised by the story in a way that i am not critical towards the other aspects anymore, but i felt like mentioning all this.

I am not gonna comment on camera work and other technical matters for some obvious reasons.

I most proudly advise ANYONE who loves complex yet simple movies to see this one. Do not follow the steps of those who were blown away by ridiculous marketing and promotions of this film. This is a wonderful movie with a powerful message, which will most likely MAKE you remember itself.

initial state is too ghost film

[yoggwork · 5/10 · 23 February 2019]

Ye Lanqiu's initial state is too ghost film, half of the time seems to be drifting away from the film. After renting a car to play, it suddenly came back to reality. On the whole, it tells a story that can be seen, and the performance is also good. It's just that the things behind the story are too thin and some pits are not filled, such as the "talent training program".

If you like enigmatic irony, this is your movie!

[gl00637 · 9/10 · 3 September 2013]

You can watch this movie as a straight drama/comedy, and its perfectly entertaining that way. But once you start to think about it, things that seemed quite straightforward at first, grow more and more obscure and uncertain.

The major character is a beautiful young woman, personal secretary to a self-made millionaire whose company is just about to go multi-national. Early in the movie she gets some very bad news, of a kind that would make one want to go somewhere secure and peaceful to think.

So, does she take a cab home? No, she rides a bus, not her usual mode of transport. On the bus she violates a social taboo, then rubs it in by mocking the victim of her transgression. The entire incident is filmed by a trainee reporter on her cell-phone. Reporter follows the woman when she leaves the bus to ask her why she did it, and gets a snotty brush-off.

At this point one is confused because the woman's behavior is so out of character, and you can't satisfactorily explain it away as reaction to her bad news. Instead you come to realize that she has done all this deliberately, and that her bad news merely provided the impetus to set something in motion that she had probably been planning for some time, and had been just waiting for the right moment.

And the consequences of her action ramify, affecting all of the other major characters in the same way; each of them become caught in their own personal webs, and in each case it is a web of their own devising.

I think this is a very subtle movie, very good indeed.

Nice but convoluted plot to demonstrate the good, bad and ugly side effects of modern communications media

[JvH48 · 8/10 · 11 November 2013]

I saw this film at the Leiden International Film Festival (LIFF) 2013, where it was part of the World Cinema section. The core story focuses on the good, bad and ugly aspects of Internet, giving us food for thought about how we ourselves would have dealt with the issues at hand. Additionally, this film provides us with a guided tour through contemporary China, mostly the city areas but also in a more rural part. Given the subject at hand, it clearly demonstrated that China is by far not a 3rd world country anymore, and technically as well versed as our western world with respect to modern communication tools and gadgets. And last but not least, the story makes us wonder how we ourselves would behave after having learned of a fatal disease needing medical treatment within a week.

The plot strongly visualizes an interesting phenomenon commonly called "going viral on the web", in this case not as a means of revealing secrets, but rather as a modern form of witch-hunting. Some weakly newsworthy event, not important enough to be covered by the "official" media, finds its way to the masses in an uncontrolled manner, and yields even-so uncontrolled responses, commentaries and reactions. Though these variants of witch-hunting may not look very deadly, seemingly innocent at first sight and bound to falter after some time, the degree in which the victims are named and shamed can work out very dramatically. Look-up capabilities at everyone's fingertips, combined with easily available means of distributing this information, ultimately result in personal details of the victim becoming publicly known. This may have devastating effects on family and friends too, involuntarily caught in the turmoil. It can and will also involve employer and colleagues in the aftermath.

The story starts with Ye learning that she has to start medical treatment within a week to cope with a disease that will be fatal when neglected. On the bus ride home she is distracted for obvious reasons, and does not offer her seat to an elderly man. Even worse, when bystanders point out that she violates all social norms, she firmly refuses and remains seated. This incident is filmed by an apprentice journalist, who follows her after she left the bus and asks for her reasons to be so obnoxious. Surprisingly Ye answers that she did it on purpose. The journalist deems this newsworthy, and Ye becomes infamous everywhere as "The Woman in Sunglasses". People find out where she works, and her employer soon finds himself involved too. The remainder of the story is rather convoluted, and it serves no useful purpose (apart from avoiding spoilers) to try condensing it here.

In nearly two hours, the story line of this movie demonstrates all aforementioned side effects. It does a very good job at it, by elaborating on one example of such a "going viral" event. It gives us a single main character to focus on, thereby also giving us the possibility to gradually become acquainted with her immediate environment, in particular the company where she works. On one hand, the ultimately introduced mix of characters and their respective motives were confusing for me. It was as if the film makers were desperately trying to make a point, but were overdoing it in the process of exploring all the boundaries of the issues involved. On the other hand, it got us a nice guided tour through contemporary China, looking much like ours with regard to usage of gadgets and how Internet became a part of daily life. Working relations within a company seemed very hierarchical and feudal, but it may be intentionally satirical and very unlike an average company (we cannot tell). These mix of pros and cons work out positively towards us while viewing all this from a different (western world) perspective. It may very well serve to emphasize the truthfulness of the movie in portraying nowadays China.

On the negative side, I was disturbed by a lot of (what I felt) over-acting, and normal people not behaving as normal people do. We don't have many Chinese movies for comparison, and I sincerely hope that this is not how actors normally behave there. I failed to see (m)any characters who I found sympathetic, mostly due to their general over-the-top manners. It all bordered on annoying, but that may be my problem. Casting and acting leave me thus with a one-dimensional, black and white feeling, all a bit over-the-top. If it is intentional to better mark the respective characters and their respective traits, it works counter productive (to me anyway).

All in all, the scenario is well written and succeeds in thoroughly covering the topics at hand. The two hours are well spent, and I never got the inclination to consult my watch. In case its original intention was to show the dangers of this electronic form of witch-hunting, the story could have been simplified and still succeed in making the point that the film makers obviously have in mind. Conversely, someone not interested in these aspects of the movie, still can enjoy it as a story well told about how a woman reacts when she learns of a life threatening disease, giving her only a week to take action (for medical treatment), or to do something she always wanted to do (no matter the consequences). The latter alternative makes us wonder, after all, whether her defiant behavior might be on purpose. What would we do in her circumstances??

Worth a watch

[lilyevans-64502 · 8/10 · 14 March 2021]

The movie explores the effects of loss of personal privacy, as well as human frailty, life, disease, death, and relationships. Of course many of the tensions in the plot could have been solved if the character would have done X or Y but that's not the point, right? Overall stellar performance by the actors and actresses. Especially yao chen!