Change Your Image
patrick8828
Reviews
Man chang de ji jie (2023)
Wonderful storyline and superb acting!
The Long Season may be the best Chinese TV series I have ever seen Three periods(1997 1998 2017)are interwoven perfectly. It begins with a hit-and-run accident by an imitated-plate car in 2017 which triggers a tracking of the murderer of his son by an old man. The murder happened 19 years ago. The old man,Wang Xiang gets the help of two friends;one his brother in law,Gong Biao,and the other an ex-policeman,Ma Desheng. Very persistent,they unveil the cruel reality of Northeast china in the late 1990s.
Wang,Gong and Ma's stories touch me Very much Wang's son,Wang Yang,fell in love with a college girl who had been molested by her adopted father. The girl, Shen Mo killed a Hongkong businessman who had raped her and an ungrateful girlfriend who had helped the raping. Wang Yang assisted Shen in disposing of the corpses but ended up dying from saving her from drowning. Wang Xiang didn't believe his son had killed himself but what was left of him was only the bodies of his son and his sick wife, the latter hanging herself after the heartbreaking experience.
Wang Xiang, a veteran worker of a state-owned steel plant, had always been a model worker and was very proud of his plant. He despised the woman who dug through the plant garbage and hated those who stole from the plant. But surprisingly he was laid off by the plant in 1998. Northeast China is the base of heave industry of the country and many enterprises had been brought about with the help of ex-Soviet experts in the 1950s. But the reform characterized by the market economy made many people redundant and they had to be laid off and left their positions. The hard life pressured them very much; some women even went to the night club to entertain rich people by drinking with them together. Wang Xiang's confidence and pride collapsed nearly overnight and the family's death overwhelmed him by grief. He wanted to kill himself by lying on the railway, but the cry of an abandoned baby stopped him. He felt he must bring the baby up to compensate for his lost child. He changed his parenting way and ended up with a good son.
The acting of all the cast is incredible. Fan Wei (portraying Wang Xiang), an accomplished actor, gave an impressive performance. Qin Hao (portraying Gong Biao) became nearly unrecognized to the audience. And Chen Minghao (portraying Ma Desheng), wow, his dance has a magical charm.
Cheng feng po lang (2017)
A typical Han-style film
I went to see this film on a Wednesday afternoon with a friend. He said he went to see Deng Chao, but I went there because of Han Han. The film is quite good, better than I had expected. The film depicts the China of 1990s,as Han Han understands it. Though a nostaglic mood is a little too early for a 35-year-old writer, the 1990s plays a very critical role in Han's growth and thus must impress him very much. In contrast to the cynicism and social criticism represented in his precessor,Wang Suo's works, Han's works permeat more with rebelism and energy. Han han comes from a small town near Shanghai, so the town presented in this film must be Han's replica of his hometown on a big screen. I hadn't expected Han would make a light comedy, but the production is very funny. But it seems to me the year 1998, which the hero travelled back to is not a good choice. The numerous social events presents in this film seems to be occurring around 1996, not 1998. In that decade, nearly each new year presented a different China, so the accurate selection of the year is very important. While watching the film, I kept thinking of Back To The Future, the American film that impressed many Chinese.I don't know whether Han had watched it, but the plot and style of two films are very similar. But the American film stands the si-ci out very much while the Chinses basically neglects it, only retaining the concept of time travel.
Jia fang yi fang (1997)
An interesting film
I like this film very much. I know it's difficult for a non-Chinese. It's composed of 7 parts. The film is about an fictional company consisting of 4 young men helping ordinary people achieve their impossible dreams. A bookshop owner who dreams of becoming Batton, a cook who wants to keep secrets, a man who wants to know what it feels like to be treated by others in a bad way, a star who desires an ordinary life, a young man who needs love desperately, a rich man who wants to experience poverty and a middle-aged man who needs a new flat to satisfy his dying wife....... Anyway the film has a warm ending. The film is directed by feng xiaogang and starred by gou you and liu bei.