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Di jiu tianchang (2019)
A dreamy observation of a changing nation
In very many ways this film is almost a reboot of Zhang Yimou's film To Live, from 1994, which tells the many trials and tribulations of a family from the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 to the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. So Long My Son picks up that chronological baton, and tells a story about family bonds, the meaning of friendship and what constitutes our morals and ethics through the last 30/40 years of Chinese history, from a stilted, materially basic time of 1980 through to the hypermodernity of China in the 2010s.
In the same way To Live aimed thinly disguised critiques at the Chinese government's policies through showing its impact on ordinary people, So Long My Son fires a number of shots too and it's in fact a little surprising to me some of these have been overlooked by the censors. The most obvious of them is the criticism of the one child policy, but hidden in there too are mentions of the privatisation of state owned industries in the early 90s and the mass redundancies that went with them, as well as criticism of the wealth inequality of modern China that has ensued from the market economy transition of the 80s and 90s.
I'm unsure if this was a problem specific to the release version I saw, though I have seen other reviews saying the plot was hard to follow, but I noticed that the English subtitles was often only translating about 1/5 of the dialogue in Mandarin. As a speaker of both, I followed the plot and characters quite easily, but can absolutely understand why many reviewers and comments have said they found the characters and plots hard to distinguish if the subtitling was a problem. However, with one eye on the subtitles, I think the fact they were missing a lot of the Mandarin dialogue would have created a really dreamy plotline that complements well the cinematographic style deployed - long panoramic shots that suddenly cut into a character's perspective; languid sequences that soak in the environment; and shots designed to make the audience feel voyeurs in a private situation.
The Farewell (2019)
A film that will be emblematic for all Chinese diaspora
This film has simply crept up on me. From the IMDB one paragraph description, I had expected this film to be quirky, smart, and potentially playing on some East Asian stereotypes. What I actually found as the film progressed, is that it's actually a film that speaks directly to me like no other film has ever done.
Like the writer/director Lulu Wang, I too was born in mainland China (Beijing), and spent my earliest years living with my grandparents. I left Beijing when I was seven, and Wang left China when she was six. In the intervening years, English has become my predominant language, and my Mandarin has declined. Three years ago, my grandmother on my mother's side passed away. I was 26 at the time and 29 now, again a very similar age to Wang and the character of Bili in this film.
What Wang articulates so authentically in this film is on one hand the eternal debate of Eastern Confucian values of family, duty and society versus Western liberty and individualism, and on the other the rapidly transforming modern China, where whole sections of cities are knocked down and rebuilt, at a pace that literally feels overnight. Bili's sense of displacement and sadness in the film is exacerbated by the fact that she feels her memories of her early childhood are literally erased from the records, as her old neighbourhood has been turned into a brand spanking new roundabout with a modernist sculpture in the middle of it.
Needless to say, the above sense of displacement is something that I too have felt in recent visits to Beijing.
For non-Chinese viewers of this film, I would imagine they too will get a sense of the authenticity of the writing, the wry observations of odd Chinese cultural phenomenon, and the endearing performances by the leads. But that sense of connection to the subject material will be unique to the millions of Chinese who have left China for US, Canada, Australia or Europe since the 1980s/1990s. So, even though I feel the film is cliche in some parts, and hence my 8/10 rating, it will always have a unique place for me personally.
American Psycho (2000)
'My confession has meant nothing'
A lot of the reviews have focused on the plot on a straightforward basis, but American Psycho is not just a dark comedy or a B movie slasher, but rather an allegory for the negativities of capitalism. Patrick Bateman struggles to convince his own lawyer he had committed the killings the audience had seen him commit earlier in the film. There are various reasons why this is and neither Bret Easton Ellis in the novel or Mary Harron in the film rules decisively on which.
One is that in this convincingly believable 80s NYC yuppie world, people have become so interchangeable that Bateman can kill countless numbers of people without anybody realising, because everyone is so generic. Hence why one of his victims mistake him for a co-worker, and why everyone Bateman knows seems to be Vice-President at Pierce & Pierce, and why the detective and his lawyer thinks his victim, Paul Allen, is alive and in London.
Another possible reason is that people know he has killed people and they simply don't care, because the lives of others don't matter. As Bateman says while he is analysing Whitney Houston,'in this world where it's hard to empathise with others, we can above all empathise with ourselves'. Taken from this viewpoint, the story is an allegory for how the actions of American governments and corporations cause famine and war around the world that result in real world deaths, but we brush them off because it means we in the West can have cheap clothes, food and petrol.
A final interpretation I will offer is that Bateman has fantasised all these killings. In this interpretation Bateman is the victim. His life has become so boring and formulaic, with endless dinners at overpriced, gaudy restaurants, endless discussions about style and beauty tips, that the only way he can feel human is to fantasise about the most brutal and sadistic acts possible. This interpretation is given credence by the cartoonish violence in his final rampage and of course the ending.
Qing hong (2005)
Brutal historical study
The reviews calling this film boring and unrealistic show the grip Hollywood has on cinema audiences. One of the best features about non Hollywood cinema, particularly Asian cinema, is a fearless adherence to telling a story without a fairytale ending or some heartwarming relief. Shanghai Dreams explores a number of themes, such as adolescent rebellion, sexual liberation in 80s China and parental wishes and techniques. It's an epic and absorbing tale told using realistic and often bleak cinematography, in a hilly Chinese inland countryside that seems to be forever beset by fogs and rain. Although the near 2 hour length means it is exhaustingly bleak and leaves one emotionally drained by the end.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
A critique of America
From my position as an outside to American culture, for me Paul Thomas Anderson's main message in 'There Will be Blood' is a critique of the American dream of making money and of the falsehoods of religion. Daniel Plainview is shown to be constantly striving for more and more profits in the film, but we never see him enjoying his wealth until the end of the film, where he seems to be an emotional wreck. This representation for me is summed up in the scene where Daniel takes H.W. to the restaurant and he says 'what you need is a nice, expensive meal'. For Plainview wealth is merely a trophy of him beating his competition, and he seems to gain little personal enjoyment from it. Whereas Eli is a slimy and unnerving character who runs his church like a business and beats his father as he deems him to have sold his land for insufficient money.