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Reviews
Yi ge shao zi (2014)
Not complicated, not colourful
The film is made in a traditional way with a clear structure and story line. Quite a simple story in a quasi-documentary style. The story happens in a few locations - the main character Latiaozi's bungalow, Datouge or 'big head brother's' car, a high slope in Latiaozi's village and the police station. The story unravels mainly in the above locations back and forth. It's a little like a documentary in that it records people's everyday life. The songs played in big head brother's car are from almost ten years ago, which is probably the time background of the story. The TV drama that Latiaozi and his wife Jinzhizi watch seem to be an old Hong Kong series.
The actor/director Chen Jianbin's northwestern accent, which sounds like a Mandarin speaker attempting to speak a dialect with no avail, isn't convincing at all, although Chen himself is originally from northwestern China.
Tang ren jie tan an (2015)
funny, kept my attention all the way, excellent for a second-time director.
I must say Chinatown Detective is never the best detective film, but it's a good one. Funny, plot reasonably complicated, a twist in the end. Two young actors' performance is convincing enough, especially the girl. Her last scene really struck me and many other Chinese audiences. I doubt if those who didn't see any good out of it watched it throughout at all. It doesn't have the fanciest or epoch- breaking technical innovation, but neither do most filmmakers around the world. For instance, the gunfight in the hospital is a good scene. The escape from the police station might be a tribute to Jackie Chan's earlier films.
There are many funny moments where I got good laughs. But not understanding the Chinese language will cause a problem to that. A few of the actors are renowned for their comedian work in their local dialect. The robber wearing glasses are famous for his comedies in his Northeastern dialect which is a big contrast to the location of the film. If a viewer doesn't understand Chinese or Thai, they might not know that the Thai police chief would give instructions in Thai but threaten to fire the two Chinese officers in Chinese.
The humour isn't that Chinese people are making fun of Chinese people. It's that the safest joke you can ever make is about yourself. After all, character arrangements are only film characters. They're not always meant to be realistic, especially in the comedic bits. It's strange if anyone imagine all Chinese people will be so ridiculous as certain characters.
There's also deep philosophy hidden in the film which I wonder how many Hollywood popular films have. If you don't watch Chinatown Detective carefully, you probably have entirely forgotten about the caption at the beginning of the film. In fact, the ending of the film or two young characters in the film is the evidence to the caption at the beginning. It is also in the discussion between the two youngsters.
Therefore, whoever says this film is a complete failure or anyone who watches this is an idiot will be an idiot in my eyes, honestly. Reviewers like BasicLogic might lack basic logic in certain ways. If I don't like some film, I won't say this film is made of utter stupidity, because it's non-sense. Only seeing the problems in Chinese film industry instead of problems in their own film industry (I guarantee there must be some as there's no such thing as a perfect industry) is just biased and arrogant.
Whoever says this film isn't funny at all, it's because people have different perception on humour. I never found Annie Hall funny. I thought The Hangover franchise or Due Date weren't so funny for my taste. But I enjoyed The Philadelphia Story and Divorzio all'Italiana. I don't think it's the best idea to judge negatively upon a comedy which is not your taste. (Not to mention you don't understand the Chinese language, which means you won't get any linguistic humour.) On the other hand, an art-house film or documentary lover shouldn't look down upon a good comedy simply because it was made to be entertaining. Ultimately, most films are made for entertainment. If you want to be high-brow, that's your own business. But don't laugh at others who want to have a good laugh.
I would personally recommend this film. If there are people who hate it, that's not their fault. But that's not the film's fault either.
Jin ling shi san chai (2011)
There are flaws, but still a great film.
The first time I watched this film, I thought it was perfect. Then because of my research, I watched this film a couple of times more and spotted the problematic perspectives of it. The film has indeed presented humanity, courage and love in the anti-Japanese time from a unique and creative point of view, thanks to the excellent story from the original novel under the same name. However, the filmmaker's alleged effort to meet the expectations from the audience at home or abroad seems to be too much, as the 'eroticism'- related scenes are not so compatible or even contradict with the atrocity and cruelty of war and the destructive harm on those innocent souls in the film. Nevertheless, the film is still incredibly powerful. Again, I watched the film with the sound off due to the need of my research, but still I cried many times during the whole time for the heart- wrenching story. I cry every time I watch it, even if I remember pretty much every minute of the plot.
Matrimonio all'italiana (1964)
More powerful than Leri, oggi, domani.
It seems Leri, oggi, domani is more popular and successful than Matrimonio all'Italiana. But to me, Matrimonio is a lot more powerful a story than Leri. The tenacity and resilience of the prostitute are so powerful and touching. She receives all the hardship of the situation of a prostitute for years but refuses to give up. The film is so clever in presenting the love affair from the perspectives of both the man and the woman. Compared to the toughness and strength of the woman, the man seems to be be so cowardly and irresponsible, or even despicable. Loren's performance was unbelievably powerful. The challenge of portraying Filumena through a span of decades was obvious, but she was great! She totally outshone Marcello in this film.
Of Good Report (2013)
Unforgettable
I have to say this film is very striking and impressive for me.
The most note-worthy feature is the amazing soundtrack. There are so many layers of sound, so much fear, boldness, insanity and hatred in the sound that it can be so frightening to listen. I feel the filmmaker's effort to impact on audiences' senses with music and noises.
The mise-en-scene is so bleak as to the extent of scary or even gruesome. The intentional production of black and white creates such a feeling of horror and the film milieu is fraught with imminent danger and violence. The leading actor's performance is imbued with trauma, torture, extreme desire and brutality. His sheer silence can be either a preference of the director or his own choice of portraying the ultimately cruel and dangerous monster with a harmless and care- needing look.
As far as I observe, negative opinions mainly come from the intentional black-and-white representation (in order to be "stylish") and the arguably "poor performance" of the leading actor. On the contrary, I reckon the lack of colour adds up to the whole bleak and Gothic thrill, or at least avoid upsetting spectators with the crime scene, like Hitchcock's choice of making Psycho black and white. I agree the film plot does not have a big twist or is as mind-burning as Christopher Nolan's, but simply calling the film "boring" due to the particular representation and acting is untenable. In a nutshell, I would recommend the film, especially for the sound.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
To be honest, China has older great fantasy.
This is fun to watch, honestly speaking. However, I would not say I was strongly amazed by all the stunt and makeup or technology, in spite of the fact that this has won lots of international awards. As a Chinese audience, I have grown up enjoying Chinese films and dramas series and literature. I have to say the general plot of the film so much reminds me of our famous Chinese classic literary work 'Pilgrimage to the West', nearly 500 years' old. If not the first, this 100-chapter novel is still one of the earliest to portray an odyssey to a faraway place through hardship and fateful danger, although the aim was not to bring anything there and destroy it, but one master protected by three disciples to collect something invaluable - Buddhist scripture. Lord of the Rings does not overlap with the Chinese classic in terms of details, but still not the earliest fantasy/odyssey novel. I am highly aware of the fact that this film has won various Best Makeup Award. Yet I must declare the Chinese novel mentioned above was adapted into TV series in 1982 in China, with makeup not apparently simpler or less graphic than Lord of the Rings. In fact, some makeup is slightly similar. The point is without the technology in 2001, the Chinese series still managed to present a fantasy story so beautifully and stunningly that they have been broadcast for over 2000 times, unbeatable Guinness Record.The world does not know them very well, but they have won countless award in one of the largest countries in the world-China. Again, some fussy findings from this film. Legolas' long hair looks very nice, and is frequently seen in Chinese films and series set in ancient China. The androgynous voice of Galadriel reminds me of a 1987 Hong Kong film A Chinese Ghost Story. That is doubtlessly an awkward English title, but the original was much more romantic and meaningful. The world is still yet to learn Chinese literature and art. When China is known better, the world will see art from this old country has been ignored and ostracised for so long.