(no subject)
In my increased efforts to actually speak (or at least understand) Mandarin, I've taken to watching Chinese/Mandarin films. Sadly, I still have the english subtitles on so I have a clue what the plot is, but I have great fun leaping up and down saying "yay, I understood that!" every time they say "Dui", or "Xie xie".
Current favourite is Flying Daggers - a woman kicking ass at martial arts and dancing, a moderately cool and vaguely historical plot and beautiful scenary - what more could one ask for? well, a happy ending, but those are pretty few and far between in Chinese films... As I found in Farewell my Concubine. Definitely a gripping watch - it had me in tears - but if you don't have a high violence threshold I wouldn't recommend it. Also on the sad but pretty great list is Spring in a Small Town. Slow moving, depressing, brilliantly acted and wonderfully filmed. I saw the newer version, and it's well worth a look.
Current favourite is Flying Daggers - a woman kicking ass at martial arts and dancing, a moderately cool and vaguely historical plot and beautiful scenary - what more could one ask for? well, a happy ending, but those are pretty few and far between in Chinese films... As I found in Farewell my Concubine. Definitely a gripping watch - it had me in tears - but if you don't have a high violence threshold I wouldn't recommend it. Also on the sad but pretty great list is Spring in a Small Town. Slow moving, depressing, brilliantly acted and wonderfully filmed. I saw the newer version, and it's well worth a look.