(no subject)
苏州河 Suzhou he [Suzhou River], 2000. Dir. 娄烨 LOU Ye. Acted 贾宏声 JIA Hongsheng, 周迅 ZHOU Xun.
My god, wrong film to pick on a night where I was supposed to be working. On the plus side, the Korean film I watched was 'peppy' as far as not-terribly-cheerful Korean films go. It all seemed very ... Chinese (yes, I just essentialized Chinese culture). Or perhaps I've just been spending too much time with Chinese ghosts of my own.
I was not a fan of the frenetic camerawork at the beginning, since I was starting to feel ill, but it's nice to see the underbelly of Shanghai again - the camera was growing on me by the end. I thought it well put together, generally speaking; I'd certainly watch it again. It had a certain je ne sais quoi.
Funny that Suzhou was once the font of beautiful women, beautiful culture, beautiful poetry.
It made me miss the rain in Taipei, and the people at my 全家.
A few more thoughts: after having a few days to meditate on it, I almost wished I hadn't sent the DVD back to Netflix so quickly. Certainly not a perfect film by any means - and it perhaps echoes some classics without really improving on them - but I really liked the way it twisted back on itself over and over again. I liked the narrative flow - not the most unique setup, but the way it was put together.
Lou Ye is probably famous for films that really toe the line (and sometimes go right over them); the '06 颐和园 Yihe yuan [Summer Palace] about the Tiananmen Square incident of '89 landed him in a significant chunk of hot water for the politics and the sex. There are some incredible scenes that make you go 'Whoa - how did they manage that?' In any case, Suzhou he is extremely tame in comparison, but cause something of a stir when it first came out. It's the fact that these envelopes are getting pushed on a global stage (for we certainly have plenty of films in our library that really push the envelope, but aren't getting trotted out at Cannes etc.) that makes it all so interesting.
My god, wrong film to pick on a night where I was supposed to be working. On the plus side, the Korean film I watched was 'peppy' as far as not-terribly-cheerful Korean films go. It all seemed very ... Chinese (yes, I just essentialized Chinese culture). Or perhaps I've just been spending too much time with Chinese ghosts of my own.
I was not a fan of the frenetic camerawork at the beginning, since I was starting to feel ill, but it's nice to see the underbelly of Shanghai again - the camera was growing on me by the end. I thought it well put together, generally speaking; I'd certainly watch it again. It had a certain je ne sais quoi.
Funny that Suzhou was once the font of beautiful women, beautiful culture, beautiful poetry.
It made me miss the rain in Taipei, and the people at my 全家.
A few more thoughts: after having a few days to meditate on it, I almost wished I hadn't sent the DVD back to Netflix so quickly. Certainly not a perfect film by any means - and it perhaps echoes some classics without really improving on them - but I really liked the way it twisted back on itself over and over again. I liked the narrative flow - not the most unique setup, but the way it was put together.
Lou Ye is probably famous for films that really toe the line (and sometimes go right over them); the '06 颐和园 Yihe yuan [Summer Palace] about the Tiananmen Square incident of '89 landed him in a significant chunk of hot water for the politics and the sex. There are some incredible scenes that make you go 'Whoa - how did they manage that?' In any case, Suzhou he is extremely tame in comparison, but cause something of a stir when it first came out. It's the fact that these envelopes are getting pushed on a global stage (for we certainly have plenty of films in our library that really push the envelope, but aren't getting trotted out at Cannes etc.) that makes it all so interesting.