Do you belive it?*
Last week I watched The Chinese Box (1997).
Fred Goodridge, on imdb, summarirzes it thusly:
John (Irons) is an English photojournalist who has spent over a decade in Hong Kong; his friend Jim (Blades) often crashes in his cramped apartment. John's unrequited love is Vivian (Gong Li) whom he aches for but has not the nerve to possess. Concurrent with England's transfer of Hong Kong back to the Chinese, John discovers that he has a rare form of leukemia and has only months to live. So John, Jim, and the disfigured proto-hippy Jean (Cheung) grab a digital video camera and prowl the streets, seeking to document the "real" Hong Kong one last time.
The film in quite nice, with an interesting history-in-the-making feel. Irons was his lovely ol' self, Li was impressive, Maggie was utterly fantastic and Blades was hilarious. Btw, the trailer is incredibly decieving.
The Chinese Box
Directed by Wayne Wang (1997)
Featuring Jeremy Irons and Gong Li
With Maggie Cheung, Michael Hui and Ruben Blades
15:38 Irons, VO: “They say that if you’re bleeding from a broken heart, you must get a piece of jade and keep it close. Then your blood will go into the stone and the stone will get into your blood. Your blood will then become a stone and you will stop bleeding.”
34: 05 Irons: “I’ll tell you what’s wrong: nothing. Nothing! Except that I’m in love with this woman, and she loves you. I’ve always loved this woman.”
44: 08 Irons: “That’s a face-map. They use it telling fortunes here. They believe that a map of a face is a map of a life; you can read everything in it. Can you read anything in this girl’s face?”
45: 43 Irons: “I don’t know where she lives, I don’t know where to find her, I don’t know anything about her except what she says. And that I don’t know whether to believe. Do you believe it?”
48:10 Irons and Li: “I came to teach you a few English words, like ‘I’m sorry I behaved like a jerk’ and ‘Please forgive me’ and ‘I didn’t really mean to hurt you, it’s the last thing I want to do.’
‘What do you want?’
‘The trouble is I don’t know. I tried to make you love me and that didn’t work. I tried to hate you and that - So I suppose I just want to be friends... friends with you.’
‘I don’t want a friend, thank you.’”
50:05 Blades: “So how’s Vivian? How’s that going? You know, every love story is the same. I mean, we have boleros for that, to describe the whole thing. Usually boleros are written when love begins and when love ends. And in the middle, nothing. Because no one wants to know about [sings] ‘life is very nice with you-‘ No. Just the beginning. The love begins and you go, [sings] ‘I love you, and I will give you the world, and I will love you even more than I love myself.’ Right? And then the relationship ends. And then, [sings]‘I hate you, I really hate you, I mean I detest you. And I hope your pet is run over by a truck because you’re a piece of shit.’”
55:36 Irons: “It doesn’t matter where I got it: I got it.”
1:14:00 Cheung: “How could you forget me?!”
1:21:00 Blades: [sings] “There’s a place, so I’ve heard told, every street is paved with gold and it’s just across the border line. And when its time to take your turn here’s a lesson you must learn: you could loose more than you ever hope to find. And when you reach the broken Promised Land every dream slips through your hands and you know its too late to change your mind. ‘Cause you’ve paid the price to come this far just to wind up where you are and you still, you're just across the border line.”
1:29:55 Irons, VO: “Part of your life, you give me a moment. Be sure that in spite of the past and in spite of the future, this tick of our lifetime’s one moment you loved me.”
Interesting images: the ever-running dog on a treadmill, training to fight; slicing a chicken’s throat at the butcher’s with a machete; the fish sliced in half that is so fresh its heart is still beating as it’s placed on the stall.
* The Chinese Box
Fred Goodridge, on imdb, summarirzes it thusly:
John (Irons) is an English photojournalist who has spent over a decade in Hong Kong; his friend Jim (Blades) often crashes in his cramped apartment. John's unrequited love is Vivian (Gong Li) whom he aches for but has not the nerve to possess. Concurrent with England's transfer of Hong Kong back to the Chinese, John discovers that he has a rare form of leukemia and has only months to live. So John, Jim, and the disfigured proto-hippy Jean (Cheung) grab a digital video camera and prowl the streets, seeking to document the "real" Hong Kong one last time.
The film in quite nice, with an interesting history-in-the-making feel. Irons was his lovely ol' self, Li was impressive, Maggie was utterly fantastic and Blades was hilarious. Btw, the trailer is incredibly decieving.
The Chinese Box
Directed by Wayne Wang (1997)
Featuring Jeremy Irons and Gong Li
With Maggie Cheung, Michael Hui and Ruben Blades
15:38 Irons, VO: “They say that if you’re bleeding from a broken heart, you must get a piece of jade and keep it close. Then your blood will go into the stone and the stone will get into your blood. Your blood will then become a stone and you will stop bleeding.”
34: 05 Irons: “I’ll tell you what’s wrong: nothing. Nothing! Except that I’m in love with this woman, and she loves you. I’ve always loved this woman.”
44: 08 Irons: “That’s a face-map. They use it telling fortunes here. They believe that a map of a face is a map of a life; you can read everything in it. Can you read anything in this girl’s face?”
45: 43 Irons: “I don’t know where she lives, I don’t know where to find her, I don’t know anything about her except what she says. And that I don’t know whether to believe. Do you believe it?”
48:10 Irons and Li: “I came to teach you a few English words, like ‘I’m sorry I behaved like a jerk’ and ‘Please forgive me’ and ‘I didn’t really mean to hurt you, it’s the last thing I want to do.’
‘What do you want?’
‘The trouble is I don’t know. I tried to make you love me and that didn’t work. I tried to hate you and that - So I suppose I just want to be friends... friends with you.’
‘I don’t want a friend, thank you.’”
50:05 Blades: “So how’s Vivian? How’s that going? You know, every love story is the same. I mean, we have boleros for that, to describe the whole thing. Usually boleros are written when love begins and when love ends. And in the middle, nothing. Because no one wants to know about [sings] ‘life is very nice with you-‘ No. Just the beginning. The love begins and you go, [sings] ‘I love you, and I will give you the world, and I will love you even more than I love myself.’ Right? And then the relationship ends. And then, [sings]‘I hate you, I really hate you, I mean I detest you. And I hope your pet is run over by a truck because you’re a piece of shit.’”
55:36 Irons: “It doesn’t matter where I got it: I got it.”
1:14:00 Cheung: “How could you forget me?!”
1:21:00 Blades: [sings] “There’s a place, so I’ve heard told, every street is paved with gold and it’s just across the border line. And when its time to take your turn here’s a lesson you must learn: you could loose more than you ever hope to find. And when you reach the broken Promised Land every dream slips through your hands and you know its too late to change your mind. ‘Cause you’ve paid the price to come this far just to wind up where you are and you still, you're just across the border line.”
1:29:55 Irons, VO: “Part of your life, you give me a moment. Be sure that in spite of the past and in spite of the future, this tick of our lifetime’s one moment you loved me.”
Interesting images: the ever-running dog on a treadmill, training to fight; slicing a chicken’s throat at the butcher’s with a machete; the fish sliced in half that is so fresh its heart is still beating as it’s placed on the stall.
* The Chinese Box