I've met yu hua, actually... in Oslo, of all places. he gave a lecture on his ... life.... very very interesting guy with a quiet, subtle, powerful humour. quiet guy and brutality, it'll never cease to fascinate us.
I guess that was the thing that got me in this movie - it's not hitting you over the head with violence! really explicitly bad stuff! It's all just sort of ... subtle. Well, not subtle, but I've seen other movies dealing with the Cultural Revolution et al. (I'm thinking of Xiuxiu the Sent Down Girl here) that were just way too graphic (there are real parallels, now that I think about it
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Yup, I think Cindy summed it up perfectly, an 'epic family drama' and I really did cry and cry and cry. :) Your description is also what I've been trying to put together in some coherent fashion - it really was all these little strokes of luck (good and bad).
Thank you for shoving it into my hands at Jia-Jia. that was 99NT well spent!!
I haven't rewatched this movie in years, but you point out all the parts that make my heart crack -- the screencaps are enough to stir those feelings a little. The puppets, the wedding... the botched delivery is always like the last straw for me, the part where I just want to turn off the movie for fear of what may come next, but there's where Yu Hua's got you, I guess -- you can't help but to keep watching, to see how they will survive.
I mean, no, it's not the "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!" type of survival, but it's profoundly powerful nonetheless.
(No matter what Yu Hua thinks of the movie. ;])
[If I don't get around to your e-mail tonight... soon I will babble.]
Does it sound silly to saybafoozMay 21 2007, 10:53:33 UTC
The puppets made me cry and cry, actually - one of the early scenes, where they're being overrun by the Communists after they wake up to find the KMT camp deserted? And Fugui so carefully carried those beautiful puppets the whole time, and they wind up on the snow covered fields, trampled. I was afraid that was the end of the puppets right there. And then when they burned them, I cried and cried at that, too. What a waste, you know?
Then I thought 'that's silly, crying over puppets' - but I guess it's not, it's a little tragedy for a family who has big tragedies in a movie about a little family's tragedy set against the tragedy and travesty of bigger events
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to each her own -- maggie for you, gong li for me!
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Maggie's just the first Chinese actress I fell head over heels for. I'm boning up on my Gong Li filmography - also watched Red Sorghum tonight.
As long as it's not Zhang Ziyi ... and honestly, with actresses like Maggie Cheung and Gong Li why would people think ZZ is just the best? Blech.
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Thank you for shoving it into my hands at Jia-Jia. that was 99NT well spent!!
Reply
I haven't rewatched this movie in years, but you point out all the parts that make my heart crack -- the screencaps are enough to stir those feelings a little. The puppets, the wedding... the botched delivery is always like the last straw for me, the part where I just want to turn off the movie for fear of what may come next, but there's where Yu Hua's got you, I guess -- you can't help but to keep watching, to see how they will survive.
I mean, no, it's not the "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!" type of survival, but it's profoundly powerful nonetheless.
(No matter what Yu Hua thinks of the movie. ;])
[If I don't get around to your e-mail tonight... soon I will babble.]
Reply
Then I thought 'that's silly, crying over puppets' - but I guess it's not, it's a little tragedy for a family who has big tragedies in a movie about a little family's tragedy set against the tragedy and travesty of bigger events ( ... )
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