chinese cinema 101
purple butterfly [zi hudie] - dir. lou ye, 2003
zhang ziyi stars in this gritty drama about a taboo japanese-chinese couple around the time of world war ii. after their separation as lovers, they resurface in shanghai pitted against each other in a cat & mouse game of intelligence operatives and assassination plots. the camera work is frenetic, kicking in and out of focus with the characters which gets distracting at most. the narrative is pretty choppy with a predilection for cycling back to past events, playing on the viewer's sense of time and space. a tricky gamble to say the least, not to mention i got mildly annoyed by the overabundant close-ups of zhang ziyi bawling for no reason.
the climax of the film, however, is an amazing looong take and the subsequent non-continuous scene is drawn out but quite powerful. period music from the 1930s is an excellent complement to the dark palette. the film ends on a montage of real war footage of bombs dropping over shanghai, massacres at nanjing, and other unfortunate events.
great idea but could have been refined a lot more. still worth watching in my book, though, since it keeps you thinking afterwards trying to decipher the true order of events.
rating: 7 / 10
temptress moon [feng yue] - dir. chen kaige, 1996
oh my god, a totally underappreciated gem. christopher doyle does absolutely beautiful cinematography with this, giving the whole film a really unique style of soft focus, warm colors, and emotionally charged light. leslie cheung plays a brash, conniving young playboy who makes a living off of blackmailing married women. gong li is the matriarch of an aristocratic 1920s household of opium addicts and other generic crazies.
the collision of their two worlds unfolds slowly, deliberately, but there are some quite delicious moments when the shit really goes down. a poignant and well-acted tragedy that gleefully unearths the darker underbelly of chinese society with all its drug addicts, scheming mobsters, and disturbing incest themes.
the melodrama never gets too out of hand, and there's a really good surreal sex scene too. the city is depicted in a romantic but depraved light. the small handful of main cast members are fleshed out so nicely, you don't know who to feel more sorry for.
suffice to say, it had me from its opening shot of a young girl, standing in gross yellow light, hearing an off-screen voice say, "what is opium, ruyi my daughter? opium is the source of all inspiration." she's envelopped in a cloud of exhaled smoke, to which she breathes in and smiles. how fucking sinister! no wonder this shit was banned in china.
rating: 9 / 10
zhang ziyi stars in this gritty drama about a taboo japanese-chinese couple around the time of world war ii. after their separation as lovers, they resurface in shanghai pitted against each other in a cat & mouse game of intelligence operatives and assassination plots. the camera work is frenetic, kicking in and out of focus with the characters which gets distracting at most. the narrative is pretty choppy with a predilection for cycling back to past events, playing on the viewer's sense of time and space. a tricky gamble to say the least, not to mention i got mildly annoyed by the overabundant close-ups of zhang ziyi bawling for no reason.
the climax of the film, however, is an amazing looong take and the subsequent non-continuous scene is drawn out but quite powerful. period music from the 1930s is an excellent complement to the dark palette. the film ends on a montage of real war footage of bombs dropping over shanghai, massacres at nanjing, and other unfortunate events.
great idea but could have been refined a lot more. still worth watching in my book, though, since it keeps you thinking afterwards trying to decipher the true order of events.
rating: 7 / 10
temptress moon [feng yue] - dir. chen kaige, 1996
oh my god, a totally underappreciated gem. christopher doyle does absolutely beautiful cinematography with this, giving the whole film a really unique style of soft focus, warm colors, and emotionally charged light. leslie cheung plays a brash, conniving young playboy who makes a living off of blackmailing married women. gong li is the matriarch of an aristocratic 1920s household of opium addicts and other generic crazies.
the collision of their two worlds unfolds slowly, deliberately, but there are some quite delicious moments when the shit really goes down. a poignant and well-acted tragedy that gleefully unearths the darker underbelly of chinese society with all its drug addicts, scheming mobsters, and disturbing incest themes.
the melodrama never gets too out of hand, and there's a really good surreal sex scene too. the city is depicted in a romantic but depraved light. the small handful of main cast members are fleshed out so nicely, you don't know who to feel more sorry for.
suffice to say, it had me from its opening shot of a young girl, standing in gross yellow light, hearing an off-screen voice say, "what is opium, ruyi my daughter? opium is the source of all inspiration." she's envelopped in a cloud of exhaled smoke, to which she breathes in and smiles. how fucking sinister! no wonder this shit was banned in china.
rating: 9 / 10