Gentle and genial film seems to have been overlooked as a triviality...and to be fair the narrative is a bit tenuous and lightweight as drama....but I feel the simple wonder and joy of the scenes depicting the first impact of a new art on an alien and sceptical society have a radiance and naturalness which capture the century long romance between cinema and audience better than any film in years. Immensely sympathetic performance from Jared Harriss (who seems to have inherited all of his fathers charisma...hopefully without poor Richards penchant for hellraising and haminess)....and charming offbeat cuteness from costar Yu Xia combine to make this a real heartwarmer. Radiant location photography (including glowingly beautiful scenes at the great wall) and sensitive direction by Ann Hu give film added impact. In short a must for anyone ever enchanted by a shadow flickering to life...and making magic in the dark.
18 Reviews
charming
cherold11 September 2005
A very sweet movie about a young Chinese man enamored of western technology and an Englishman trying to make his fortune showing movies in China. It's a very interesting story that is presumably based on true events, although I'm assuming it's more fantasy than real. It's got a fairy tale quality you rarely get in real life, and it's also got 8 people credited for the script, so they must have been making up stuff right and left.
This is a very likable movie that conveys how magical film was to people who had never seen it before. It is not an especially deep movie, touching briefly on the loss of tradition and the encroachment of western culture but mainly just being a pleasant little movie. It's actually a movie I enjoyed very much that is already beginning to disappear from my mind 15 minutes after seeing it. Light as a soufflé, but I enjoyed every minute.
This is a very likable movie that conveys how magical film was to people who had never seen it before. It is not an especially deep movie, touching briefly on the loss of tradition and the encroachment of western culture but mainly just being a pleasant little movie. It's actually a movie I enjoyed very much that is already beginning to disappear from my mind 15 minutes after seeing it. Light as a soufflé, but I enjoyed every minute.
Complex drama about film and east/west relations
freakus13 March 2001
This film is about so many things. Most obvious is the hold that film can have over an audience and how capturing life on film can be a kind of magic. There is also the tense relationship between China and the West as many Chinese saw (probably rightly so) the "Barbarians" as trying to take over and pollute their way of life. Liu even seeks to preserve their way of life on film because he sees that it will one day disappear. Their is also Liu's internal conflict between the loyalties and traditions of China versus the self-determination philosophy of the West. All these themes are woven quite skillfully into a coherent and enjoyable whole by Hu. A very enjoyable film.
Beautifully filmed tale of the early film industry in China.
cinemel20 March 2001
Ann Hus first directorial and writing effort is an ambitious project that belies her 2 month apprenticeship at the film school at New York University. `Shadow Magic' is a fictitious tale built around the introduction of the infant film industry in China of the very early 20th century. Raymond Wallace (Jared Harris) comes to Beijing to introduce the simplest of motion pictures to its natives. Liu (Yu Xia) portrays a youthful Chinese apprentice photographer who helps him encourage the locals to attend the show he calls `Shadow Magic'. The clashes of cultures form the backbone of the conflict. Filmed beautifully on location, acting, cinematography and music coalesce magically to draw today's audiences into its story, just as its characters are instantly charmed by the movies they come to see in filmdom's first theaters. This is a movie not to be missed by anyone who loves film.
Right movie for right mood.
TomatoElephant2 September 2004
This is good movie for historical drama mood. The movies is about the introduction of cinematograph to people who never saw unique from one point of view as it's tracking also the mixture of cultures, however many small things you've seen million of times (people are afraid of train on the screen). It's not boring, but it's not a masterpiece. It has good cinematography as well as interesting plot.
From historical point of view it is interesting to watch the mixing of Asian and European cultures, while cinematographic part of the movie involve a lot Chinese refinements. So, if you have time, grab the DVD, it won't disappoint you.
From historical point of view it is interesting to watch the mixing of Asian and European cultures, while cinematographic part of the movie involve a lot Chinese refinements. So, if you have time, grab the DVD, it won't disappoint you.
Very enjoyable.
dsulpy7 March 2002
A lovely little film about the introduction of motion pictures to China. Captures the amazement of film's first audiences pretty much as it's described to have been worldwide, and uses actual Lumiere films for most of the actualities. I don't agree with other people about bad acting on the British fellow's part - I thought he was fine, but the Chinese lead really stole the show. In any case, I found myself with a smile on my face through most of the movie. People who fear subtitles might note that a lot of the film is in English (which for some reason is given subtitles as well as the Chinese on the DVD).
Historic drama wrapped with light melodrama
lingmeister18 December 2002
This film is loosely based on history of the introduction of motion pictures to China, with a westerner Raymond Wallace, bringing in the format to the country and the shock and fear people had on this new piece of technology. At the same time, it is embraced by a chinese named Liu Jinglun, who has the curiosity for new things. Together, they eventually persuade the people embrace the medium.
It is a light film, with the Liu facing the dilemma of respecting his culture and tradition or embracing the new medium that is so frightening to his people. There is also the side plot of his desire to marry Lord Tan's daughter, but he would have to be rich. His path to richness would also make Lord Tan lose respect for him, since Lord Tan is a performer in the old medium of stage theater and his moving pictures would push that into oblivion. Of course, we end up with a happy ending because the new medium becomes a tool to supplement everything around it instead of taking it over. Which is basically the point of the story. Don't fear it, embrace and integrate it into your environment.
This film does not tackle the subjects it encounters very hard, it uses light mellowdrama and resolve all the issues amicably.
All in all, this film is easy to enjoy, but it will not be mistaken for the fifth generation films that came out of china a decade or so ago.
It is a light film, with the Liu facing the dilemma of respecting his culture and tradition or embracing the new medium that is so frightening to his people. There is also the side plot of his desire to marry Lord Tan's daughter, but he would have to be rich. His path to richness would also make Lord Tan lose respect for him, since Lord Tan is a performer in the old medium of stage theater and his moving pictures would push that into oblivion. Of course, we end up with a happy ending because the new medium becomes a tool to supplement everything around it instead of taking it over. Which is basically the point of the story. Don't fear it, embrace and integrate it into your environment.
This film does not tackle the subjects it encounters very hard, it uses light mellowdrama and resolve all the issues amicably.
All in all, this film is easy to enjoy, but it will not be mistaken for the fifth generation films that came out of china a decade or so ago.
Gorgeous & Moving
Script2Screen28 January 2001
A beautiful film about the coming of early silent cinema to China. SHADOW MAGIC deftly combines a love story with the drama of the cultural clash between China's ancient traditions and modern Western culture in the form of film. An amazing first film by Chinese director Ann Hu. If I correctly understood Ms. Hu's comments at the 2000 Sundance festival, this film was produced as an American film with co-funding by the Chinese government, and shot in China. SHADOW MAGIC reminds me of films like IL POSTINO and CINEMA PARADISO - not necessarily in theme or plot, but it has a similar feel.
One of China's Finest Tales - Shadow Magic
arthur_tafero18 January 2023
Shadow Magic refers to the Chinese interpretation of the earliest moving pictures to arrive in China during the first decade of the 20th century. The first ten years of the 1900s were relatively peaceful in most of the world, and people were very interested in the new art form, motion pictures. A British movie buff comes to Beijing about this time, and a local Chinese is fascinated by this new process, and decides to dedicate himself to selling the idea to the Empress of the time. Unfortunately, although entertaining, the new medium was also a fire hazard. Despite this drawback, the protagonist of the film carries on by finally initiating an entire industry in Shanghai that was the cutting edge in cinema in Asia until the invasion of the Japanese in 1937. The cinematography is breathtaking. Don't miss it.
A Movie Lover's Movie
michaelf18 May 2001
`Shadow Magic' recaptures the joy and amazement of the first movie audiences. It also shows the power of film in its ability to bring the world a little closer, overcome cultural barriers and to preserve ourselves for generations yet to come. Certainly, anyone who truly loves the art of the motion picture will enjoy this film. It's a great first effort by writer/director Ann Hu, who will hopefully have many films to follow.
Enjoyable but shallow
cbloomer3 December 2001
An enjoyable but shallow film based only in the loosest way on historical facts and Chinese culture at the turn of the century. A lost opportunity -- differing cultural perceptions as well as the early days of Chinese cinema could have been explored in a deeper and more meaningful way.
Chinese "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso"
amurph1230 April 2001
This is a beautiful, funny, vivid film. It's even better than "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso" -- which it parallels but doesn't replicate. The story completes a full circle and had the theater beaming as the credits rolled. A hundred years after this story takes place, we're just as intrigued by flickering images in a dark theater.
A Movie Working On Multiple Plans
p_radulescu17 October 2011
This "Shadow Magic" is a very ambitious endeavor, working on multiple plans.
On one plan it is a tribute to the pioneers of Chinese movie industry. It was the way this tribute was conceived that made some reviewers to declare "Shadow Magic" a light movie, unpretentious, not to be ranged within the masterworks of today's China film.
Well, like any tribute of this kind, it is a warm story, the fathers of Chinese cinema are followed with genuine sympathy: like any pioneers in any domain they simply were not aware of their future role in history; the fathers didn't know that some day they would be THE fathers. They were seeing themselves just as common guys and were behaving as such, sometimes with mistakes, sometimes with naivety, sometimes like fools, sometimes in love, sometimes bad tempered.
It is also another criticism brought to "Shadow Magic": that it suffers from lack of originality, copying themes and moods from "Cinema Paradiso." It is true that the wheel cannot be reinvented each time one makes a movie about the beginnings of cinema. However I would note that "Cinema Paradiso" is built differently, on a play of memory and nostalgia, while in "Shadow Magic" there is no place for nostalgia: it is not about a vanished world of movie theaters; by the contrary, it shows the beginnings of what is today one of the most important schools of cinema worldwide.
"Shadow Magic" called in my mind rather another film, "Diarios de Motocicleta", where the main character, a sympathetic medical student nicknamed Che is also totally unaware that one day he will become a famous (or infamous, matter of perspective) revolutionary leader.
There is also another plan (that was also in Ann Hu's previous "Dream and Memory"): the Englishman comes with his projector and suddenly East meets West in 1902's Beijing. This contact seems to be of great interest for director Ann Hu. What happens when the two universes come into contact? What happens there on the border? Do they explode, do they remain separate looking at each other across the trenches, or is a new universe emerging on the surface of contact? In "Dream and Memory" the border is in the mind of Hong, the Chinese who (like director Ann Hu) moved long time ago to the US. For him one universe looks like a dream, unclear and remote, while the present universe needs the mechanisms of memory to reenact the lost dream. It's East coming to the West, and West trying to recuperate East: China is far away and long ago, America is here and now, China needs to be appropriated.
Here in "Shadow Magic" it is West that comes to the the East. England is far away, China is here and now. And the border is in the heart of Liu, the Chinese passionate to go beyond the limits of his known world, while torn out by the force of his loyalties. It's a pop-out and a push-back bringing the border now and then on the brink of explosion, while little by little a coalescing universe begins to take shape. Maybe this was also the case in the Big Bang model? Just kidding.
"Shadow Magic" is also a tribute paid to the charm of old Beijing, with its incredible mix of people and carts and camels on the streets, that incredible mix of present with its seemingly chaotic agitation and past with its quiet force; all these found in Ann Hu an exquisite artist painter. Here all reviewers are unanimous in recognizing her talent in rending the images, her sensibility for each nuance of color, for each detail of the street. Her mastership of the visual language is amazing, and also her science of controlling the movement of each actor on the scene. The movie has the synchronization of a ballet, any movement comes in its exact place, no earlier, no later, no slower, no faster, no shorter, no longer.
And I think nowhere in the movie it's the cinematic genius of Ann Hu as overwhelming as in the scenes at the Great Wall. When it came there I was afraid I would see kind of a tourist commercial (the risk any moviemaker is running when shooting in a famous place). Well, it was far from that. The Great Wall was playing together with the two actors, the Englishman and the young Chinese, witnessing their enthusiasm to be there, their feeling that they got the best life could give, because being there! It was the way the Great Wall was shot that made it an active part of the action! I saw only one other movie that gave me the same impression, "Springtime in a Small Town" of Tian Zhuang-Zhuang, cinematographed by Li Ping-Bin (a remake after another Chinese masterpiece). It was there, in the movie of Tian that I had this feeling, that the setting was an active actor in the drama!
On one plan it is a tribute to the pioneers of Chinese movie industry. It was the way this tribute was conceived that made some reviewers to declare "Shadow Magic" a light movie, unpretentious, not to be ranged within the masterworks of today's China film.
Well, like any tribute of this kind, it is a warm story, the fathers of Chinese cinema are followed with genuine sympathy: like any pioneers in any domain they simply were not aware of their future role in history; the fathers didn't know that some day they would be THE fathers. They were seeing themselves just as common guys and were behaving as such, sometimes with mistakes, sometimes with naivety, sometimes like fools, sometimes in love, sometimes bad tempered.
It is also another criticism brought to "Shadow Magic": that it suffers from lack of originality, copying themes and moods from "Cinema Paradiso." It is true that the wheel cannot be reinvented each time one makes a movie about the beginnings of cinema. However I would note that "Cinema Paradiso" is built differently, on a play of memory and nostalgia, while in "Shadow Magic" there is no place for nostalgia: it is not about a vanished world of movie theaters; by the contrary, it shows the beginnings of what is today one of the most important schools of cinema worldwide.
"Shadow Magic" called in my mind rather another film, "Diarios de Motocicleta", where the main character, a sympathetic medical student nicknamed Che is also totally unaware that one day he will become a famous (or infamous, matter of perspective) revolutionary leader.
There is also another plan (that was also in Ann Hu's previous "Dream and Memory"): the Englishman comes with his projector and suddenly East meets West in 1902's Beijing. This contact seems to be of great interest for director Ann Hu. What happens when the two universes come into contact? What happens there on the border? Do they explode, do they remain separate looking at each other across the trenches, or is a new universe emerging on the surface of contact? In "Dream and Memory" the border is in the mind of Hong, the Chinese who (like director Ann Hu) moved long time ago to the US. For him one universe looks like a dream, unclear and remote, while the present universe needs the mechanisms of memory to reenact the lost dream. It's East coming to the West, and West trying to recuperate East: China is far away and long ago, America is here and now, China needs to be appropriated.
Here in "Shadow Magic" it is West that comes to the the East. England is far away, China is here and now. And the border is in the heart of Liu, the Chinese passionate to go beyond the limits of his known world, while torn out by the force of his loyalties. It's a pop-out and a push-back bringing the border now and then on the brink of explosion, while little by little a coalescing universe begins to take shape. Maybe this was also the case in the Big Bang model? Just kidding.
"Shadow Magic" is also a tribute paid to the charm of old Beijing, with its incredible mix of people and carts and camels on the streets, that incredible mix of present with its seemingly chaotic agitation and past with its quiet force; all these found in Ann Hu an exquisite artist painter. Here all reviewers are unanimous in recognizing her talent in rending the images, her sensibility for each nuance of color, for each detail of the street. Her mastership of the visual language is amazing, and also her science of controlling the movement of each actor on the scene. The movie has the synchronization of a ballet, any movement comes in its exact place, no earlier, no later, no slower, no faster, no shorter, no longer.
And I think nowhere in the movie it's the cinematic genius of Ann Hu as overwhelming as in the scenes at the Great Wall. When it came there I was afraid I would see kind of a tourist commercial (the risk any moviemaker is running when shooting in a famous place). Well, it was far from that. The Great Wall was playing together with the two actors, the Englishman and the young Chinese, witnessing their enthusiasm to be there, their feeling that they got the best life could give, because being there! It was the way the Great Wall was shot that made it an active part of the action! I saw only one other movie that gave me the same impression, "Springtime in a Small Town" of Tian Zhuang-Zhuang, cinematographed by Li Ping-Bin (a remake after another Chinese masterpiece). It was there, in the movie of Tian that I had this feeling, that the setting was an active actor in the drama!
Universal themes wrapped in a unique package
Bernie444425 January 2024
Only at the beginning of this movie do you strain with captions. As you progress, they become almost second nature, and you are transported into the story.
I was surprised as the basic story on the surface seems to tell of how people deal with new technology. This is the introduction of moving pictures or "Shadow Magic."
The reality of the story is the friendship of two people Raymond Wallace (Jared Harris), Liu Jinglun (Xia Yu), and their relationship with others. Raymond is dumped by his wife for someone with money; yet finds himself and the future in the making of the film. Liu is in a rigid culture, including family and friends, which is trying to force him into marrying a rich widow instead of the young aristocrat girl Liu Jinglun (Yufei Xing) he loves.
Can Liu overcome the culture and individual prejudices, or will he re-assimilate?
And what is to become of Raymond?
Though, short of a tear-jerker, you will still get involved with their lives and marvel at the cinematography.
I was surprised as the basic story on the surface seems to tell of how people deal with new technology. This is the introduction of moving pictures or "Shadow Magic."
The reality of the story is the friendship of two people Raymond Wallace (Jared Harris), Liu Jinglun (Xia Yu), and their relationship with others. Raymond is dumped by his wife for someone with money; yet finds himself and the future in the making of the film. Liu is in a rigid culture, including family and friends, which is trying to force him into marrying a rich widow instead of the young aristocrat girl Liu Jinglun (Yufei Xing) he loves.
Can Liu overcome the culture and individual prejudices, or will he re-assimilate?
And what is to become of Raymond?
Though, short of a tear-jerker, you will still get involved with their lives and marvel at the cinematography.
Introduction of cinema to China
dave-239516 July 2013
"Shadow Magic" (2000 award-winning co-production of mainland China, Germany, Taiwan, and US) is an epic melodrama about the coming of cinema to Old Peking. The year is 1902; the era of pigtails, the Empress Dowager, and the Boxer Rebellion aftermath distrust of foreign influence and domination. One of the more benign influences was photography, already somewhat accepted by those who could afford to have their pictures taken by the few Chinese professionals setting up shop in Peking and other large cities. Not so with motion pictures. Foreign entrepreneurs, usually small scale individual efforts, brought in movie equipment with early French silents and ran what amounted to raucous side-show entertainment on the teeming streets. This juxtaposition of modern novelty to Asian cultural tradition resulted in misunderstandings, sometimes tragic, but often hilarious.
a magic movie
Hunky Stud1 February 2003
Unlike some movies which you can wonder around and do other things, this movie kept me in front of the screen for the entire two hours. I loved every minute of it.
However, I have to say that the story is not very believable. Especially when the foreigner was expelled by the government, and then later on, actually sent a package to the guy who helped him. Xiao Liu is a very good actor, he shows his emotions, and he shows his silliness, and his love toward that girl.
However, I have to say that the story is not very believable. Especially when the foreigner was expelled by the government, and then later on, actually sent a package to the guy who helped him. Xiao Liu is a very good actor, he shows his emotions, and he shows his silliness, and his love toward that girl.
the movie is ok, but...
villamondial14 January 2002
... the acting by Mr. Wallace is really terrible. Being the only foreigner in this Chinese movie, the role could have been a master performance by an experienced actor or new talent. However, the acting is so bad, that it disturbs the otherwise quite nicely flowing story about how the movies came to China.
Don't be fooled! Nothing like the Great films from China!
mikehamilton9 November 2001
This might not have been as horribly bad as it was if not for the absolutely awful acting job done by Raymond Wallace! This guy is so bad it wasn't even funny! His character was needed in the film, but why they chose this guy is beyond me.
If you're looking for some quality Chinese films.....might I suggest "Raise the Red Lantern"...."The Story of Qui Ju"...."Red Sorghum"......
Anything but this! I was surprised at how many people actually rated this highly! Really...the acting by this Wallace loser is so bad it overshadows the other good parts of this film. This was agreed upon by all 6 of us watching this movie last night!
Stay Clear of this piece of garbage........
If you're looking for some quality Chinese films.....might I suggest "Raise the Red Lantern"...."The Story of Qui Ju"...."Red Sorghum"......
Anything but this! I was surprised at how many people actually rated this highly! Really...the acting by this Wallace loser is so bad it overshadows the other good parts of this film. This was agreed upon by all 6 of us watching this movie last night!
Stay Clear of this piece of garbage........
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