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jonathanmsw-53090
Reviews
Qiu Ju da guan si (1992)
Spectacular But Simple Quixotic Tale
Zhang Yimou masterfully reveals the essence of the dynamics at work in Chinese society and the impact of traditional culture and modern day politics on the lives of individual citizens and families in China. Whether you support the quixotic quest of Qiu Ju and her sidekick Meizi (translation: younger sister) or not you will fall in love with the sincerity, purity and simplicity of their hearts. These qualities (among others) that endear so many of the real people whom we ("foreigners"/non-Chinese) meet, while living in the People's Republic of China, to us are represented with amazing clarity and realism. The story and plot line are very (almost too) simple; but the character development, and presentation of village, city, and district politics in China and the vast differences between people's lives in those settings is so interesting and intriguing that the movie will keep you amused, interested, and excited, and have you wishing to see more as the credits start rolling at the end of the movie. This was one of the few movies that actually had me feeling as though I was back in China among so many wonderful friends, sights, and smells, and re-experiencing the oddly comfortable sense of chronic culture shock. I would recommend this movie to anyone who truly wants to better understand our brothers' and sisters' situations in China and to have your heart and mind opened and broadened. The movie is spoken in the Shaanxi dialect of Chinese (although I could understand much of it with my limited fluency in Mandarin) and subtitled in English. Even though it is really a drama many of the comical and sweet interpersonal situations in this movie will have you laughing out loud as you learn to see into the hearts of the characters and look upon the vast cultural differences with more respect, compassion, and understanding. I am happy to own this movie and plan to share it with others who are open-minded enough to consider and appreciate what this fine work of art represents.
Yin shi nan nu (1994)
A Great Representation of Modern Chinese Family Culture
If you're willing to read subtitles this is an excellent foreign film, set in Taiwan, about the importance of and the tight connection between a person's individual identity and his/her family life in Chinese society and culture. The work lives, interpersonal lives, and spiritual lives of four main characters are explored and interwoven, with the Sunday dinner table being the terminus at which they all meet and from which we switch characters and depart on the continuing exploration of each person's life. Each of the main character's lives would be interesting enough for its own full-length movie; so together they keep you thinking and interested from opening to closing credits. In this masterful cultural portrait of the balanced interplay between life and death, work and love, family and self, food and deprivation, Ang Lee allows us to see and experience the intimate details of a major world culture, which is vastly different from our own in the western world. The popular theme of traditional Chinese culture being impacted by modern life is addressed in a more realistic, less overdone, manner than in many movies, and the multi-generational presentation of interwoven lives makes it more easily understandable and complete. This is a movie that will leave you with a warm smile of satisfaction and deeper understanding of what it is to be a person on this planet.
Yi ge dou bu neng shao (1999)
Thick and Rich in Chinese Countryside Culture
Zhang Yimou is a genius. Watch this movie.
If you have a heart it will break. If you have eyes, they will cry as your chest is heaving. If you have a mind it will work to make sense of the seeming contradictions that our cultural bias creates; but once you've figured it out your heart will be filled with love and admiration for the young teacher who, in Chinese tradition, devotes herself completely to her students. Your eyes will see through the veil of culture and in ways that others cannot to an understanding that these countryside people are not poor; but rich in ways that we in the west are starving for. There is true meaning and devotion in their daily life, and a connectedness to people that is deep and profound.
This is one of the foreign films that reconnects me with the years that I spent in China and the love and gratitude that I hold for my many Chinese friends. The story may seem hard to believe; but all of the situations and behaviors depicted are very much within the enduring traditional cultural pattern that exists in China today. "If you are my teacher for one day; you are my teacher for life." Watch and learn. Watch and love.