Chinese movies (was Re: Taboo in Vietnamese Movies)

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, Thanh Dang Nguyen wrote:

> > If you want to be reminded of your experience in VN, how about watching 
> > some of the new Chinese movies, such as "Farewell, my concubine", "Blue 
> > Kite", "To Live", etc? 
> 
> Are they any good? For some reason, I always feel reluctant in
> approaching Asian movies in general, and Chinese/Taiwanese/Hong Kong
> movies in particular. Probably because I have never seen a really 
> memorable one. I watched the well-praised "The Last Emperor" last year 
> (well, it's directed by Bertolucci with a Chinese cast), but didn't like
> it much (Joan Chen looks good, though :) I guess I should check them out
> after my finals.

Hi Thanh, here was an excerpt from my mails to my VNese friends in 
Seattle last Thanksgiving:
-----------------
I walked by the Varsity theatre (across street from the UW bookstore) 
yesterday and saw that  "Shanghai Triad" and "Raise the Red Lattern" are 
now being shown. I would warmly recommed these films if you 
haven't seen them. They would make for excellent pasttime this 
Thanksgiving. 

These two films are made in China the past several years, and belong to 
the new wave (Be` lu~ bo^'n te^n) in Chinese cinema that -- more or less 
free from 
the official censorship -- has been able to depict the reality of Chinese 
life, past and present, and to deal with taboo topics with all the power 
of cinematic art. The result is outstanding Chinese films that astounded
international viewers and critics, and won numerous prestigous awards. 
The above two films won awards at the Cannes Film Festival, for example.
These new-wave films provide a glimse into the Chinese cinema of the 
future, say, 25 years from now. God save us, the Vietnamese, and the 
rest of the world from being inundated by excellent Chinese films then.

Apart from being historically interesting, these films are truly 
cinematic poems, and both starred Gong Li, who is said to be the greatest
Asian actress of our time (or so the one billion Chinese said). My 
favorite is "Shanghai Triad", with its mellow music and twisted plot.
--------------

Hope that somehow convince you of seeing them :-). Please let us know how
you feel afterwards. Other films I found quite good include "Blue Kite"
"To Live" and "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" (Taiwan). Among films made
by Chinese Americans "The Wedding Banquet" and "The JoyLuck Club" are
fine. You should be able to rent all these movies from BlockBusters.

There are also many excellent Japanese films. In fact, Japanese films
constitute quite a "cult" here in the US. Anyone following this cult
out there?

More later,
Hai.