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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Dec 23, 2004 - 10:45 AM |
 
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I saw "Wushan Yun Yu" (English name is "Rainclouds over Wushan", or "In Expectation") last night. Man isn't that a great film! Good atmosphere, good camera work, and excellent editing for a first feature! This has to be one of the best first films in the history!
It qualifies for a true work of Chinese humanism. |
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niko
Rocker
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Posts: 602
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Dec 26, 2004 - 03:15 PM |
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i know "Wu shan yun yu",some similar chinese movies came out several months ago,it is said that these movies were forbidden before,so it caught many eyes.i notice about 5 movies like "Wu shan yunyu",for example,"da hong mi dian"(english name maybe "rice")----it was forbidden for 7 years bcs of a few "unhealthy" scenes,"unhealthy" means "sexy" in goverment's views.but acturally i think it was expressed in an artistic and subtle way.it's not porn.sighs...
"da hong mi dian" is forbidden again now. |
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niko
Rocker
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Posts: 602
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Dec 26, 2004 - 03:23 PM |
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people showed great interest in "da hong mi dian",why?an ironic reason is that they hear it's a porn movie.maybe finally,they felt disappointed... |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Dec 27, 2004 - 11:46 AM |
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"Da hong mi dian", porn or no porn, bears no comparison to "Wushan Yun Yu"...
Saw Fruit Chan's "Made in HK" last night. About OK. I can't quite get into "Eternity and a Day" by Angeloupous, though, however much patience I have for "slow cinema". So full of cliches... |
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littlefox
Fire-eater
Joined: Nov 23, 2003
Posts: 2773
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Dec 28, 2004 - 12:33 PM |
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if you like Wushan Yunyu, you might like Hai Xian (Seafood) as well, which is directed by the playwright of Wushan Yunyu.
Watched a movie called Samaria last weekend, Korean movie directed by Ki-duk Kim, great camera work and you can see the director has been pushing the boundaries.
by the way, does any of you know where I can buy some old american movies like Zorro, Love Story, mostly classic movies from 60s to 90s.
Thanks. |
_________________
Ah, the ubiquitous idiots... |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Dec 28, 2004 - 03:11 PM |
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^ Heard of the movie, by Zhu Wen. Don't know where I may find it, though. Have you spotted it in SH? I am not sure if I am to enjoy it as much as WuShan, though. The story line seems a bit extreme and implausible.
Which brings me to Samaria Girl. Good film. Excellent acting and directing. The camerawork reminds me of Iwai, in movies like "All about Lili Chou" or "Hana and Alice". But the theme in so many recent Korean art flicks seems to be dominated by what I call "the burden of sin". It is getting monotonous and tiresome for me. I hate it when directors reduce our very complex life to a few recognizable and weighty "themes". Korean cinema is over-rated, I think. |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Dec 28, 2004 - 03:33 PM |
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I saw Rohmer's "Triple Agent" last night. He's turning even more minimalist (!) in his old age. Too emotionally detached to really merit a hold on our engagement.
On the other hand, Linklater's "Before Sunset" did not disappoint. There's an amazing sense of freedom ad spontaniety in the acting from Hawke and Delpy. Don't know how the director managed to get it out of them. The film always managed to stay on the right side of sentimentalism. Very enjoyable.
The choice of streets in Paris as the itinery filled me with dread when I read on the cover (how would they slaughter those places I loved......), but no worries. Linklater avoided most of the cliches, and make good use of the few he did choose. A lot more low-key in its use of Paris as a backdrop than Varda's "Cleo From 5 To 7". |
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niko
Rocker
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Posts: 602
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Dec 28, 2004 - 08:38 PM |
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i couldnt believe "triple agent" is Rohmer's,it's totally different from his before movies.mmm....strange...
Zhu wen was a writer before he throws himself into movie.i appreciate his novels.on the one hand,he keeps in touch with life itself,on the other hand,he keeps distance from life.an excellent observer.i'm looking forward to his movie,where can i get it?
BTW,"made in HK" is better than "hollywood,HK",i think |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Dec 29, 2004 - 09:35 AM |
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Ah...heard that the director of "Wushan" once said "Hollywood, HK" was terribly marred by Zhou Xun's poor performing skills... so much for anbother "starlet" of the Chinese screen.
Anyone saw "Before Sunrise"?
I buy DVDs way faster than I can watch them...panic, panic! |
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littlefox
Fire-eater
Joined: Nov 23, 2003
Posts: 2773
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Dec 30, 2004 - 01:38 PM |
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Yesterday watched another film directed by Kim Kiduk, The Isle.
It's a complicated feeling after watching it. Beautiful scenery and great acting. But the bloody self mutilation, the primitive desires between men and women, the isolated little isle, maybe the Chinese translation of the film's name explains all Piao Liu Yu Shi 漂流欲室 |
_________________
Ah, the ubiquitous idiots... |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Dec 30, 2004 - 02:32 PM |
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One got the feeling sometimes that the new generation of Korean film-makers are all Evangelical Christians.
"Sex is sin", "desire and lust distort human relationships", "sins of older generations pass on to the youngsters through... incest", ....... Name me one arthouse success from Korea that shows sexual love in a positive light. But then you got all these Korean soap opera, featuring good-looking male and female leads who are romantically involved yet never have sex. No nudity, either---oh, no, nudity would be soooo disgusting...
Sadly, sexual repression still rules in modern Korea. Is that why Korea has been a fertile ground for religious nuts? Never see a people so puerile, yet so repressed, at the same time. Wonder if Korea will eventually follow suit of Post-Franco Spain, blooming with a made-in-Korea Almodovar...
Is that why Korean women are so hot?  |
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niko
Rocker
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Posts: 602
Status: Offline
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Dec 30, 2004 - 09:06 PM |
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dont like Korean movies very much.there are two extreme trends in korean movies:1,pure or sad romantic theme,i saw "August photoshop" last year,it;s the type.2.violent & sexual themes,especially korean sexual movies,morbid,i think.full of repressed desires,"brute" korean people(sorry,if i offend somebody here)
korean women are so hot bcs 95%of them have had cosmetic surgeries.hehe. |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Dec 31, 2004 - 11:00 AM |
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Saw "Maria Full of Grace", a film in Spanish made by Americans. OK. A bit over-rated by one of my favorite critics, David Denby (New Yorker).
"We Don't Live Here Anymore", an American independent film, is quite watchable. Although the director is too soft with editing, so the tempo gets a bit mushy and sloppy. The ending, leaving the problems unresolved, as is often the case in real life, is very plausible, and I admire the director and screenwriter's courage to leave it like that, fo American audience tends to punish films without happy endings.
Have been watching some Chinese TV drama on and off lately. "Tian Xia Di Yi Lou" is quite enjoyable as TV drama goes. Find some echo with our business philiosophy of "best practice". There are actually subtleties to be found in the series, which I looked for in Zhang Yimou's recent films in vain! |
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cheerio_76
Talker
Joined: July 28, 2004
Posts: 78
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 10:22 AM |
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Hi, I didn't get to read all your posts thoroughly but initially you were asking for a good DVD shop that sells art films. There's a new one on An Fu Lu, near Wulumuqi Zhong Lu. It's a door with a sign saying Blockbuster right outside. They sell the usual Hollywood flicks but they have 1 whole shelf devoted to art films. A good number of European films. I'm not sure if you'll find what you want but I've seen quite a number that I like. |
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Caesara
Post Roaster
Joined: July 31, 2004
Posts: 4572
Location: The Middle Kingdom (Shanghai)
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 11:20 AM |
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| serend wrote: |
| On the other hand, Linklater's "Before Sunset" did not disappoint. There's an amazing sense of freedom ad spontaniety in the acting from Hawke and Delpy. Don't know how the director managed to get it out of them. The film always managed to stay on the right side of sentimentalism. Very enjoyable. |
Picked this one up as part of a big pile I'd not heard of. Was stunned when I watched it. The editing was tight, the dialogue was unexpected at times, and the characters were realistically imperfect (when Delpy loses emotional control in the car, for example).
The setting worked flawlessly exactly because there was no attempt to evoke "The City of Love" or a tourist destination. There was no soppy sentimentalism or "romantic-comedy blockbuster" overtone. The cobblestones and the river and the elegant old buildings (not to mention the lovely librarie where Hawke did his reading at the beginning) were allowed to subtly present an unspectacular, everyday romance as the backdrop.
Hawke and Delpy were brilliant as they "re-met" and went for a very plausible "walk and coffee". The genius of the movie was revealed by the believability of the ending: after two hours of conversation, rendered with almost perfect chronological fidelity by the director, the viewer could understand the ending and believe it plausible.
One of my favourite movies. |
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Caesara
Post Roaster
Joined: July 31, 2004
Posts: 4572
Location: The Middle Kingdom (Shanghai)
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 11:24 AM |
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Oh...and no, I haven't seen Before Sunrise, but I've heard that it's nowhere near as good.
Still want to see it! |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 12:05 PM |
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Thanks, Cheerio, for the great tip! I'll check it out next weekend.
Caesara: your post on "Before Sunset" is a pleasure to read. I am also looking forward to watching "Before Sunrise", if I knew where to get it. A warning: you may see some DVD shops carrying discs with "Before Sunrise" on the cover; better check inside---the disc itself may say "Sunset". Some supplier apparently made a mistake. I got excited for nothing twice already, in different shops.
You may also find another Linklater flick in SH: "The Slackers". Haven't watched it yet---but the fact it is included in the "Criterion Collection" speaks in its favor. |
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cheerio_76
Talker
Joined: July 28, 2004
Posts: 78
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 12:15 PM |
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That so happened to me! I watched Before Sunrise on the big screen and I absolutely fell in love with the movie. Afterwhich, I was thrilled to read reviews from Amazon about Before Sunset and was totally excited when I saw it here. I wanted to buy the 2 and the jacket that says Before Sunrise but contained Before Sunset.
The cinematography of Before Sunset is better than Before Sunrise and the dialogues more compelling but I like the Before Sunrise better...I dont' know, it's just that it's more innocent, more "serendipitous" if I may say...but the way that they aged in Before Sunset was nice, natural their faces acquiring creases in the right places that indicated character..or maybe, they did grow old naturally since the 2 movies were shot year apart...
Love them both... |
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Caesara
Post Roaster
Joined: July 31, 2004
Posts: 4572
Location: The Middle Kingdom (Shanghai)
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 12:42 PM |
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serend, thanks for the heads-up. (And the compliment!) That's happened to me once already. Was slightly annoyed, as was keen to curl up and watch the two back-to-back. Let me know if you find it, eh? I've been searching and searching with no luck.
cheerio_76, am glad to hear that at least one person thinks the first one is worth watching even after seeing the second! Hooray!
As a matter of fact, I just realised that this is a rather interesting and uncommon situation: the sequel is better than the original. There's only a handful of films out there that can say the same. |
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Villon
Barker
Joined: Aug 11, 2004
Posts: 189
Location: Sometimes Vienna, sometimes Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 04:24 PM |
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 Has somebody an idea where to find these:
.) DISTANCE - von KOREEDA HIROKAZU (japan)
.) KARE NO INAI HACHIGATSU GA (August Without Him) - von KOREEDA HIROKAZU (japan)
.) KIOKU GA USHINAWARETA TOKI (Without memory) - von KOREEDA HIROKAZU (japan)
.) MABOROSHI NO HIKARI (Maboroshi) - von KOREEDA HIROKAZU (japan)
.) MO HITOTSU NO KYOIKU (Lesson from a calf) - von KOREEDA HIROKAZU (japan)
.) SHIKASHI ... FUKUSHI KIRISUTE NO JIDAI NI (However...) - von KOREEDA HIROKAZU(japan)
.) WANDAFURU RAIFU (After life) - von KOREEDA HIROKAZU (japan)
.) BUPPAH RAHTREE (Rahtree_Flower of the night) - von YUTHLERT SIPPAPAK (Thailand)
.) CHAKUSHIN ARI (One missed call) - von MIIKE TAKASHI (japan)
.) DAI SI-GIEN (breaking news) - von JOHNNIE TO (Hongkong)
.) JANGHWA, HONGRYUN (a tale of two sisters) - von KIM JEE-WOON (Südkorea)
.) OLD BOY - von PARK CHAN-WOOK (Südkorea)
.) RUDAO LONGHU BANG (Throw down) - von JOHNNIE TO (Hongkong)
.) SHIMIAN MAIFU (House of flying daggers) - von ZHANG YIMOU (china/Hongkong)
.) SHUANG TONG (Double vision) - von KUO-FU CHEN (Taiwan)
.) WU JIAN DAO (Internal Affairs) - von ANDREW LAU (Hongkong)
von = from
Thanks for the help 
Villon |
_________________
Only the dead see the end of the war. |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 06:10 PM |
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I've been trying to find Koreeda movies for years... No luck so far. Maybe Niko has seen them somewhere?
"Maborosi" is one of the most haunting movies I've seen. I was terribly bored when I first watched it, but then I found that many many scenes got branded on my mind. Then I watched it again. Then I watched "After Life", the sweeter, paperback vesrion of Koreeda. Excellent ending, with cicada slwly fading in the soudtrack...
.) JANGHWA, HONGRYUN (a tale of two sisters) - von KIM JEE-WOON (Südkorea) This is everywhere. Why do you ask? Try Pudong S. Rd. and ZhangYang Rd., near DongChang Rd. Station of Line#2, my usual haunts. I'll keep an eye for it when I cruise places in Pu-xi, too.
.) OLD BOY - von PARK CHAN-WOOK (Südkorea) This is everywhere, too.
.) SHIMIAN MAIFU (House of flying daggers) - von ZHANG YIMOU (china/Hongkong) Terrible. People with taste for Koreeda will be turned off big time by this junk.
.) SHUANG TONG (Double vision) - von KUO-FU CHEN (Taiwan) Half-way decent horror. Not worth hunting out. No, never saw it on DVD (I watched the VCD a long time ago)
.) WU JIAN DAO (Internal Affairs) - von ANDREW LAU (Hongkong). Terrible. Not for Koreeda people. |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2005 - 06:17 PM |
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Oiboy posted this gem about a good arthouse DVD place in a separate thread, but he didn't give the name of the building, nor the street number, nor the tel #. In case you got an hour to kill in that neighborhood (there are 3 or 4 tall buildings that met the description), see attached.
Found this wierd Japanese owned DVD shop in an office building on Jaiojabang Lu . and Dapu Lu. Its on the 8th floor and located next to this wierd geisha spa. I even found some cool Eric Rohmer movies that I've been searching for. Everything was computer indexed too. You walk in type in what you want or the directors name . print out a sheet with numbers give it to them and they grab your movies. Got every one I wanted except Dark Days.
This place also has an extensive selection of Micheal Leigh and some cool Japanese flicks. |
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niko
Rocker
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Posts: 602
Status: Offline
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Jan 11, 2005 - 09:16 PM |
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sorry,have no ideas finding out KOREEDA HIROKAZU's movies,actually,i havent begun to collect his DVDs,so...ok when i see his dvds,i will tellyou all.
i saw korean movie "untold scandal" last week,has anyone seen it?it has nearly changed my views to korean movies...mmm...a sad and beautiful story |
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serend
FooJay
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 1712
Status: Offline
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Jan 11, 2005 - 11:17 PM |
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Saw "Slackers" by Linklater, the director of "Before Sunset". Excellent, excellent movie! This is a must-see for any foreigner to really understand the good old US of A---sure, more on the negative side, but the many portrayals of loners, weirdos and paranoids are also somewhat endearing. Jarmusch-like, without the J-styled understatement. Masterful in capturing a sort of mentality with a few effortlessly emphatic strokes.
Excellent, excellent movie! |
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littlefox
Fire-eater
Joined: Nov 23, 2003
Posts: 2773
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Jan 14, 2005 - 01:20 PM |
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serend, I wonder the address of the Japanese owned dvd shop should be Zhaojiabang lu instead of Jaiojiabang Lu right?
Why you think Wu Jian Dao is bad? Me actually thinks it's a good movie. the third serial is ridiculous funny but the first two ain't that bad.
Niko, I've watched untold scandal, beautiful camera work and I love the color used in the movie. Visual orgasm. |
_________________
Ah, the ubiquitous idiots... |
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