Post by kyc on Jun 2, 2019 8:58:35 GMT
I don't know if this movie is historical enough to be in this board but it's a partial depiction of the Chinese literary circles of 1930s-40s. It is a 2014 film directed by HK's Ann Hui (許鞍華), a biopic of Chinese writer Xiao Hong (蕭紅, 1911-1942) whose The Field of Life and Death (生死場) and Tales of Hulan River (呼蘭河傳) are now established classics. Xiao Hong is played by Tang Wei of Lust Caution.
Anyone has watched this movie, or the other 2012 biopic of Xiao Hong?
The entire movie is 179 minutes long and I'm a little disappointed with it. The last one hour is quite good, but the narrative in the first 2 hours is so muddled and difficult to follow that the film can only be said to be partially successful. The movie only picks up in my opinion only when Xiao Hong breaks off with her boyfriend Xiao Jun.
The cinematography is gorgeous, like many Chinese films, but perhaps the screenwriter and the director must both take blame for the rather unfocused and scattered narrative in the first 2 hours. Snippets of Xiao Hong's life are interspersed with her friends speaking directly to the camera, giving an odd, alienating effect. This approach works better in the last hour when the narrative becomes more fluent and focused. Tang Wei tries her best in the first 2 hours, but the narrative and performances strike one as disjointed and hard to engage emotionally. The running time is definitely too long. The first two hours hardly touches on the subject of her writing, making her an awed but obscure object of adoration.
"The Golden Era" received mixed reviews, with Variety calling it "stilted", the New York Times calling it "sweeping and beautifully done" but also "overlong and too reverent, conveying little sense of Xiao Hong the person and even less of her talent", which I agree. Still, if you can watch this movie, watch it to make up your own mind.
This film won Best Film and Best Director at the 34th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Now I become interested in the other biopic of Xiao Hong released in 2012, Falling Flowers.
Anyone has watched this movie, or the other 2012 biopic of Xiao Hong?
The entire movie is 179 minutes long and I'm a little disappointed with it. The last one hour is quite good, but the narrative in the first 2 hours is so muddled and difficult to follow that the film can only be said to be partially successful. The movie only picks up in my opinion only when Xiao Hong breaks off with her boyfriend Xiao Jun.
The cinematography is gorgeous, like many Chinese films, but perhaps the screenwriter and the director must both take blame for the rather unfocused and scattered narrative in the first 2 hours. Snippets of Xiao Hong's life are interspersed with her friends speaking directly to the camera, giving an odd, alienating effect. This approach works better in the last hour when the narrative becomes more fluent and focused. Tang Wei tries her best in the first 2 hours, but the narrative and performances strike one as disjointed and hard to engage emotionally. The running time is definitely too long. The first two hours hardly touches on the subject of her writing, making her an awed but obscure object of adoration.
"The Golden Era" received mixed reviews, with Variety calling it "stilted", the New York Times calling it "sweeping and beautifully done" but also "overlong and too reverent, conveying little sense of Xiao Hong the person and even less of her talent", which I agree. Still, if you can watch this movie, watch it to make up your own mind.
This film won Best Film and Best Director at the 34th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Now I become interested in the other biopic of Xiao Hong released in 2012, Falling Flowers.