MY LEFTOVER LADIES

In China the word 'Sheng nu' means 'leftover women' and is a derogatory term made popular by the All-China Women's Federation that classifies women who remain unmarried after they are 28 years old.  It's part of the pressure that their society place on women to conform and accept that marriage is the only goal they should have in their lives, and it's causing a great deal of concern that the numbers of them are rising quite rapidly.  In this documentary made for Taiwanese TV, newbie filmmaker Tung-yen Chou literally stalked three such women with her camera for four years to try and work out if they had happily chosen to be single, or if life had simply not panned out as they had wanted. Chou also very oddly chose to include a very rotund male 4th Grade schoolteacher by day and drag queen by night for reasons she never shared with us.

The three women had very successful careers which seemed to fulfill them, but one by one, they all agreed that their un-wed existences were sad and somewhat miserable. All had dated when they were much younger but now all them threw themselves into their work and never seemed to actually make themselves available for the possibility of a romance or even put themselves in a position to even look for a man.The surprising common element was that all though their cellphones were rarely out of the hands (one of women had several phones) none of them had even tried to find a suitor via any of the many online dating sites.

The one thing they all shared on camera was the fact that they wanted to be loved. Although one of the women was careful to add that she didn't think it right that she should have to wait to be chosen, and that she wanted instead to do the choosing. That however seemed all very theoretical as none of them have dated for several years.

The drag queen was however not going to wait any longer. Not to be asked out that is, but just to get the chance to be a bride for a day, and so he organized an elaborate photo-shoot so he could at least fulfill that one ambition. He even cried at the end, just like a real wedding.

The documentary was hardly ground-breaking but it did allow us to be voyeurs for just under an hour and look at part of a different and traditional culture where solitude is only seen as a failure and where 'leftover women' still feel so distraught that they have missed out on what evidently should be the sole purpose of their lives. Weird to think that in western culture 'leftover' is usual a culinary term used for food that is reheated and served up again the next day. Maybe this is something the Chinese should possible consider before casting such aspersions about single women.

P.S. The male equivalent are evidently called guang gun (光棍) meaning bare branches, and is used to refer to men who do not marry and thus do not add 'branches' to the family tree!  

★★★★★★

A TOUCH OF SIN

This is acclaimed director Jia Zhang-ke's haunting and devastating take on how the rapid economic expansion of China is hitting the majority of people in these four separate stories of unparalleled violence.

The first tale is of Dahai an ex-miner who goes on a rampage after he fails to report the Village Chief for selling off the miner and, with a local businessman, pocketing the proceeds themselves.  The second is about Zhou a quiet unremarkable man who goes back to his hometown for his aged mother's birthday and at the same managing to squeeze in a couple of jobs as a paid assassin. Then there is the Massage Parlor receptionist, jilted by her longtime married boyfriend, and who loses it completely when her boss now wants her to turn tricks too.  And the final, and the saddest story of all, of the young kid from the provinces who can only get a menial job on a factory line or in a brothel and he simply runs out of the resolution to put up with either.

Visually stunning with vast industrial landscapes and although the violent outbursts are highly stylised they are still horrifically brutal and bloody and very tough to view.

A movie of epic proportions (and at 133 mins, epic length) that needs a second (third) viewing to get beyond the savagery and really sift through the countless complex layers that Zhang-ke has weaved into his damning view of contemporary China.

★★★★★★★★

CHINA HEAVYWEIGHT

What better way to celebrate Chinese New Year at Sundance than selecting 'CHINA HEAVYWEIGHT' as my first movie of the day. Evidently that old curmudgeon Chairman Mao banned boxing in China as he said it was the sport of capitalism and thus very bad.  It wasn't until after Mohammed Ali visited China in 1979 as a goodwill ambassador that the sport was allowed, and then encouraged again.

This documentary film by Yung Chang, the award winning director of 'UP THE YANGTZE' follows some elementary school kids as they are selected to train at a local boxing school, also students who are about to take part in regional championships, and one of their coaches a retired boxer who feels he has one last big fight in him. All their journeys are fascinating to observe, especially when they and their families with their traditional small country village lives have to consider the impact that boxing could have in giving the young fighters a lifestyle their parents could never have ever imagined for themselves.  As they all work towards their new goals, we find at the end that it is not always about winning.

Despite the title there is not one actual heavyweight in sight but this an intriguing look at how the sport can pack such a punch in changing these peasant boys lives.

(Review originally published in my SUNDANCE 12 Blog)


★★★★★★★★

DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME

This ancient Chinese Empire is just about to install its the first ever female Emperor in it’s history which is not going down to well with most of the old guard, and weird things start happening. When two government officials spontaneously combust, the Empress orders Detective Dee to be set free from the prison she had sent him when he had initially opposed her accession. As she  recognizes that he is the only one who could solve the mystery, she appoints him chief investigator on the case.

To try to work out the plot against the Empress, Dee interrogates everyone, including the religious (ventriloquist!) chaplain that uses stags for his mouthpiece and Dr. Donkey Wang the underground herbalist that lives in an elaborate series of catacombs and eats millipedes. Everyone is a suspect and in this hard-to-follow rapidly changing plot, it turns out that practically everyone is a ‘baddie’ including the Empress herself.

Did I mention that this was a Chinese martial art movie?   So one has to have a very vivid imagination and suspend all pretense of logic and reality.  It is not a genre that I know or usually even watch, but I was tempted to break my viewing habits as this was hailed as one of the best of its kind.  Director Hark Tsui is considered THE master of kung-fu movies and, the actor Andy Lau who plays the lead role is also pop singer that has won over 200 Awards, (not something that would seem an obvious fact when you see him on screen.)

So Tsui throws every single special effect and visual trick he can at this, and I guess it works.  I should be more reverent in my appraisal of what I am told is a fine example of this art form, but all I could focus on was the fact that the outrageous costumes and hairdos, the exaggerated acting, and the totally ridiculous plot made it THE CAMPEST thing I have seen for years. 


I loved it, BUT for all the wrong reasons.


★★★★★★★★

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN

Evidently amongst all the other things that the Chinese can claim to have invented/created we can also add BFF as in Best Friends Forever.  Back in the 19^th Century a woman having a ‘laotong’ was an embedded social custom that bound two friends. known as ‘sisters’, by a written contract and according to the account in this movie the bond and the (platonic) love was so much deeper, more profound and longer lasting than any marriage.

In this highly sentimental story Snow Flower and Lily both from totally different backgrounds meet as young children and as 'laotong' kept their relationship going even when marriage separated them and the only contact they could manage was by smuggling out a secret fan on which they would send messages back and forth.  They survive a tyrannical mother-in-law, typhoid, an abusive husband, a Rebellion, losing a child, a bust-up, and even when Snow Flower dies prematurely, the bond is still in tact.

Evidently the novel that this is based on upon finished there, but director Wayne Wang has mixed this with a parallel contemporary story between Sophia and Nina two young successful women living and working in Shanghai the most modern of China's cities. Sophia is in a coma after being knocked off her motorbike, and as the friends have been estranged lately a guilt-ridden Nina sitting by her bedside discovers a manuscript that Sophie has been writing of the story of Snow Flower and Lily, and this is the cue in the movie for reminiscing and to start comparing the two sets of friends different stories.

Gianna Jun and Li Bingbing the two actors who play both sets of friends do as good a job as the (slightly stilted) script allowed, and I actually failed to recognize the fact that Sophie’s Australian boyfriend was Hugh Jackman.

Wayne Wang’s resume includes the highly successful 'The Joy Luck Club', but this is not in the same league as that at all. It is all very emotional, and a soundtrack of lushly arranged music heightens the saccharine-like cutesy drama.  It is simply chinese chick-lit.

P.S. My favourite line is uttered by a young Snow Flower just before Lily is to get married and she is asked 'what about the bed business?' and she tells her friend that she really didnt know and then added 'but it can't be as hard as cleaning or embroidery'! Exactly.

★★★★★

THE PIANO IN A FACTORY

One of the real delights of viewing so many (mainly good) movies is that once in a while you find an unexpected real gem that blows you (cinematic) socks off.  This is one such rare occasion, and spreading the word about a delicious treat that may never come onto your radar is one the main reasons I write my reviews.  This movie from China which will probably never get a theatrical release in most of the many countries this Blog is read in, deserves an audience. And you deserve to see it.

Chen Guilin has two passions in his life: playing the accordion with his pals, and his daughter, whose piano lessons take up all his money as, like most of this town, he has been laid off from the steel works where he once worked.  Guilin’s estranged wife turns up now that she has hooked up with a charlatan who is making a ton of money selling his fake medicine, and she wants a divorce and custody of their daughter.  A distraught Guilin asks his young daughter to choose between them, and she says she will go with the parent who provides her with a piano.

Totally broke Guilin cannot possible afford one so comes up with this mad idea that he will make one.  That’s after a bungled attempt by him and his pals to steal one.  So he gathers together his motley crew of assorted ex-workmates who, despite their reluctancy, loyal support Guilin with his absurdly optimistic plan.

Stunningly photographed against the dramatic ruins of the disused steelworks, Zhang Meng the young director in this, only his second feature, uses this industrial landscape as the perfect setting for his highly stylized vision. The primary reason that this is a real treasure is that the whole talented cast play a bunch of oddball quirky characters, each one a well-written part, that collectively makes such a delightful and endearing ensemble. Full credit to a brilliantly balanced script that somehow makes a potentially real-downer of a story into a wonderfully uplifting piece with its great comic touches, and more than the occasional bizarre moment.

Oh yes lest I forget, Meng uses stirring Russian music for his soundtrack, possibly to evoke memories of how the two industrial nations countries were once aligned together, or maybe not, but it adds a real dramatic edge to the movie.

It comes together as a faultless whole piece, and the only thing one is left wanting, is more.

P.S. This is one of the 'DVD's of The Month' released by http://www.filmmovement.com/ an online movie club for indie and foreign films.  They are sent to you automatically when you subscribe and at least 2/3 months before they are generally available.  The best thing about this is that one gets to experience movies that you may not have chosen, and most of them are real treats.  And occasionally like this one, a real gem.

★★★★★ ★★★★★