We watched 春桃/A Woman for Two (what a silly English name) last night. Jiang Wen rocks. But I thought, judging by the style, technique, colour, technology, etc, it must be really, really old, like 1950s, and I couldn’t figure out how Jiang Wen could be so old as to have starred in such a film. Actually it was made in 1988. Anyway, it was a good film, highly recommended. Kind of complex and confusing, nothing patronisingly simple like too many modern films, but also not ridiculously ornate and overblown like the rubbish Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige have decided to waste their talent on of late. Pretty rubbish is still just rubbish. No, Chun Tao got it right. And it managed to end the film leaving it wide open, no facile, saccharine happy ending like the shite that comes out of Hollywood. Good film, in other words. Watch it.
I also tried to watch 黄土地/Yellow Earth, but we had a visitor and conversation which made it too difficult for me to follow the film. Old film in Putonghua only with no subtitles, English or Chinese, means I need space and peace and quiet to concentrate on it. Anyway, it certainly looks good, or at least, what I did get to see looked good, so I’ll have another look some time when I can concentrate on it.
