Home again!

Had a zillion things that I wanted to blog about......tonnes of ideas and thoughts floating around in my head...but then!!!
Then, came my rescuer of all times, my companions in all moods....my phillums! :)

So, getting back to my healthy movie watching form, I made good use of my weekend break back home and watched some long pending films that I had been carrying around. The movie watching sprint this weekend turned out to be quite a revelation for me on the Chinese cinema front. I m definately looking forward to catching up on more classic/hit Chinese films.

Ba wang bei ji or better known as "Farewell, My Concubine" takes the cake for this weekend. For the fairly long movie that it is, the story telling aspect of this movie is simply remarkable. Its been two days since I watched it and I am still awe struck by bits and pieces of the movie falling into place in my head over and over again. This is one amazing movie that you ought to discover for yourself, but read on if you feel like...

A few things that stand out...leave an impression in my mind.... Douzi's induction into the theatre group with his mother ruthlessly "doing the needful" ... His constant recitation of the lines "I am by nature a 'boy' ", until the day he choses to recite it right ... The line "The Concubine has to die, one way or another" and what followed next ... Its beautiful (I think) how these two episodes sort of bring together the reasons for Douzi living as "the Concubine" throughout his life in the following decades ... the one moment where Juxian wraps Cheng Dieyi (Douzi) with the blankets and holds him close and says "its ok", sometime while he was trying to recover from his opium abuse ... I look at that as one brief but firm moment where even Juxian feels for Cheng Dieyi ... the betrayal felt by Deiyi when Xiao Si replaces him for the concubine ... wow this scene really hurt!, so subtle and so strong ... the constant political turmoil and how it dictates the peoples' emotions and appreciation for the opera / actors ... the scene where all the three (Xiaoluo, Deiyi and Juxian) are publicly questioned about their lives in the "old society"... this was such a dramatic scene, each one slinging out the dirt on each other to save themselves? save the other? and with the consequences of that episode writing their fate for the remainder of their lives...

still pondering over a thing or two, will probably watch the film again after a while....oh! what a beautiful film.... my heart goes out for it....

Surprisingly and coincidently this was my next film "Da hong deng long gao gao gua". I had no idea it was a Chinese film , 'cos the name on the label of my CD was "Raise the Red Lantern". Anyway, not just is the Chinese film part a coincidence, but the opening scene in this movie has just the face of "Li Gong" (Juxian from Farewell, my Concubine :) above) (which I recognised, as against my usual inability to recognises their look-alike faces) and her opening lines delivered were "...marry a rich man... and be his concubine..... I will accept my fate..."

An interesting watch, this film has a nice narrativeness about it, telling you the story of a bunch of wives (mistresses) living in an old and traditional Chinese household. The movie, in accordance with its story line depicts a lot of old fashioned customs, ways of addressing people that would be typical to the plot ("Fouth mistress, pease come and pay a visit to Third Mistress", "Third Mistress had the lanterns lit, so she has chosen the menu today", the house keeper reading out the menu for the meal when the 'fourth mistress' announces that she does not eat meat...etc). Maybe its the influence of the previous watch, but I quite liked the acting performances of the people overall. Each character (of the wives) having a shade of their own, defining the progress of the story therefore. The "ancient-First-mistress', "Buddha-faced-scorpion-hearted-Second-Mistress", "The opera-singer-Third-mistress" and the "university-attending-Fourth-mistress". Finally the movie has a not so great, but quite typical tragic ending. Probably what kept the pace for me was the potrayal of the household's customs and the wives' characters, and moderately the story line.

Coming Next: :)
"Sins"
"Malena"
and...oh! "Baran" (will probably add a few lines on "Children of Heaven" ) :)

Wait up!