Lan xin da ju yuan

Seen at the Viennale 2019: A handheld camera cannot get closer to acting people. Always in the face it is near impossible to get a helping overview for the espionage story. Who is for the Chinese, who for the Japanese, who for the Germans, the French, the US? Nearly impossible to understand why somebody is doing something. The b/w-pictures do not help to distinguish between all the unfamiliar faces. Since digital cameras can record even without proper lighting the pictures are not b/w like in the old movies, but grey in grey - that does not help to recognize the faces in every situation either. At the end of the movie it is somehow clear who was on which side. Looking at the picture a second time to understand all the details of the story? Nay.. but the movie is rescued sensationally by a hundred percent believable acting of all the cast. Not for one second there is any weakness in dragging you in. For the regular Cineast a must-see.

Saturday Fiction has a very attractive premise but it fails to deliver. The movie is set in war torn Shanghai during World War 2. The protagonists find themselves toying the lines between two fractions of Chinese government, Japanese and the Allied forces. The impetus for the plot is staging of a play called Secret Agent featuring a very popular Chinese actress and her former paramour who is directing the play.

The bad news is the movie fails to communicate any of this effectively. The director is obsessed with self indulgent cliched shots. He tries to bring in a personal touch with the handheld camera but he's not competent enough to actually communicate plot effectively so the handheld camera drags on, delivering plenty of pensive shots of the leads staring through windows looking at the rain, smoking and smelling each other. The action is also subpar. As with most movies shot in this style he relies on gunshot loudness to stun the viewer into submission. The movie is also shot in black and white. This neither helped or hindered the movie in my mind however it did highlight the limits of the director even more.

This style directly clashes with his inability to portray a passage of time so he frequently utilizes chirons to explain a day had passed. And ultimately he's left explaining one of the biggest plot points with a chiron in the last quarter of a movie.

The silver lining is the acting. This movie is impeccably cast and the actors go above and beyond to overcome the limits imposed on them by an unimaginative director.

The movie is too long. Too self indulgent but somewhere in there there's a good story - I suspect in the book the movie is based on. If you're a history buff who is already familiar with the World War 2 impact in Asia I suspect you will enjoy this. Otherwise there's plenty of other movies to watch.

I have yet to see a film starring Gong Li that has disappointed me. She is normally seen in grand and lavish Chinese film epics set at some point('s) in an era of Chinese Emperors and Dynasty's. In this offering she steps into the early part of the 20th century as a spy in Shanghai; pretending to be there to act in a play - as she is also a very famous actress. She is in fact trying to gather Japanese secrets/information on their WW2 war plans etc.

Its starts with her arriving in Shanghai on December-1st-1941 and concludes on the infamous date of December-7th-1941. If you know your history you know the date well! In between all the mayhem is a reuniting with her lover, a twist in the story that reveals a traitor and a mission completion with an ending you do not expect to see.

It is film like a black and white film noir gritty thriller which adds to the whole feel of the story and the acting. It might have gotten a 10 star from me but I do think the directors work was a little lacking and drab.

Still worth a watch though!

The critics who didn't like this film should take a second look. This is one of the best espionage movies of all time. It can be hard to decipher who is working for whom, but that is likely true of real spies. It has strong echoes of Casablanca but it also illuminates contemporary politics. The cinematography is gorgeous. The acting is tremendous. A must see.

I loved seeing Gong Li, who was still getting it done at age 54, and the black and white cinematography has a certain style to it, even if the beautiful French Concession area in Shanghai was probably underutilized. The needlessly complicated story is the main issue, however. It's understandable what's happening with broad brush strokes, but quite muddled in the details. There are too many characters, none of whom are developed properly, and too many spies/agents afoot. Even the romantic moments feel dull. On top of it, director Lou Ye mixed in some meta play-within-the-film stuff which added nothing, and blurred things further. It felt every bit of 126 minutes and then some, livening up during the big shootout scenes, but then crawling ponderously to its finish. This was a slog, and a disappointment.