Man-cheong

Possibly the most daring artistic attempt from Feng Xiaogang, the film tells the story of a peasant woman's petition from the countryside to Beijing because she felt that her divorce was unfair, and differentiate the local and central scenes with a round black and a square black frame respectively. The audience is separated from means of stage play, and the circle frame is wrapped by the square then, and they finally disappears. However, Zhang Yimou's classic "The Story of Qiu Ju" is in the forefront, and Liu Zhenyun's script and even Fan Bingbing's performance limit the result. The film matches Chinese mainstream and overly beautify the from-top-to-bottom bureaucratic culture.

Kelly Reichardt's second revisionist western after "Meek's Cutoff" (2010), shortlisted at the Berlin Film Festival and a string of critic awards, features two Oregonian outliers, John Magaro and Orion Lee as the feminine chef and Chinese immigrants, exploring the male friendship in the west. Although certain images are beautiful with high-definition, as the editor Reichardt is too addicted to minimalist imagery and metaphors, so the narrative and pace are far from the standard. The film is overlong and can be cut in half. Disappointing.

Kelly Reichardt's first revisionist western, and her rare high-budget one, with Michelle Williams plays the lead again. Jonathan Raymond loosely based on the history of Stephen Meek, a well-known guide of the Westward Movement, and the Oregon Trail. The film faithfully depicts the hardships of the pioneers and caravan in the past, and the minimalist aesthetics and themes complement each other - for example, the shooting time becomes very long. Even with flaws overall, the film is still among Reichardt's best. The mysteriousness reminds me of Peter Weir's Australian wilderness classic "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1975).