Humane and interesting
There are two aspects to this movie. First, for a westie, it was an interesting look at Hong Kong and "small town" China. Second, it's an interesting story.
There are two main characters, but the movie essentially revolves around a twenty-something woman. In the first part she is a prostitute in Hong Kong and in the second half we get to know a bit more of her. A young girl living in the same street in Hong Kong has a small, but important role in the whole.
Hong Kong is portrayed as bright, vivid, hot and dirty, but cold and harsh emotionally. The more rural part of China (altho I'm guessing it's a metropolis population-wise) is bleak, cold, snowy, but warm on emotional level.
The story itself is a bit difficult to follow as it's shot very documentary style, especially the HK episode. I found myself thinking "who was that again and what's he/she doing there" for a couple of times, but more into the movie I found the plot itself somewhat irrelevant. You're so drawn into the flow of this visual poem that you don't really care if something doesn't make any sense. And it sometimes really does not make any sense.
The movie should propably be seen twice to get most out of it, as I would definitely watch it differently the second round, maybe concentrating a bit more on the contrasts and metaphors rather than trying to watch it as a pure narrative.
As nice as the photography is, there are a couple of scenes where the camera get's a bit too obvious and this breaks the flow quite awkwardly. I was also a bit surprised that durian wasn't known to most of the characters, having travelled in China and Asia a couple of times I got the impression it's very popular.
All in all, it's very interesting movie. Could be seen as a humane story or a documentary style peek into life in modern China. Recommended if you look for something else in movies than mind numbing entertainment.
There are two main characters, but the movie essentially revolves around a twenty-something woman. In the first part she is a prostitute in Hong Kong and in the second half we get to know a bit more of her. A young girl living in the same street in Hong Kong has a small, but important role in the whole.
Hong Kong is portrayed as bright, vivid, hot and dirty, but cold and harsh emotionally. The more rural part of China (altho I'm guessing it's a metropolis population-wise) is bleak, cold, snowy, but warm on emotional level.
The story itself is a bit difficult to follow as it's shot very documentary style, especially the HK episode. I found myself thinking "who was that again and what's he/she doing there" for a couple of times, but more into the movie I found the plot itself somewhat irrelevant. You're so drawn into the flow of this visual poem that you don't really care if something doesn't make any sense. And it sometimes really does not make any sense.
The movie should propably be seen twice to get most out of it, as I would definitely watch it differently the second round, maybe concentrating a bit more on the contrasts and metaphors rather than trying to watch it as a pure narrative.
As nice as the photography is, there are a couple of scenes where the camera get's a bit too obvious and this breaks the flow quite awkwardly. I was also a bit surprised that durian wasn't known to most of the characters, having travelled in China and Asia a couple of times I got the impression it's very popular.
All in all, it's very interesting movie. Could be seen as a humane story or a documentary style peek into life in modern China. Recommended if you look for something else in movies than mind numbing entertainment.
- rlaine
- May 23, 2010