The sun also rises

I have last said about how many films that I have seen over the last couple of weeks. Indeed, only a few of them had stuck me in a hard way. Yet, Jiang Wen latest, The sun also rises did just that.

It was part of the HK Asian film festival and I think my feeling was so how affected by a less powerful film, The Exodus by Pang Ho Cheung on the same day. This is what I wrote to my friend on the day after I watched the film.

"I only realise the director and the main casts are in for a Q&A after the film. It was probably one of the most energetic films I have ever seen for a long time. "Blown away" was probably a good word to describe my (immediate) feeling. The first question I asked myself when I finish the film was that, if such a film can't win any prize in the recent Venice film fest (it does have good reviews I heard), I can only have more/higher expectation from Ang Lee's Se, Jie.

During the Q&A session, it was interesting for the director to point out a concept that he has. It's about destiny and chances (or more correctly, 偶然與必然). Looks like a very opposite concept yet in this film, it's shown that may not be the case, indeed, they are very much related, as the storyline (a seemingly isolated structure yet closely tied together beautifully) is showing. I haven't read much about the film before I went into the cinema, hopefully will do so later on. The cast was great (esp the very elegant and beautiful 周韻) and I was pleased and surprised to find out that the music as from Joe Hishashi (久石讓) and the cinematography is from 李屏賓 "

Now after a week viewing film, I guess my mind settling down a bit and I began to think deeper about my initial response. I have to say the film strike a very similar chord to the film of Emir Kusturica. There are certain aspects of the film which give the audience a sense of strangeness, or absurdity which only Kusturica can give. The interconnection between the 4 stories are so well planned out and I was almost too "happy" to accept such arrangement. Yet, despite saying all that, there are certain parts of the film, esp the beginning, audience had to be "patient" in order to appreciate what come next. The cinematography was probably one of the main thing which I like the film about. It was the beautiful landscape in Yuannan which almost out-beautiful just about everything in the film...makes everyone forget that why the main characters are there for, especially in a time of 1976 amid the Chinese cultural revolution. There are metaphor here and there in the film (most noticeably, the madness of Zhou Wen's character, vs the real maddess of the political state in China during that time). But I am sure you can pick more than I have.

When I finish the film and walked out from the cinema after Q & A session, I can't stop but thinking one question...what happen if Jiang Wen did not get support from Emperor. I really wonder what would the film be looked like and sound like..then I suddenly realise, a bad film certainly commercial backing, but a good one will need more! It was probably a rare art house film arriving in HK, which had so much marketing had been done on it. Thanks! Albert!