Category Archives: film review
Thoughts from documentary “A Bite of China”
I have been watching a documentary of Chinese food: A Bite of China (link). Highly recommended to those who understand mandarin. The delicate filming and insightful illustration reminds of my childhood in Hubei province, and make me more aware of the Chinese’s deeply rooted attachment to the land. The vast territory of China has endowed …
Empowerment from Forrest Gump
I’ve heard about the film for long, but this is the first time I watch it, in the middle of coming finals and papers to be due. Today is the last day of teaching at HKU, and it feels like ending a chapter in my life and about to start a new. I see in Forrest …
Thoughts from the movie Monsieur Lazhar
Thanks to Hong Kong International Film Festival, I had the opportunity to watch the movie Monsieur Lazhar (trailer) tonight. The story is open in that you cannot come up with a straight-forward theme to it. The film begins by a young teacher hanging herself in the classroom and thus creating a deadly atmosphere among her students and for the whole school. …
She is iron, and she is water
The movie The Iron Lady (trailer) was adopted from the autobiography of Margret Thatcher, the only female Prime Minister that Britain has ever had. She is a disputable figure, with her radical measures of cutting deficits and adopting poll taxes. She displayed a nonnegotiable position in diplomatic affairs and shared the opposition to communism with the then American president, …
悲喜不过戏一场
《暗恋桃花源》，听上去应该是一个浪漫美好的爱情故事，可电影想要表达的却不是这个意思。 两场舞台剧，一个舞台。阴差阳错地，我们看到了一悲一喜的对比，有些诙谐，也引人深思。 《暗恋》讲的是大时代里小人物的无奈错过。长发飘飘的林青霞斜倚在秋千旁，和心仪的男孩子讨论着人生。社会的剧变将会来临，但是年轻的他们无所畏惧。并不知道离别会是永久。舞台的布置很简洁，只是彩色的背景和简单的秋千。四十年后，他们在台北的病房里见面，早已不是当年的模样。淡淡的惆怅，但不至于悲伤。 《桃花源》讲的则是一个风格完全不同的故事。《桃花源记》被有点恶俗地改编，错杂的恋情和时空变换让全剧更富喜剧色彩。布景非常复杂，期间还有飘落的桃花花瓣，伴随着男主人公的“落英缤纷”之叹。 两方都不能证实自己是舞台的拥有者，于是在舞台中央画了一条线，这边是我，那边是你，互不相干。可是这一悲一喜又怎能交错呢？重逢的老友欲说还休的细密感情，被桃花谷中人们的打闹所打扰。一遍一遍，导演终于忍不住：“你们还有一场戏，那你们排吧！” 悲喜两剧同时上演的时候，我发现两种感情都被冲淡了。似乎一白一黑都在向灰色过渡，向着模糊却真实的平淡过渡。在舞台上的，不过是一场戏而已。或悲或喜，我们带不走，也不可能永远铭记。
沒了，才知道什麽是沒了
唐山大地震。這不是一個尋常的故事。 當三十四年前，唐山的天空出現詭異的金紅色的時候，熟睡中的人們誰也沒有料到，一場突如其來的災難會改變他們整個人生。 地震過去了這麼多年，有些人雖然倖存了下來，但是心中仍守著那片殘留的廢墟。正如影片中元妮說的：“沒了，才知道什麽是沒了。”曾經以為安詳溫馨的生活是常態，但當老天爺將這些統統奪走的時候，你的手中空空如也，才知道珍惜的重要。 原諒與救贖，不是易事。廢墟中頑強的敲擊，換來的是“救弟弟”三個令人心痛的答案。可是這哪裡是選擇啊！無論怎樣選，都會有犧牲有放棄，讓一個母親如何做得出！三十年后，同樣的場景喚醒了心中凍結已久的記憶。原來親情，從來都不曾遠離。所有的隔閡就此冰釋。但是他們已經耗費了多少的光陰。 昨天和一位樓裡北大過來交換的同學聊天，她說只有在家裡才睡的著。我笑了，說：“那你一定是沒怎麼離開過家。”離開家了，嬌氣的資本都不會有了。
