Despite being warned that the movie was "really, really good," I have to beg to differ. I'm trying to figure out what I did not like about the movie, and I can't put my finger on it. There was plenty of drama, it progressed well... I just can't figure out why the movie gave me a headache.
Anybody else?
"Are you not entertained?! Is this not why you are here?!" - Maximus
Nope. I loved the movie.
I think it all comes down to personal tastes. Some people like a movie about different cultures and a clash of personalities. Some people want explosions or laughs. Whatever floats your boat. I don't see why people always have to be insulting to others when they don't like something. Guess what? We're all different. Get over it.
I don't see why people always have to be insulting to others when they don't like something.
Give me a break. Where in my post was I insulting to someone else? I NEVER criticize someone for their taste, and don't expect to be criticized because I did not like a movie. I wasn't attacking anyone, but got attacked. Little girl, go take 2 chill pills and call me in the mornin'...
"Are you not entertained?! Is this not why you are here?!" - Maximus
I didn't think he insulted anyone in his original post... If he had said "I hated this movie and anyone who liked it is dumb..." That would be an insult.
I think he was just asking for opinions on the movie. (Which I personally loved, by the way. I think it's just a beautiful, well-made, and powerful show.) As for specific reasons... I'm not really sure. I really enjoyed it though.
Besides, not liking this movie doesn't mean he only likes action movies and explosions, it's just a matter of taste.
Note: The above comments are exclusively my opinion.
---Respect---
No, there was nothing offensive about the post: certainly he is entitled to his opinion. I love this film with a passion but I have to say that the ending came a little too suddenly for me. I felt a little disappointed that it was over so quickly; but I guess art imitates life in that respect. There are rarely clear-cut endings.
sharethe title is "any other poor ags have to watch this?" does this mean you go to ucdavis, because i ahd to watch this movie for a comparative literature class in school?
-james
The subject line, epressing pity for anyone who had to see it, is a blanket condemnation of the film, indicating that ANY reasonable person watching this would be suffering.
Okay, it's not tremenjously insulting, but for someone who admires the film (and the original poster is well aware that a LOT of people admire the film) it is likely to go down as an insult.
Maybe it was over-hyped for you?
I love this movie a great deal. It's an incredible allegory for the state of China today - the Master (ie the Communist gov't) repressing various aspects of traditional Chinese culture (religion, traditional family values, arts, education), pitting them against each other and eventually killing the spirit of the modern, educated mistress, yet with a note of hope for the future with her replacement.
Not to mention its visual sumptuousness, in 3-strip Technicolor, which is rarely reproduced in a way to do it credit in North America.
Umm ... actually, I'd personally argue that the Master was the representation of traditional China, in following the customs of his ancestors and keeping women in their 'proper' place.
shareI think it can be interpreted both ways. Obviously Zhang Yimou had to be as ambigious as possible, since the Chinese censors wouldn't have taken kindly to someone criticising the government outright. I personally think that thematically the film does criticise feudalism, but underneath that, through symbolism and allegories and whatnot, it attacks Maoism as well.
=SPOILERS FOR TO LIVE (1994) AHEAD=
I think the same can be said for Zhang Yimou's To Live (1994), which on the surface seems to praise the Maoist revolution, but looking closely at the way the story progresses, most of the family's suffering stems directly from Maoist policies (such as the daughter dying because all the senior doctors, who could have saved her, losing their jobs during the Cultural Revolution), which suggests that actually the film is criticising the regime, not praising it. Often film makers working in difficult political environments have to be vague to get their films past the censors.
I don't think the current gov't would be as pissy with the movie as they are if it was a criticism of pre-Communist values.
The way I see it, is that it's a portrayal of the traditional, woman-repressive Chinese culture which buries an anti-Communist message in the subtext. It's saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same, while using the "Master" character and his wives in an allegorical way, to represent various values.
The fact that the Master is a man repressing women under the old system is on top, but underneath, the Master represents a system which represses the things that the women stand for - and worse yet, turns them against each other.
That's not to say that I think the film endorses the way things were a hundred years ago - or idealizes the state of China in the pre-Maoist days - just uses a portrayal of them to condemn the things that are going on today.
Nope. I loved the movie.
I think it all comes down to personal tastes. Some people like a movie about different cultures and a clash of personalities. Some people want explosions or laughs. Whatever floats your boat. I don't see why people always have to be insulting to others when they don't like something. Guess what? We're all different. Get over it.
sorry to interupt (lol) but what "Ags" means ?
...Madmoizelle...
I was in a film class at Texas A&M University, and we are known as "Aggies," or "Ags" for short. I THOUGHT that many of my classmates were members of IMDB, and I figured they would hit on this movie for comments and discussion... they didn't. But I still got some discussion out of it, just not exactly what I was looking for. Hope that answers your question!
"Are you not entertained?! Is this not why you are here?!" - Maximus
i wonder if i'll get a response from this five year old thread. lol
well to include the subject of texas a&m, i've been to college station many times to visit my girlfriend and ive met many people there.
while there are many asians and mexicans there, i think the general amount of white people there are relatively uncultured. what i mean by that is that the white people there are american stereotypes that usually dont enjoy foreign cultures or movies about foreign cultures. ive only heard one radio station there that is not country. i think all the pro american stuff there is because of the large military presence there. nationalism/racism creates better soldiers.
brazos valley = secluded farming area
Is this your homework Larry?
Is this your homework Larry?
So perhaps there's no point in replying since i'm not exactly who you were looking for to answer this question, but I can sort of understand where you are coming from. Although I loved the movie, there was something about the shooting that made me feel incredibly claustrophobic, I believe this was intentional, but I can see how that aspect might put people off a little.
share[deleted]
Simply over-hyped. I didn't grow up in the US and only saw Casablanca in college. I was told that it's the greatest movie ever before watching it so naturally, I was terribly disappointed. Til this day, I'm still wondering if I would love the movie if I had discovered it on my own. This might not be the case here but that's my guess.
share[deleted]
I was actually pretty bored for most of it, but by the end, I thought, "That was a really cool movie." I don't think I would be as bored the second time through, since I would be better able to connect things to the main themes in my head. Anyways, that's my experience with most Zhang Yimou movies-- my first time through, I feel like I'm watching a bunch of disparate events in someone's life; but I love his movies the second time through, because I actually understand how the events are connected.
"90% of everything is crud." --Theodore Sturgeon