Hey i am chinese and just saw this movie...but oops no thread so far...you want to discuss now?
sharehey, I'm chinese too. I just saw this movie, and I thought it was amazing. I'm amazed that there isn't a thread for this movie so far, because based on the positive user reviews, I thought most people were touched by this movie. The cinemtaography was beautiful, the acting was nearly perfect, and storyline is engrossing and so true. What a good movie!
shareHey guys, I am not chinese, I am mexican, and i just saw this movie last night on tv
and as you said the acting was brilliant, beautiful photografy and very well achieved
movie. I loved it. And I came here just to see if this movie was part of a trilogy
or something, cause i thought that the director might make the characters (tiotiu)
entire life on film. It could very well worth it. Telling China's history through the
eyes of that teen then a youg man then into an old person.
Badly it didn't happen but either way it is a beautiful film. Gonna buy it when ever i can.
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The old man shook his head in disgust and then spit a wad of tobacco at Billy's crusty
remains. Damn zombies.
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If you like this wonderful film, you should see "To Live", another Chinese film. It tells a similar story, of a family growing up from the 1940s-1970s, while the Cultural Revolution was going on. It is told more from the point of view of the adults rather than the children, but I was struck by the many similarities between the two (I saw "To Live" first). By the way, I'm white, but don't hold that against me ;)
shareI just finished watching The Blue Kite, and I have to say this has to be one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen. Aside from all the bad events that Shujuan went through, the only positive highlight of this film was when Tietou started shedding his negativity near the end of the film-especially when he mentioned that he will make another kite for the little girl, which in a sense came in full circle when seeing his character mature. Perhaps the flying of the kite symbolizes hope, but when we see the kites that were stuck in the tree throughout the film, it symbolizes struggle and despair. Unfortunatey at the end the wrecked kite pretty much summarized the whole film. Such a tragedy.
I also own a copy of To Live. Despite the deaths of the brother and sister, the film ended on a lighter note when we see the husband and wife together.
The Cultural Revolution produced a lot of awful people that ratted out their own family and friends. All the wonderful films about the these times showed the consequences it had on the family structure. Unfortunately now, the people who are living out the post revolution days are faced with the concept of capitalism. There is a huge discrepancy between the surging middle class and the poor. The lower class are being ignored and treated unfairly. It seems to me that the policy makers in China still had not got it right after all these years. It's a difficult shift between totalitarian communism and the free markets of capitalism. It is ironic that these same kind of people opposed class struggles back in Mao's days. When will China be okay? I think I went off topic!
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Not a bad idea. How has the capitalist shift in the structure of Chinese society wreaked more havoc on Tietou and maybe the family he's starting up on his own now after recovering from the cultural revolution beating and his mom's labour camp imprisonment at the end of the "first" movie? Also, was Tietou at Tianamen Square? Probably. Without the long time structure of "The Blue Kite" and the way the actors underplay almost everything, it would almost strain the limits of our suspension of disbelief that one extended family can suffer so much bad luck and tragedy from the changes in social/political trends and movements in China? I mean even Stalin's death (Mao's buddy?) disrupted or delayed Tietou's parent's wedding for ten days. Then his father takes a crap at the wrong time, but subconsciously this character must've been making a silent protest anyways in that scene judging from how the writer/director handled it, a passive and compassionate protest much like the entire film itself. No wonder the Communists ban the film and the director from working in China. It's political courage and bluntness they don't seem to want there. The symbolic blue kite, in tatters, cannot be flown like the old crows in the song and the young crows are waiting for their food patiently while other crows fly around and do their cawing and calling. I don't know how accurate this film reflects the social situation back then but I'm sure a few people must've went through some of the things shown.
shareThis film by no means can be comparable to Living and Farewell My Concubine...My rateing is 5/10
shareI feel that farwell my concubine was not all that it is made out to be. I found the movie quite mediocre. It was good and interesting, but i just dont think the movie potrayed the feelings as well as this did.
shareFarewell was a "good" movie, but it brought nothing new, and in that sense it was similar to "Memories of a Geisha". The Blue Kite OTOH was an exceptional movie, and although to some it may appear to be "watered-down" relative to what you would prefer it to reveal, OTOH it is so much more realistic than what the Chinese are accustomed to being forced-fed.
My wife is Chinese, Shanghainese to be more exact, and she was old enough to remember some of these families being separated for the sake of the Party, including her older sister being sent-off to the country in Anhui, while her neice stayed home in Shanghai with her.
A very courageous well-made film that tries to portray the truth of what happens when ideology erodes human decency. Those who condemn the movie because it is dark should just stick to musical comedies.
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