Dont abandon this
… great film (like the Brits did with HK)!
Hi All!
Let’s keep this fine film alive. Whether you like it or not; please check in.
Some previous posters “accused” this film for being “one-dimensional”. I sincerely think that any film (or any other piece of art as well) has precisely as many dimensions as the viewer has the mental capacity to detect and perceive. It’s not so much about the film or viewer per se; it’s about the *relationship* between filmmaker and viewer.
Regarding this film I’m definitely biased: I’ll buy *anything* Asian, wholesale (garbage and gold alike), and even the slightest hint at filmmaking industry gets me hooked. Like having Doyle (of *all* people (!)) playing a slightly over drinking language teacher: IRL Doyle is fluent in English, French and Mandarin (!), and, yes, he is said to seldom be totally sober at work. But still he’s one of the best cinematographers around!
But, in making an effort to over ride my bias, I still think that this film is a little gem. It projects the more abstract relationship between HK and Mainland on the protagonists in a very disarming and charming way. Linking macro cosmos to micro cosmos. When I want a more elaborate projection of this kind I watch “Chinese Box”. “CB” has more “dimensions” , and is definitely darker and deeper than “Comrades …”, but they are both set in HK around the times when the Brits jumped ship. Times that move and attract me deeply.
An earlier poster (alas now deleted by the admins) pointed to the wonderful “dress/undress her” sequence. It’s the New Years Eve in HK, and Qiao and Jun have just failed miserably to sell Qiao’s Teresa Tang CDs. They eat and “lick their wounds” afterwards in Jun’s apartment (in the brothel ), and then they clean the bowls. Qiao says it’s time to go home, and Jun starts to put on her outdoor clothes. He puts on an additional coat, because it’s really cold outside, but Qiao lamely protests with an “It’s so ugly”. And then something, both wonderful and very heart-warming and funny, happens. Not a single word is said: this is filmmaking at its peak performance. Curious? Watch this very fine film!
cine
"Why is it that men are so much more interested in women than women in men?"
Virginia Woolf