MovieChat Forums > Sai de ke · ba lai: Tai yang qi (2011) Discussion > what a mess

what a mess

posted 13 years ago by bubba_blais
14 replies | jump to latest

a nice effort by taiwan, but unfortunately overall this film was a disappointment. they tried to make a hollywood blockbuster, which means a lot of cliches, super simple story and writing, and fast action cuts and close-ups. filmed in arguably the most beautiful place on earth, the film was not beautiful. so much potential!
also, some of it was just plain absurd. its supposed to be a history film, and yet there is a scene where the main character talks to his long dead father; among other fantasy stuff like that. they were not necessary and took me out of the film. so out of place.
i wish the director would've panned the camera back, and let the battles unfold. but they were full of extreme closeups; you couldn't follow the action. some of the special effects were great, like the cutting off of heads, and yet others were laughable. what was up with the slow motion??? it was that shaky choppy slow motion that is completely outdated. with a 25m dollar budget they couldn't get a camera that shoots nice slow-mo? i didn't understand that choice of effect.
overall its 4 and a half hours of a letdown. i don't feel i "need those hours of my life back', there was some cool stuff and it wasn't hard to watch, but it's still a bad film. if that makes sense...
its mostly the story. they didn't tell it well. you felt like the japanese were the victims, i sympathized with them more than the natives. it was trying to glorify the natives as heroic, instead of just presenting the tragedy of war, and they literally spent no time making the japanese seem evil, labelling them as the enemy. mixed emotions throughout the film because of this, i didn't know who i was supposed to be rooting for, when clearly they were trying to establish that. strange.
if you're into these kind of films, watch the masterpiece "the new world". same idea, different countries, infinitely better.
5 out of 10, just passes. but hopefully this ambitious project means a good future for the taiwan film industry.

[–] kevinfunk2003 13 years ago

I've tried to dispel some of your doubts in my review... if you'd like to take a look :)

[–] singyue_wu 13 years ago

If you think you have to root for anybody, then you obviously have missed the point. In this conflict there were no good guys and bad guys. It is a clash of civilizations, in which there is no one to root for exactly because there are no villains. Making the Japanese seem evil is pointless, since even though they were the invaders, they were still human beings. And like all human beings they can do good or do bad, but that doesn't mean they are evil. I think it was very smart not to portrait the Japanese as evil invaders who were just trying to enslave all Taiwanese aboriginals, since it would be one sided and historically incorrect.

[–] ash341986 13 years ago

Did you pay attention to what the characters say, feel and do in the movie? And did you think about WHY the director decided to make the film this way? Because directors usually make movies the way they think would best present what they would like to present. To me this movie is more than action and history. It has certain literary elements in it.

We need to regard the characters as ordinary people who have flaws in their personalities, and then get to know their backgrounds and their societies, cultures, etc. -- this is what makes most classical stories classical, and what touches readers'/audiences' heart. Most of all, by thinking deeply about all those things, we will learn more than just what is obvious in the works. Labelling the characters as "good guys" or "bad guys" doesn't make sense at all, because there are always reasons behind people's behaviours, even if those reasons are not easy to figure out. Life is not as easy as that.

The film is not meant to be made for commercial purpose (i.e. made to please people), it's actually meant to show "conflits" and what comes after a conflict. As I saw the first episode last month, I felt the slow-mo is a mere scene to reinforce the tragedy -- as it is presented with a sad background music. And about Mona talking to his father's spirit -- it might be an indication of Mona thinking about what his father would say.

[–] kevinfunk2003 13 years ago

by ash341986:
The film is not meant to be made for commercial purpose (i.e. made to please people)...

http://tpca.fun-day.com.tw/news/detail_payx.asp?indx=5669

As the director said before, he needs at least NTD1.3 billion in box offices to pay off the movie's production cost...so it HAS to be commercially successful. Now after so many mixed reviews on the Internet it seems pretty difficult (outside of Taiwan).

May Heaven help him.

[–] mike09152000 12 years ago

You clearly don't know how to watch movies then if you think this is only ment for hollywood blockbuster. What was the last time you see a film this meaningful and exciting at the same time? You clearly don't understand the conflict, the feeling of ALL sides of this conflict. No one was supposed to be good, and no one is supposed to be bad. It is simply a story. Know what the director wants to tell before you even criticize this film.

[–] bubba_blais 12 years ago

"Know what the director wants to tell before you even criticize this film."

nice job on being intelligent there mike.

[–] phoenix34 12 years ago

Thanks for your review. Could you elaborate a bit more on the cliches that marred the film for you?

[–] flexocheng 12 years ago

I too want to hear about these so called "clichés" of this film. On the contrary, I found anti- clichés thought this film. It is refreshing.
You sound like you prefer one dimensional hero versus villain type of movie. If this is the case, you watch the wrong film.

[–] kevinfunk2003 12 years ago

I wonder if he will continue this story-telling style (anti-clinchés)in his future film plan of A Taiwan's Trilogy...anyway the outcome of his efforts, after these days since Seediq Bale's debut, must have taught him some.

[–] covenant12 12 years ago

I don't know, but i hope he eases up on the singing. 1/3 of this movie is bloody singing. Well, probably not that much, but it sure as hell felt that way.

You saw Dingleberries?

[–] ash341986 12 years ago

I don't think the singing should be eliminated -- it's an important element in the story and in the culture of many tribes of the aborigines in Taiwan. It's been a long time since I watched the film (as it was released here in Taiwan in two parts last September), but if I remember it well, the songs contain messages that are important to understand the story.

[–] covenant12 12 years ago

I didn't say it should be eliminated completely, but cut back on. One of the first instances was very powerful (Mouna singing along with the spirit of his father at the waterfall) but after that, not so much. They did use the lyrical content to convey what they were feeling, but it wasn't like it would have been difficult to figure out without the several-minute-long a cappella-ish interludes. It just got to be a bit too much, and could have been avoided by just using a couple of lines of pointed dialogue. The movie would have been considerably shorter though.

You saw Dingleberries?

[–] ash341986 12 years ago

I think sometimes we have to think again about things we perceive as "clichés". Why are clichés used over and over again as themes in literary works and arts? Because clearly history keeps repeating itself and men keep forgetting or ignore the important lessons their ancestors and predecessors have learned with pain.

[–] DonnerParty808 12 years ago

Just to correct you on your lexicons there you mean track/dolly back...panning is when you turn the camera left or right :)

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