MovieChat Forums > Cike Nie Yin Niang (2015) Discussion > 28 Walk Outs At TIFF North American Prem...

28 Walk Outs At TIFF North American Premiere

posted 9 years ago by TimViper1
70 replies | jump to latest

Just saw the North American premiere at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival). About 20 minutes in I was wondering when the mass exodus would begin.. it was shortly after. There isn't an adjective invented to describe how slow this was. And before the pretentious "what were you expecting, Transformers?" replies, I saw Leviathan and Winter Sleep at TIFF last year and those were both great, but in comparison to the pace of this film, they might as well have been Rambo films.

The most entertaining part of the film was watching all the walk outs, it was the only thing that kept me going. My official count was 28... at a FESTIVAL. So I'll let that speak for itself. Unless you're trying to induce a coma, be forewarned.

[–] statuskuo 9 years ago

I saw "Cloud Atlas" for the same reason most people didn't. So I think this will be fine for me.

[–] smoogster 9 years ago

Very very very boring movie.
Beautifully shot, yes but that's it. Did anyine else notice nigh-on every single scene was filmed the exact same way?
Opening long panning shot of a person sitting by themselves in the middle of a room. Sitting. Sitting. Still sitting. Someone finally comes in stage left. Stands for an excruciatingly long time in silence. Finally says maybe 2 sentences; 10 words maximum. Sitting person stares into space for long time. Sometimes says something (1 or 2 words), sometimes says nothing (which will it be?! This is so exciting!). Other person stares for a decade or so then exits stage right. Long slow shot on sitting person staring at nothing.
This happens.
Every. Single. Bloody. Scene.
The director apparently could not think of any other way to film the story.
Sitting, sitting, siting. Enter. Speak. Stare. Exit. Sitting, sitting, sitting.
(To be fair there were a couple of scenes where they were standing).

I'm all for creating tension, intrigue, drama. But this was absolute tedium crap.

[–] sean_pak215 9 years ago

I thought this was a spectacular, entrancing movie, and no I don't just blindly like slow-paced films with minimal stories. First of all, there was actually a lot of story in this, it was just VERY subtly told, but then that's a Hou Hsiao-Hsien trademark. There was plenty of things going on and if one wasn't paying close enough attention it would've been easy to get lost. The fact that one can get "lost" during this is proof that there is a story. Second of all, the movie had a dreamy, quasi-surreal feel that saved it from being boring. Instead it was transporting. And thirdly, though there were a few scenes here and there that tested my patience, Hou Hsiao-Hsien remains one of the best directors out there at pacing a film slowly YET steadily. Many so-called "artsy" directors do not have this skill. Only God Forgives, by Nicolas Winding Refn, is an example of a film with great cinematography and a turgid pace that I absolutely did not like. Refn doesn't understand pacing enough to consistently use a slow pace in an effective way. He was more successful with Drive, but I didn't care for Valhalla Rising or Only God Forgives. Hsiao-Hsien, much like Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-Liang, is a master of the slow pace. He was able to keep this film interesting, and it actually got better as it went along.

[–] kaman-rider 9 years ago

If I was there I would be one of them (who walked out)

[–] ijw1 9 years ago

Boy. I must be one of the very very very few people who is in the middle on this movie. Didn't love it, didn't hate it.

I thought the 1.37:1 aspect ratio was an interesting choice, and the director does some interesting things with it. It allows him to insert more of the space above characters, something you wouldn't normally get in a widescreen film without far shots. Also, it lets the director fill the frame with one character while hiding the reactions of a character right next her. He took advantage of this, though not as much as I might have liked.

However, I wish the film could have been shot on better film stock which would have shown off a bit more of the detail of the surroundings and the magnificent costumes.

As well, there were a few too many long, long (30+ seconds) shots of outdoor scenes. Sometimes they are beautiful, and set a mood, but it seemed a bit like overkill.

[–] sigmabeta 9 years ago

First, I do have to agree that the trailer misrepresented the general pace of the movie.

But I personally do think the fact that it isn't a Hollywood blockbuster with a bland, one-size-fits-all script/cast/dialogue
does not make it a bad film.
And saying beforehand you don't want criticism on your post, because you have seen two foreign films last year that didn't fit the "transformers" criteria is of course nonsense.

Nowadays everybody can be a film critic, but a lot of people seem to forget that a movie is a expression of art.
You wouldn't hear people whining as childish about a ticket they bought to the louvre, to see the Mona Lisa.

If you don't like it, fine, but the false belief that just because you don't like it, nobody can, or if your do like it your automatically stamped pretentious is idiotic.

[–] remembervhs 9 years ago

Different people like different movies.

You looking down on people who like Transformers is no different from people who liked The Assassin looking down on you. Just watch what you enjoy and give feedback, but don't waste time trying to second guess everyone who disagrees with you and labeling them either idiots or pretentious frauds.

[–] outdoorcats 9 years ago

Well, in my experience, walkouts are far more common at film festivals than otherwise. The only time I've seen walkouts that wasn't at a film festival was Terrence Malick's The New World in 2005. Whereas I've seen mass walkouts at maybe a dozen film festival screenings (some films had close to 100 walkouts).

[–] bcamphome 8 years ago

There was no emotional hook to allow me entry into the story. I had no idea who anybody was or what their relationships were. Why was she trying to kill that guy? What was at stake? Never had a clue. I lost interest and eventually fell asleep, missing the whole finale. I've seen dozens of period films about Old China, some Chinese, some Taiwanese and mostly Hong Kong. I generally enjoy such films, but you've gotta tell me who the characters are, what their goals are and why I should care. Give me context. Without that I'm lost. Someone posted a detailed synopsis of the original story of Yinniang on Mobius Home Video Forum, but I doubt it would have helped me. Very little of it found its way into THE ASSASSIN.