I watched this movie the other night and there were several things that I found great about it, although the movie also had serious flaws.
First was the great way this film captivated the conflict between generations, the father - daughter conflict, the wise against the passionate, the orthodox against the liberal values. The growing youth culture, Americanisation, as seen through the eyes of elders as evils, somehow aware they are fighting a hopeless battle against changing times. In school, where the kids are still doing mass exercises to old revolutionary songs, but afterwards, when they let their hair down, organise dances and do John Travolta dance moves. And the awkwardness of it all. The film portrays wonderfully how these young people are eventually subdued and conformed to society, pressed into marriage by social conventions or forced to run away, and how those same social conventions keep two other lovers apart.
I also enjoyed the way the small Chinese family was portrayed. There was never a moment of sentimental family harmony, yet there wasn't the big battles and confrontations one would have expected. The confrontations between daughter and father are shot uncomfortably static, and are one sided, as the main character is a passive girl with only far flung dreams of being free. There is always a unresolved conflict between them, but usually they try to co exist peacefully. When the daughter rebels, she does so in form of actions and not words. The two families' struggle become one and both parents are generous and wise to each other with their children and despite of their flaws and shortcomings they try to manage their best.
Performances were altogether good, memorable is the father who seems to go from outright tyrant/villain to a sympathetic man in the end, fighting for faith in in a better place for his children. However, the relationship between the girl and her local boy wasn't very well founded and I found that it lacked substance, particularly towards the ending and the rape. The love relationships were dealt with at such a distance that mostly I wasn't very involved or couldn't understand the two girl's motivations. However this movie seems to have focused on the family as a organic unit, constantly changing and evolving, and the constant burning and building of bridges between generations.
I found this film moving and haunting yet far too long (3 hours plus). I like long movies but there wasn't enough material to back it up, and at points you could almost feel as if being there in a backwater province, forced to be bored to the fingertips...
First was the great way this film captivated the conflict between generations, the father - daughter conflict, the wise against the passionate, the orthodox against the liberal values. The growing youth culture, Americanisation, as seen through the eyes of elders as evils, somehow aware they are fighting a hopeless battle against changing times. In school, where the kids are still doing mass exercises to old revolutionary songs, but afterwards, when they let their hair down, organise dances and do John Travolta dance moves. And the awkwardness of it all. The film portrays wonderfully how these young people are eventually subdued and conformed to society, pressed into marriage by social conventions or forced to run away, and how those same social conventions keep two other lovers apart.
I also enjoyed the way the small Chinese family was portrayed. There was never a moment of sentimental family harmony, yet there wasn't the big battles and confrontations one would have expected. The confrontations between daughter and father are shot uncomfortably static, and are one sided, as the main character is a passive girl with only far flung dreams of being free. There is always a unresolved conflict between them, but usually they try to co exist peacefully. When the daughter rebels, she does so in form of actions and not words. The two families' struggle become one and both parents are generous and wise to each other with their children and despite of their flaws and shortcomings they try to manage their best.
Performances were altogether good, memorable is the father who seems to go from outright tyrant/villain to a sympathetic man in the end, fighting for faith in in a better place for his children. However, the relationship between the girl and her local boy wasn't very well founded and I found that it lacked substance, particularly towards the ending and the rape. The love relationships were dealt with at such a distance that mostly I wasn't very involved or couldn't understand the two girl's motivations. However this movie seems to have focused on the family as a organic unit, constantly changing and evolving, and the constant burning and building of bridges between generations.
I found this film moving and haunting yet far too long (3 hours plus). I like long movies but there wasn't enough material to back it up, and at points you could almost feel as if being there in a backwater province, forced to be bored to the fingertips...