Yun shui yao (2006)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Li Yin

Writers:

Heng Liu (screenplay)
Kehui Zheng (original story)

Release Date:

1 December 2006 (China)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

True love.

Plot:

Chen Xiushui is an English teacher in Taiwan. The boy he tutors has a sister, Wang Biyun. They fall in love...

Awards:

16 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Kun Chen	...	Chen Qiushui / Chen Kunlun
Vivian Hsu	...	Wang Biyun
Bingbing Li	...	Wang Jindi
Han Chin	...	Dr. Wang Tinwu
Kuei-Mei Yang	...	Xu Feng-liang
Ah Lei Gua	...	Wang Bi-yun
Isabella Leong	...	Wang Xiao-rui
Steven Cheung	...	Xue Zifu
Athena Chu	...	Mrs. Wang (as Zhuyin)
Chin Yu	...	Wang Yumeng
Suomayangjin	...	Zhuma

Also Known As:

The Knot (International: English title)

Runtime:

Taiwan:117 min

Country:

China | Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Company:

China Film Group

Trivia:

In October 2007, the film was selected by Mainland China to represent the country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2008 Oscars. It will compete against 62 other films.

Nationalist Soap

"The Knot" opens with a long, virtuoso shot reminiscent of Hitchcock, Antonioni, and De Palma. Don't get your hopes up. The rest of the movie is cheese, with comic characters, awkward dialog, sappy lighting, and an absurd story. Even the score is derivative in the silliest way, at one point—and I'm not making this up—reprising the theme from "Star Trek." Most disturbing, though, is the film's unrelieved nationalism, evidenced in the locations, the final image, and the symbolism of the story, none of which differentiate the film from propaganda.

On the plus side, the director did create a beautiful village with a really old tree and some very clean peasants.