Devils On the Doorstep(Jiang Wen’s film)

[badatpool]

I missed out on this film several times; but fortunately, I didn’t this time…

I always enjoy the films which make me surprised, like this one starring and directed by Jiang Wen.

The story took place during the end of World War II in a small northern village. One night, a villager was given two bags in which a Japanese soldier and his Chinese interpreter were put by a “invisible man”, from then on the destinies of people who lived in the village were doomed...

I can imagine the audience who watched in the cinema roared with laughter in the first half hour and was in silence in the last part.

It seems to me that the film is more artistic than commercial, and the music made me feel the same way even though I used to like it but never expected the works of liu xing is used in this kind of film. As for the cast, Jiang wen still had sharp eyes on searching for the actors, compared with his “In the heat of the sun”----from the Japanese soldier(maybe his performance is better than Jiang wen’s) to the old man who is paralyzed, the 刽子手，and even in the last scene the guy who pass the knife to …(jiang wen’s cute brother, jiang wu, played the younger brother in “shower--xi zao” and was also in Shadow Magic),anyway, the film has an excellent cast except David Wu, the famous DJ in Channel V(maybe he gets along well with these filmmakers ,from Chen Kai Ge to Jiang Wen…)

"Devils On the Doorstep" is different when compared to typical Chinese war films. It shows not everyone would be the hero under the special circumstance. The film is still not put on show in China because it’s said that need to be “modified”, I’m too slow to understand it though…

Anyway no matter what you want, a thoughtful movie or a funny one to kill your time, perhaps it’s a good choice.

[roddy]

I've started watching this, and I've got to say I'm pretty impressed. It'll probably take me a while to get through it, as I only have Chinese subtitles to help me (well, there are Japanese ones as well, but . . .) and that means I can't watch more than 30 minutes at a time without feeling dizzy.

I'm constantly impressed by Jiang Wen though - has to be my favourite Chinese actor, I think. This time he's managed to find a Japanese officer and his Chinese translator during the Sino-Japanese War, which is perhaps a step up from losing his gun . . .

Will report back and spoil the plot for you all when I've finished watching it. Come to think of it, I haven't finished Zhantai yet either . . .

Roddy