As a Chinese, I hate Zhang Yimou

[gato]

Have you seen "Red Sorghum" （红高粱）, "Raise the Red Lantern" （大红灯笼高高挂）, "To Live" （活着）, "Ju Dou" （菊豆）, or "Story of Qiu Ju" （秋菊打官司）?

All of them are directed by Zhang Yimou and all fairly good.

[msittig]

It seems very fashionable for Chinese to dislike Zhang Yimou. And yet they still turn out in droves.

I haven't seen any of his latest movies, I just read the paper, watch the news and surf the net.

[roddy]

Just asked on MSN a Chinese friend, who I generally trust on cultural issues that I am too foreign to comment on, what she thought about Zhang Yimou.

活着"以后,这个老谋就越来越虚伪了,有可能是被共产党收买了

So at least she doesn't blame the foreigners

[geraldc]

Every director undergoes ups and downs in perfomance. To be honest, I don't think that the audiences really pay that much attention to the director, it's Gong Li, Jay Chou and Chow Yun Fat whose faces are all over the posters. Although to what extent is a director responsible for the script and plotlines?

In the same way that I'd forgive Steven Seagal anything for films such as Marked for Death and Under Siege, Zhang Yimou has immunity due to Raise the Red lantern etc. (Did find his piece at the closing of the Olympics a bit naff though).

Now Jackie Chan's work since moving to Hollywood really has gotten worse.

[gougou]

I think a big problem for every artist is the choice whether to stay true to himself (and thus, art) or to his audience (and thus, commerce). You will become famous by shooting a good movie and having critics rave about you, but you're unlikely to subsist on it. If you stay true to your art, you will lose your audience - see the lecture scene in "Man on the Moon“. (Do see the rest of that movie too...)

I agree. I think the backbone of any movie is the script and the story.

I have a different take on this. I think that while a novel can convey a story at least as good as a movie, the one feature particular to the art form movie is the colors, the visuals. That is not to say that I don't enjoy a movie with an excellent plot, but it is not the most important to me. For example, a movie such as House of Flying Daggers (which had even less story then Curse) is fantastic in my eyes for having great visuals. Judging a movie by the script alone is like judging a song by the lyrics alone; it boils down to whether you want emotional entertainment or rational entertainment.

[zhwj]

活着"以后,这个老谋就越来越虚伪了,有可能是被共产党收买了

That's interesting. A few Chinese critics have written (and others believe but don't want to publicly state) that Curse to some degree is Zhang's commentary on the student movement, particularly the bloody scene at the end where everything gets cleaned up and covered over. If that was intentional, then distracting everyone with breasts and costumes was a masterstroke of misdirection.

In general, Chinese critics are taking this movie quite a bit more seriously than Daggers (why doesn't anyone mention Riding Alone, I wonder?), even if the buzz going in was "Oh, let's see another Zhang Yimou bomb." People who like it still have to defend themselves, but they have good reasons this time - I don't recall many people arguing strongly in favor of the Daggers mess.

[babygodzilla]

i dont know anything about Chinese politics or history, nor am i an avid movie analyzer. so i saw this movie just as what it's supposed to be in the first place, a plain old movie. that said, although i enjoyed this very beautiful and colorful movie, the story lacked any twists. it was just a straight road with no turns or potholes or whatever. maybe save for the revelation that the doctor's daughter turns out to be the prince's you-know-what, which is kinda gross since theyve presumable done the you-know-what.

and also, theres an article in yesterday's China Daily. it also criticized the overabundance of breasts and cleavages in this movie. although i enjoyed that part immensely, apparently not everyone shares my view.

[Adrien]

Most of his movies have beautiful scenes, but terrible stories.

He midleaded all foreigners by giving a wrong image of china. China and Chinese people are completely different from what you've seen in his movie. He just put all the chinese signals of 5,000 years together in order to catch the eyes of the world. This is good. But the wrong thing that all Chinese don't like is he hasn't put Chinese spirit in it. In other words, he has only expressed visible only Chinese culture without meaning at all.

[chichi]

i dont know anything about Chinese politics or history, nor am i an avid movie analyzer. so i saw this movie just as what it's supposed to be in the first place, a plain old movie. that said, although i enjoyed this very beautiful and colorful movie, the story lacked any twists. it was just a straight road with no turns or potholes or whatever. maybe save for the revelation that the doctor's daughter turns out to be the prince's you-know-what, which is kinda gross since theyve presumable done the you-know-what.

Aglee!

[roddy]

This mystifies me. Do Chinese people hate kung-fu stars because they make foreigners think Chinese people kick and punch their way through life? Would Zhang Yimou be more loved if his films had better plots but still gave an inaccurate impression of China? Do foreigners really sit in movie theaters and watch Not One Less and think "Wow, China is populated entirely by poor, but good-hearted kids" and then next week watch Curse of the Golden Flower and mutter to each other "Hey, those kids really done well for themselves, huh? Filled out, too". Who are the directors with good plots and an accurate portrayal of China? Which overseas directors are to be praised for accurately portraying their own countries. Who decided it was the job of the cinema industry to do this and not the Discovery Channel? Can I send my friend copies of 十七岁的单车 and 手机 without him deciding that Beijingers are all philandering bike thieves?

[gougou]

This mystifies me. Do Chinese people hate kung-fu stars because they make foreigners think Chinese people kick and punch their way through life? Would Zhang Yimou be more loved if his films had better plots but still gave an inaccurate impression of China? Do foreigners really sit in movie theaters and watch Not One Less and think "Wow, China is populated entirely by poor, but good-hearted kids" and then next week watch Curse of the Golden Flower and mutter to each other "Hey, those kids really done well for themselves, huh? Filled out, too". Who are the directors with good plots and an accurate portrayal of China? Which overseas directors are to be praised for accurately portraying their own countries. Who decided it was the job of the cinema industry to do this and not the Discovery Channel? Can I send my friend copies of 十七岁的单车 and 手机 without him deciding that Beijingers are all philandering bike thieves?

Don't worry about him. Just your average immortal swordsman talking...

[babygodzilla]

well i think movie goers always have to remember that a movie is a movie. its fiction (unless its a true story i suppose). so what's portrayed in the movie obviously isn't necessarily accurate to the real world. and that's the best way to enjoy a movie. otherwise, you have all these people too busy criticizing what's wrong with the movie rather than relaxing and enjoying the movie.

the ones i hate the most are the military buffs (any military buffs here please excuse me). they always complain shit like "hmm he's holding the gun wrong, thats impossible at that angle," or "what! the PX9023 is a semi-automatic gun can only spit out 100 rounds a minute, how could he have done that?! thats stupid?!", or "oh man thats impossible he couldnt have flown that jet that way, he wouldve been hit by the missiles. idiots."

i know a lot of people like this. oh my god... STFU and just watch the frickin movie already...

[yonitabonita]

I'm not bothered by Zhang Yi Mou or Chen Kai Ge, or whether their recent movies are good or bad.

What bothers me about this thread is that people can't see the problem with making statements like: "all Chinese people like/dislike/hate/think XYZ".

There's 1.3 billion in China. I'll bet quite a significant portion of the population haven't pondered the question of whether Zhang Yi Mou is a sell out, so it couldn't be said that such people hate him. Others might think that the international success of Chinese directors is good for China. Some Chinese people don't think the movies are all bad.

A diversity of people usually translates to a diversity of opinions. If you personally hate a director, movie, whatever, admit that it's your own opinion. You might even represent it as the views of your circle of friends. But as soon as you start pretending that you're an ambassador for your entire nation, you start sounding like a dimwit.

[chichi]

What bothers me about this thread is that people can't see the problem with making statements like: "all Chinese people like/dislike/hate/think XYZ".

Some people assume that I've said that.

I've never said something like that. Don't blame me for that!

Isn't satirizing sb for sth that she hasn't done even worse than making "all Chinese" statement?

[geraldc]

It's a nuance of the language but if you're going to preface as a statement with "As a Chinese" it does suggest that you're making a statement involving all Chinese.

[roddy]

Chichi, if you say 'As a Chinese' then people are going to assume that what follows is based on the fact that you are Chinese, and that you think all, or at least the majority of Chinese are going to agree. If someone says 'As a lawyer, I have to . . .', or 'As a woman, I feel . . .' then the implication is going to be the same.

[Ian_Lee]

I finally have a chance to watch Zhang Yimou's "Riding Alone for Ten Thousand Miles" -- the small budget film that Director Zhang produced in between the mega-production of Flying Daggers and Curse.

Just half way into the film, my wife and I already started weeping.

Zhang excelled in portraying the passion between individuals -- this one between father and son. And so far it seems no other Chinese directors (HK & Taiwan included) can do a better job than he does.

Zhang should just forget about those megaproduction which aims for Oscar and just concentrate on what he does best.

[mrtoga]

Yes but more importantly Ian Lee, how much cleavage and indeed boobage did that movie contain? I wonder if this is linked to the film's budget......

[HashiriKata]

When it comes to the cleavage and boobage parts, all I have to do is to take it as a chance to examine more closely the intricacy and opulence of the surrounding . Why choose to look in the wrong direction and then complain afterwards?

On the whole, I think "the curse" is not perfect but it's not unenjoyable (minus the famed "cleavage and boobage", of course! ).

[skylee]

On the whole, I think "the curse" is not perfect but it's not unenjoyable

I agree.