十月围城

[Outofin]

I've been a fan of 陈可辛, the movie's producer, and looking forward to this film for months. I won't be able to watch it until it's available online. But those who have seen it, please share your comments.

陈可辛 is my favorite HK director at work. (王家卫 and 吴宇森 seem to have lost their magics.) I don't usually watch love stories, but I watched his 甜蜜蜜 several times. His 投名状 is memorable but was unfortunately underrated. Many didn't seem to grasp the movie's feeling. I liked it so much that I bought its overpriced soundtrack CD, which was not a thing I commonly do.

[wushijiao]

I was thinking of seeing this movie sometime this weekend....might write a review later.

[skylee]

投名狀 is a very good film. I liked it a lot. I was watching 花木蘭 a couple of weeks ago and suddenly I thought how great it would be if the film were of 投名狀's quality and depth.

I will see Avatar tomorrow. Maybe I will see 十月圍城 on Sunday.

[gato]

This is another film produced and distributed by 保利博纳 (polybona), which is considered to be kind of the Miramax of China It and Huayi Brothers are the two largest private film companies in China.

The movies it has invested in include: 《伤城》、《门徒》、《神话》、《新警察故事》、《孔雀》、《姨妈的后现代生活》《伤城》、《门徒》、《投名状》、《长江七号》、《赤壁》、《父子》、《白银帝国》。

Saw an interview with Yu Dong, Polybona's boss, last week. He has an interesting mix of business and idealism.

By the way, Polybona also owns movie theaters and is aiming to be the largest theater chain in China.

See here for more:

http://baike.baidu.com/view/1497811.htm

保利博纳

http://finance.sina.com.cn/review/observe/20051012/16232027869.shtml

于冬：做中国的米拉麦克斯

[skylee]

I saw the film this morning. Lots of audience, almost full house.

I would put this film in my “OK 啦，可以一看" category, which is of course better than the ”可以不看" and “割凳" categories. But the film is not exciting, and it is not really that touching. The set looks familiar/unreal. But the theme (I assume this is the theme?) 鞠躬盡瘁 is very clear. And there are a few very impressive kicks by Donnie Yen. And there is the very beautiful Michelle Reis.

PS - the music (the drum) of the fighting scenes is quite good.

Edited December 20, 2009 at 09:16 AM by skylee

[zhwj]

I saw this Friday night in a packed house. Nice crowd that reacted at the appropriate times (although Li Yuchun's first scene elicited laughter, even though it probably wasn't meant to). I liked the pacing - a slow build for the first half that turned into what was basically an hour-long chase sequence (totally absurd, but enjoyable nonetheless).

The theme was laid on a little thick, but I really enjoyed the details that went into the production, particularly some of the props and lingering shots that contrasted east/west and traditional/modern, and character interactions that were echoed by other characters in subsequent scenes (it's too early to reveal spoilers, I think). The care and professionalism shown in this film, when compared to recent movies I've seen (建国大业, for something that had similar ambitions), really sets it apart.

Question: What would the timing have been for entering the Li household, if what Fan Bingbing's character told Donnie Yen's character was the truth? I wasn't able to work out any reasonable timeline that didn't make someone out to be a complete and total idiot.

[gato]

Saw this last weekend. A big disappointment, given all the rave reviews. It was good for the first half hour, with some interesting historical details. The opening scene with the teacher talking to his students about democracy and one of them asking democracy will ever come to China was a shock, considering that the movie passed the censors, particularly with the Liu Xiaobo case in the news lately. The visuals were sharp. But after the first half hour, it just degenerated into a string of fist fights with some father-son, father-daughter melodrama tacked on. The big problem with the movie is that there is no suspense on the outcome of the assassination attempt. Everyone knows that Sun Yat-sen lived and went on to found the Republic of China. Without the suspense, the movie should have had some interesting characters or witty dialog, but really didn't have those, despite the early promise. The fight scenes were also pretty run-of-the-mill.

What's interesting is that this movie has been cast as a rallying cry for democracy by Chinese liberals. Seems like a huge stretch. It reminds one of the Super Girl singing contest, which was thought by some commentators as promoting democracy because viewers were urged to vote for their favorites.

Edited January 7, 2010 at 04:26 AM by gato

[skylee]

gato, did you see the film on the mainland? could you tell me if there is cantonese in the film? the hk version is a mix of cantonese and putonghua - people from the north speak in mandarin and local people speak in cantonese.

the film is average but i think the acting of the main character "李玉堂" is very good.

[gato]

Yeah, I saw it in Shanghai. Most of the dialog was in Mandarin (I'm guessing Donnie Yen's was dubbed). A small number of scenes had Cantonese dialog, like Donnie Yen in the shady gambling parlor. Did Yen and Fan Bingbing's characters speak in Cantonese in the HK version?

王学圻 was good as 李玉堂, but his character stopped having much of a role after the first half, when it was just one fight scene after another. I think the script was the problem.

[Outofin]

An average movie. I used fast-forward a lot.

Action part is not as good as a typical Jackie Chen or Jet Li film. Story isn’t good either.

Despite the grand historical background it tries to build on, the film lacks depth. The first half is supposed to build up a group of characters the audience like and care, who are set for a deadly mission. I didn’t find many characters likable. Actually some are strange. 阿四 wasn’t told how risky his task was, and got engaged before he went for it. 沈崇阳 was almost blackmailed into the whole thing by his ex-wife. And the beggar. Did this guy just walk straight out of a wuxia novel? I don’t take wuxia novels seriously (with a few exceptions).

[chenxiyin212]

I don't think 十月围城 is a great film.But it's a great novel.