What was the last Chinese film you watched?

[skylee]

桃姐的好評似乎鋪天蓋地，大家都不想看嗎？

Doesn't anyone want to see the highly acclaimed "A simple life"?

[jkhsu]

Doesn't anyone want to see the highly acclaimed "A simple life"?

I watched it last weekend. To be honest, I am not sure if I should recommend it or not. To some, especially art film lovers, this is probably a great film. For me, it was a bit too long and depressing. I was really hoping for some surprising revelation in the end but didn't get that. Great acting though.

[skylee]

Yes I agree. Great acting but depressing.

[imron]

They discussed this film on 锵锵三人行 the other day.

[Murray]

Just recently finished a lesser-known Zhang Yimou film: 幸福时光 (Happy Times). The title is a bit misleading; even though it has funny moments, the story gets pretty sad as towards the end of the movie.

I was pleasantly surprised that Zhao Benshan played the main role. I'd seen a few of his comedy skits on Chinese TV but never any of his films; he did an excellent job.

Without giving up too much of the plot, the story centers around Zhao as an unemployed factory worker who is desperate to find a wife, but is unable because of his financial situation. In an attempt to court a portly divorcee, he lies about being the wealthy boss of a major hotel, which causes the woman to push Zhao into getting a job at his "hotel" for her blind (as well as horribly abused and neglected) step-daughter.

I watched it with and without subs and I was able to follow along pretty well.

[imron]

《人在囧途》a rather bland comedy which is basically the Chinese version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Stars 傻根 from A World With Thieves.

[character]

長江七號 (CJ7) - Entertaining film for 'kids of all ages' about a poor boy and his mysterious alien pet.

失戀33天 (Love is not Blind) - Good comedy/drama about the aftermath of a breakup.

[jkhsu]

I saw Double Trouble (寶島雙雄) staring Jaycee Chan, the son of Jackie Chan. I'm willing to give Jaycee another chance in another movie but this one was a flop. It could be his acting but I think the fault falls mostly on the director. It was funny at times if you're familiar with the other actors.

The lamest moment for me was when Jaycee tries to read a Taiwan tour itinerary written in simplified characters and says that he can't read it because it's simplified. (Jaycee is supposed to be this Taiwanese security guard). Anyways, I highly doubt that this is realistic. I get that he may have to guess a few characters but these are probably names of places and hotels in Taiwan, things that should be familiar to him.

[SumChoi]

I'm thinking of seeing Flowers of Shanghai. It's not a new movie (1998) but I read it's quite acclaimed. For those of you who watched it, what are your thoughts?

[ouyangjun]

《人在囧途 》a rather bland comedy which is basically the Chinese version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

@imron that was a great movie. One of my all time favorite stupid/funny Chinese movies. Since then I've watched a handful of movies from one of the main characters, 王宝强, including 《HELLO！树先生》and 《神通乡巴佬》, none of them near as funny as 《人在囧途 》.

[ouyangjun]

Just watched 《形影不离》 yesterday. I had much higher expectations considering Kevin Spacey stars in this Chinese movie.... It kept me interested, but was not one that I will go back and re-watch.

[imron]

If you like 王宝强 you should check out the movie that propelled him to stardom (if you haven't already): 《天下无贼》. Unfortunately he's more or less been typecast into 乡巴佬 roles (at least in all the roles I've seen him in).

[SumChoi]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I'll probably check out 形影不离 because I like Kevin Spacey but I don't expect much from his movies nowadays. I guess once you've won two Oscars, making money and doing projects that you want are more important.

[Susu]

This may not be classified as a film, but I have been watching the cartoon series 'Little Sheep'. Its a simple cartoon aimed at little kids about a group of sheep who try to avoid being eaten by the grey wolf!

[rob07]

Anyone else seen the new Chen Kaige movie 搜索 (Caught in the Web) about human flesh search engines? I liked it. It confused me in that it felt like it should be a comedy but then it wasn't. And it had all of the expensive looking things and pretty people that various 八零后 dramas have trained me to regard as aspirational but here they weren't. I think it is quite a clever movie.

[skylee]

I've just seen the Taiwan film 女朋友.男朋友 (Girlfriend * Boyfriend). I think it was very enjoyable. Highly recommended.

There is some Japanese used in the film. Do people in Taiwan really speak like this? Or did they in the 1980's?

[jkhsu]

I saw this movie last month. Didn't catch the Japanese part though. It was funny and sad, but enjoyable to watch. I thought Rhydian Vaughan (鳳小岳)'s acting was pretty good.

[character]

There is some Japanese used in the film. Do people in Taiwan really speak like this? Or did they in the 1980's?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_under_Japanese_rule Doesn't seem unreasonable, given the article and what I've heard from my Chinese teacher, who studied in Taiwan.

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Watched 愛的麵包魂 The Soul of Bread & 懸紅 The Bounty- Enjoyable romcoms. 矮仔多情 Short of Love wasn't great, but Kate Tsui has a funny role.

[skylee]

I saw 女朋友.男朋友 (Girlfriend * Boyfriend) again this morning and I still liked it a lot. But with the background of student demonstration I wonder if it would be released on the mainland.

The Japanese I mentioned is used like 外來語 in the film. The ones I heard are yamete (this is frequently used in porn stuff), omiyage and sabishii. The first two appeared more than once. I wonder if these have been absorbed in the daily vocab of Taiwan people.

[gato]

Saw 《边境风云》 recently, a crime thriller starring 孙红雷. Quite well done. I would give it 7/10.