What was the last Chinese film you watched?

[skylee]

Re #540, I suppose that should be 日曜日式散步者 instead. It seems that there have been a number of Japanese-speaking Taiwan movies in recent years. I saw one such film "KANO" in 2014.

I enjoyed 不能說的秘密 a lot. But that was in 2007.

[Murray]

I wound up watching 大红灯笼高高挂 for the first time in years the other day. The first time was in in college with the professor and classmates around. Taking it in a second time alone, I watched it with just Chinese audio and subs.

 

I couldn't follow along as well as I would've liked with just the audio, but the subs and knowing the plot beforehand helped. As far as the movie goes, I like it but it's a bit of a downer. As someone who did time trapped in a rather tumultuous relationship of their very own, 四太太's simultaneous feelings of helplessness, resentment, shame and rage are unsettlingly familiar. 

 

My favorite (and least favorite) character is 雁儿. It sounds silly but part of the reason I like her is because of her name - I really like 儿化音. She's a pretty despicable character, however; the way she hates 四太太 from the moment she meets her and the deceitful way she plots against her with 二太太 even after 四太太 keeps her secret about the lanterns in her room, plus that little sneery frown she wears on her face the whole movie, just ugh! On the other hand, I suppose there's a case to be made that 四太太 is just as much of a despicable character as 雁儿.

 

In any case, it's a classic for sure and worth seeing if you haven't yet.

[roddy]

Hou Hsiao-Hsien's The Assassin - one of those films where you're thinking 'I'm sure this is a really good film, which for some reason I'm completely failing to appreciate.'

[character]

 

Hou Hsiao-Hsien's The Assassin - one of those films where you're thinking 'I'm sure this is a really good film, which for some reason I'm completely failing to appreciate.'

It is a bit of a tough watch, up there with The Love Eterne.  The aspect ratio and color pallet made it feel like an experiment by the director in making a film evoking those of the early 1950's.  I did like the film a bit, esp. Shu Qi's action sequences.  Folks looking for films to help with language learning can pass on this film and its 3 paragraphs worth of dialogue.

[weiwuji]

Gong Li's "Coming Home"

[ouyangjun]

Watched 老炮儿 by 管虎 featuring 冯小刚 and 许晴. It was a decent watch. With it starring 冯小刚 I may have had unrealistic expectations. They speak a lot of Beijing Hua 北京话 so the subtitles help a lot.

[Lu]

The Office by Johnnie To. Loved it as I had expected to. I'd also expected to like Tang Wei in it, and I did. Really enjoyable movie.

[Luxi]

Fall of Ming (大明劫) after waiting a long time for the subtitled version.

 

http://www.newschinamag.com/magazine/fall-of-ming

 

It turned out to be totally not what I'd expected, big budget blow'em-up-to-pieces-smash-the-Ming type of flick, and surprisingly good, though it isn't really about the victory of the Manchus against the Ming.  The action takes place a few years before that, during the uprisings that prepared the way for the end of the Ming. The story focuses on the conflict/contrasting worldviews between the troops' medic Wu and Marshal Sun.  A good story line, enough action to keep it moving and fine acting, it deserves more credit.

[ouyangjun]

Watched the movie 师父 (The Master) the other night, it was great.  Released in late 2015, the best movie I've seen in 2016 so far.  It's about a martial arts master who wants to open a school in Tianjin, but in order to be permitted to open the school he needs to train a pupil and have his pupil challenge and beat 8 of the other schools in a contest.  He gets caught up in the local politics of the Gongfu masters...  Great watch.

[character]

Mojin: The Lost Legend - Based on http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/43310-reading-%E9%AC%BC%E5%90%B9%E7%81%AF-pulpy-supernatural-fiction/

 

It is a jaw-dropping spectacle of tomb raiding, even in 2D (though the movie cries out for a 3D BR release).  Shu Qi was great as the put upon den mother, and Angelababy was perfectly cast as the Cultural Revolution sweetheart. I enjoyed it immensely.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUB7XgUke04

[Lu]

周渔的火车. I liked the way the story was told (in quick flashbacks and flashes forward). Gong Li is good of course, although it was a bit confusing that she played two roles, I initially thought she was supposed to be the same woman but later (and I hope I haven't spoiled something now).

[skylee]

I saw 樹大招風 (Trivisa) today.

[Cid]

The Continent (后会无期) was the last one i saw. Something about this film just speaks to me in a really personal, powerful way. Would definitely recommend checking it out! 

[skylee]

十年 is available on Google Play ->

https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/ten_years?id=XdhCFGPTZGw

[Flickserve]

I had a long haul flight and the inflight entertainment gave me two old Ang Lee films which I hadn't seen for many years.

The wedding banquet - I watched it when it first came out and completely enjoyed it then as I did again this time round. I understood a bit more of the mandarin this time round (compared to zero before) as it is rather simpler.

Eat Man, drink woman - This genre is not quite my style. The film had simultaneous english and Chinese subtitles. Inflight entertainment is pretty bad at rewinding to listen to the vocabulary! Now that I have picked up a little Mandarin, I found it more entertaining this time round. Worth getting the subtitles out to study.

[skylee]

I have just seen the new Hong Kong film "寒戰2" (Cold War 2), and I think it is quite likeable and entertaining. I like that it has returned to the good tradition of focusing on Hong Kong instead of catering for the Mainland tastes. I like the English (despite the mistakes) as this is the way many senior civil servants speak (although many are also making an effort to speak in Chinese completely). I like that Chow Yun Fat is in the film and that his role is called 奧偉/Oswald (I am old enough to remember the real 奧偉/Oswald). Although, of course, it is not difficult for people close to those circles to point out the flaws, I think it is worth seeing.

I think the music helps the film a lot.

[Lumbering Ox]

So Young 2. The first one wasn't so bad, the second one was just horrible.

I got board real quick. The male love interest was a controlling jerk with rapish undertones and the girl was cheating on him. No actual redeeming qualities in either. Sadly they didn't get ripped apart by zombies at the end of the movie.

 

Now Sultan, there was a fantastic movie but alas I swear by the many arms of Vishnu* that it is a bollywood movie.

 

* yeah the main character was Muslim but that is the line from the Simpsons and I do love it so.

[lips]

Ip Man 3.

 

Mike Tyson!   He's much more a natural on the screen than George Foreman.  But of couse, Goerge Foreman is just a sandwich machine.   

[Lu]

一句顶一万句, adaptation of the book of the same name by 刘震云, directed by his daughter 刘雨霖. Good movie. The film (wisely) only tells the last quarter or so of the book, but gets the themes across well.

 

The story: a couple is married but have 没话说. He suspects she is cheating, and he is in fact correct. Meanwhile the man's sister, late thirties, finally finds a husband, a good guy, but they also don't have too much 话说. They muddle on, quietly unhappy with it all, but trying to make the best of it. It doesn't sound too spectacular now that I'm telling it, but it's a good movie.

[iekkim]

The last Chinese movie I watched that I really liked was  盗墓笔记 with  井柏然,  鹿晗, and  马思纯. I really enjoyed watching it since it reminded me of the thrill of watching Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie, as a child. It made it even better because Jing Boran, Luhan, and Sandra Ma were there. I've just finished watching Sandra Ma's TV show with Wallace Huo (!!!). I did think that Jing Boran was TOO orange for the show. But I really liked it.

 

I'm trying to watch as much Chinese movies and TV shows as possible just to pick up on the tones. I'm studying Mandarin now and I realized reading pinyin for me is difficult because the tones are really confusing. Watching these helps me pick up on the tones.