Discussing Chinese movies with friends

[abcdefg]

A couple days ago I saw New Dragon Gate Inn 新龙门客栈. The following day I brought it up when having lunch with two Chinese friends. One asked 你一个人去吗? (Did you go alone?) The other one asked 门票要多少钱? (How much did the ticket cost?) Then the discussion shifted to some other topic.

Later that evening I went for a foot massage. In the course of chatting with the people there, I mentioned this great classic movie I had just seen. True to form, one person asked 你一个人去吗? and another asked 门票要多少钱? The same two questions and again, end of discussion.

That's the way it often goes here in Kunming. Not sure exactly why.

[gato]

Probably because (1) most people here go to the movies on dates, and (2) movie tickets are expensive compared to other things (compare the price of a ticket to price of a DVD or a quick meal).

2 might be a reason for 1.

[abcdefg]

#2, Yes, I'll bet you are right. I go in the afternoon when it is "bargain matinee" and even then there are very few singletons in the audience. Ticket price for those early showings is reduced to 25 Yuan, but I know that will still buy a couple of quick lunches, so it is not a negligible amount. So many of my acquaintances here only watch movies downloaded from the internet onto their computers or maybe as DVD's. That seems to be the norm.

[xiaocai]

And I think the perceived level of your Chinese and the closeness of your friendship with these people may affect the choice of question too.

[abcdefg]

#4, Yes, I can see that too. Guess I was surprised that nobody wanted to talk about the movie, instead focusing on peripheral issues.

[xiaocai]

So, how did you find the movie? I have only seen the old one.

[abcdefg]

#6, I thought it was excellent. Liked the way the main characters were developed using humor among other techniques. Particularly enjoyed Maggie Cheung 张曼玉 as the saucy innkeeper Jade 金鑲玉. Also liked the way Donnie Yen 甄子丹 was cast in an evil role (Tsao 曹少欽) instead of as the good guy hero we see so much of in later films, such as Yip Man 叶问 and its sequel/prequel.

Posted about it here a couple days ago:

http://www.chinese-f...d/page__st__240

[xiaocai]

So it is actually the same as the 1992 edition? Well I guess it would be quite different to watch it in cinema as it was never released on big screen in China before. I also think 张曼玉 is quite good in this movie.

[abcdefg]

Yes, it is a re-release. It was released this second time in honor of the Year of the Dragon. 龙门/龙年.

[anonymoose]

Maybe they are not very interested in movies. I mean, if both parties had seen the movie, then there may have been something to talk about. If only one person has seen the movie, then the other party will find it very boring to discuss. And personally, I don't watch many movies, so probably the conversation would go something like that if you were to discuss a movie with me.

[Lu]

If a friend of mine sees a movie I don't know, I would usually still ask what it was about and whether it was good. If you like movies in general, it's always nice to know what is out there and whether it's worth watching.