Peacock-孔雀

[badatpool]

At last,I got the dvd Delamu I ordered from net last week (dangdang.com sucks,I would never order anything from it). This reminds me of a review about Peacock written by Jiangwen, he said there were two Chinese PATIENT films in 2004, one is Delamu (Never watched any films directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang, but I like Tian zhuangzhuang's looking),another is Peacock . Actually, we're looking forward the Peacock since we knew that is Gu Changwei's film, but still surprised by Jiang Wen's praise, which went as far as calling it “浑然天成”.

Peacock will take part in the Berlin Film Festival, nobody deny the film will attract more audiences if it get award, so Good Luck, Peacock.

[laolee]

I hope Peacock does well too. That way it'll get wider distribution and I can get to see it.

Related article:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-01/28/content_413064.htm

[badatpool]

Finally, I watched Peacock.

I'm trying not to talk much about this film, because most people might have not seen it so I don't want to ruin their appetite.

I believe many watchers, like me, left tears and laughter in the cinema, and kept the terrific applause in their hearts, for this film and themselves (not including some morally degenerated people who even didn't set their cellphone on mute).

I was searching for the interview of Gu Changwei just now, but he was as low profile as ever(he thought he was "high-profile" already). He said he shot it for most Chinese (yes, very Chinese, not only for waking up our many memories...), if Zhang Yimou said so, I would turn around immediately.

Gu Changwei is really really...I don't know how to put my feeling into my poor English. I will rewatch this film and look forward to his next film 立春.

Leave your reply if you want to discuss or just praise it, actually, I really wanna share this marvelous artwork with more people. If 2046 or House of Flying Daggers could get a large audience than this one, sorry for your loss ( am I rude? Then you can tell I really love this movie.)

[skylee]

I have bought a ticket and will see the film at the HK film festival later in March.

[gato]

You can buy a DVD of Peacock from joyo.com. Amazon.com bought joyo.com sometime last year. I'm glad that overseas sales are now possible.

You can pay for your purchases with a Visa or Mastercard. You'll need to read Chinese to navigate through the menus, however. Overseas shipping is via United Parcel Service (UPS). I just bought a copy of the DVD, plus some books. Hopefully it all works.

The DVD for "Peacock" is only 9 yuan (about $US 1) plus about the same amount for overseas shipping to California. They charge a base shipping fee of 110 Yuan for overseas shipping, at least to the U.S.

http://www.joyo.com/shopvcd/bkys502145.asp?uid=u77ucbyre365no43t7ggmgasq

孔雀（DVD）（简装）（顾长卫作品，获柏林电影节银熊奖）

[badatpool]

On the mainland, most fans are hoping for two versions of this film: one is the Japanese or European version which we'll get pirated, and the other is the director's cut. Actually I prefer pirated dvd to "genuine" dvd, because its quality is much better. I have to sacrifice the filmmaker's benefit to make my eyes feel more comfortable. The pirated dvd always reminds me what is "假作真时真亦假".

I have to order Peacock dvd (not pirated one) , because I don't wanna wait for it too long.

[Quest]

He said he shot it for most Chinese (yes, very Chinese, not only for waking up our many memories...),

Indeed. I just watched it. The setting reminded me a lot of what little I remember from my pre-school years in China. The atmosphere of that era is perfectly reproduced in this film. I enjoyed it very much, but I don't think foreigners would get quite the same feeling out of this film.

The plot is simple but resonant. It's not one of the films that would make you laugh out loud or cry out loud. Yet, slowly and little by little it bites into your heart before you even realize it.

The peacock imageries also left me wondering... it's a "deep" film.

[gato]

I didn't realize Gu Changwei was the cameraman for so many of best Chinese movies of the 1990s (from nytimes.com):

http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=84686

Gu Changwei

2000 Devils On The Doorstep Cinematographer

2000 Autumn in New York Cinematographer

1998 Hurlyburly Cinematographer

1998 The Gingerbread Man Cinematographer

1994 In the Heat of the Sun Cinematographer

1993 Farewell, My Concubine Cinematographer

1990 Ju Dou Cinematographer

1990 Life on a String Cinematographer

1989 Hai Zi Wang Actor: Secretary Wu

1988 King of the Children Cinematographer / Actor: Secretary Wu

Tian Zhuangzhuang's "Blue Kite" (蓝风筝) is the best movie about the Cultural Revolution era I've seen. It's more subtle than "To Live" (活着) and touches on more issues than "In the Heat of Sun" （阳光灿烂的日子）(which is brilliant and a breakthrough for Chinese cinema in its own way). I don't know how Tian can ever live up to it.

[laolee]

If anyone has the DVD would you confirm whether it's widescreen or not? Sensasian lists it as 1.33:1 or fullscreen. That's not the original AR or is it?

[laolee]

Anyone? I'd sure like to pick up the DVD but not if it's fullscreen. Someone must have seen the DVD around by now?

[roddy]

I really enjoyed this film. It reminded me a little of Platform (zhantai) at times, for its sudden flashes of beauty against dusty small-city China, although Peacock is a lot less visually bleak and doesn’t try to express monotony by being monotonous. The language is rarely Mandarin – you might want to brush up on your 俺’s and 侬’s before you watch . . .

Roddy

[Quest]

The language is rarely Mandarin – you might want to brush up on your 俺’s and 侬’s before you watch .

I liked the accent too

[badatpool]

Anyone? I'd sure like to pick up the DVD but not if it's fullscreen. Someone must have seen the DVD around by now?

I just got the dvd,I think it's fullscreen, anyway, it's not 1.33:1(not like zoke culture's style), might be 1.43:1,just like what I saw in the cinema.

you might want to brush up on your 俺’s and 侬’s before you watch . . .

恁(nen4), not 侬(nong2),it's in the northern city.

This film is visually very attractive, with every scene tasteful but never flashy.

BTW, the avatar of inappropriate admin reminds me of the old brother in Peacock( idiom class: 大智若愚-a man of great wisdom often seems slow-witted), I would draw the sunflower for it (charge free) if you don't mind.

[laolee]

badatpool, Thank you for that information! So the DVD is the same ratio as the theatrical print, then? I am surprised because, searching around the web I tried to find a few pictures from the film. They looked widescreen but as it is not entirely reliable, I was not sure. I will definitely pick up the video then. Much appreciated.

[badatpool]

So the DVD is the same ratio as the theatrical print

I think so. Actually I'm confused about ratio , should it be 1.33:1 as Joyo said?

There's only D5 here, not clear. If I were you, I would look forward to the director's version that might be released soon(4 hours, D9). I just got this information from store.sohu

[gato]

I just saw "Peacock." (joyo.com's shipping was fast. It took only 5 days from the day of my order to receive it in California).

The movie is wonderful. I liked its understated storytelling, and the musical score is also just right. The style of the movie reminded me a little of Hou Hsiao-Hsien's (侯孝贤) "The Time to Live and the Time to Die" (1985) (童年往事, the English title is terrible), about Hou's youth in Taiwan. Both used voiceover narration by one of the characters, and both have a kind of wistfulness to them. Maybe that's inevitable when oen thinks of the past. I liked the peacock at the end, and the younger brother saying "peacocks don't open up in the winter." That really brought the story home for me.

By the way, who's the guy with the kid whom the main female character ran up to towards the end? Let me know by private message if you can so not to spoil the plot for others.

My copy of "Peacock", unfortunately, is the Zoke Culture (Zhong Kai Wen Hua, 广东中凯文化发展有限公司) version. Its resolution is something like 780x700 and doesn't fill up the screen， but the quality of the picture is otherwise pretty good. The annoying part is that Zoke's logo kept popping up throughout the movie, a bit of overtly exuberant commercialism.

I also got 《冤家父子》, a film adaption of Wang Shuo's novel "I'm Your Dad", and 《开往春天的地铁》 ("A Subway Named Spring"?) that I've seen good reviews for.

[gato]

There's only D5 here, not clear. If I were you, I would look forward to the director's version that might be released soon(4 hours, D9).

Is "D9" another DVD format, allowing for 4 hours on one DVD? I don't know this story needs four hours to be told. 2 hours 16 minutes felt just about right. All else being equal, I think shorter movies are better than longer ones. "The Blue Kite" 《蓝风筝》 is only 2 hours and 18 minutes.

90 minutes is actually the best length for all except the most intense epics (e.g. "The Godfather", "Lawrence of Arabia"). It's like the 3-minute pop song.

[laolee]

My copy of "Peacock", unfortunately, is the Zoke Culture (Zhong Kai Wen Hua, 广东中凯文化发展有限公司) version. Its resolution is something like 780x700 and doesn't fill up the screen， but the quality of the picture is otherwise pretty good. The annoying part is that Zoke's logo kept popping up throughout the movie, a bit of overtly exuberant commercialism

Ahhrrgg! So Zoke is now doing it too? First GDFace, now Zoke! If it doesn't scroll it won't be half as annoying. But still. How does that stop bootleggers? They'll just copy the logo with it, like they care. It only hurts viewers. Thanks for the warning.

D9 is probably DVD-9, dual layer, very common for quality audio/video. I've only heard a little about the longer director's version but I didn't realize that much was cut.

re: Spring Subway, I enjoyed that one but not familiar with the other title you mention.

[badatpool]

By the way, who's the guy with the kid whom the main female character ran up to towards the end?

I don't know either, I guess he's the guy who once fought for the sister.

I also got 《冤家父子》, a film adaption of Wang Shuo's novel "I'm Your Dad"

The director was Wang Shuo (he shouldn't be proud of it), I prefer the novel to the film.

As for the DVD of director's version, it's said the cut part is about the young brother's story (had special feeling for a guy and other violent scenes), anyway, the longer this film is, the happier I am

[Quest]

By the way, who's the guy with the kid whom the main female character ran up to towards the end?

<input type="button" onclick="alert('He's the parachuter who refused to help the girl get into the military in the pingpong scene. The girl loved him ever since the parachute landing, and she thought he would still love her after all those years, but he has already forgotten who she was in that scene with his kid. The girl's been crazy over this guy throughout the film. Even her rushed marriage was a result of getting rejected by this guy.')" value="Spoiler: click for answer">