Last night, we watched a Chinese movie called Spring In A Small Town 小城之春 for the first time. This movie was ignored at its release in 1948 and was almost totally forgotten until the 70s when it was re-discovered. Since the 80s, it's been critically acclaimed universally, I check some popular movie websites and it is still getting great reviews (not the remake, which is translated to Springtime In A Small Town in English). It is also voted the best Chinese movie of all time in Hong Kong. Does the Emperor have clothes? After all, the town people seem to admire his invisible clothes till the very of the parade.
Parents think it's ridiculously bad and the plot moves too slowly, I have to watch the 2nd half twice because it moves too fast. Watching this movie is like reading a book, not only because of the heroine's monologue, it also unfolds like a novel but it won't let you slow down like a real one. I suppose it was influenced by European movies of the same period but the feelings are very Chinese. It's a very good movie in my opinion although I can understand why it may not work for some people. You may even think the entertainment value is not very high, but at the very least, you'll appreciate the craftiness of the director, every scene has a purpose and no film is wasted to explain the past or the obvious.
(The director, 費穆, was the father of Chinese soprano 費明儀。I think his brother was the head of newspaper 大公報 費彝民）
No comments:
Post a Comment