Released: 2017 Viewed: December 2017
This is a very disappointing movie from director Ann Hui who has directed much better films such as A simple life. The film ambles though the story of how the Communist resistance fought the Japanese in Hong Kong during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (aka World War 2). In case you miss the unsubtle point of the film, the final frames cut to a picture of the current-day Hong Kong skyline, now once again part of the PRC (albeit under the ‘one country, two systems’ approach). ‘Our’ time has now come and this film marks the twentieth anniversary of that coming.
The film starts out with the Communists rescuing famous author Mao Dun and many other ‘intellectuals’ and their families from Hong Kong. But, just when you are expecting a traditional rescue movie, the intellectuals escape without any drama and that instalment ends. The film then goes on to drift episodically though a series of largely unrelated events during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. No doubt the resistance to Japanese occupation was somewhat episodic but, from a cinematic point-of-view, the film needs a script, story or characterisation to hold the viewers’ interest. All of these are missing.
43 year old Zhou Xun is rather miscast as a 26 year old schoolteacher who joins the resistance but the failure of the movie cannot be attributed to Ms Zhou or the other actors who have a thankless task in trying to wring any life out of the shapeless mess. There are one or two moments which recall Ms. Hui’s better films including a wedding scene which could have come from a film by Hou Hsiao-hsien and Ms. Zhou’s screen mother (Deannie Ip) is one of the few characters to transcend one dimension. The purpose of having ‘Big’ Tony Leung reminisce about his time in the resistance is rather unclear – as is the advisability of a man who must be now in his 80s continuing to work as a taxi driver in today’s Hong Kong (Mr. Leung being 59 looks rather sprightly for an 80 year old).
At least some previous ‘propaganda’ movies – such as Bodyguards and Assassins (2009) – had a bit of life to them (if nothing else). This one is totally lacking in drama. The concluding statement that the film is based on real events is, as usual, no excuse for its own lack of emotion. Indeed ‘our’ time has come and this is the cinematic result.
dianyingblog 电影 