Farewell My Concubine

Nov 19, 2019Dec 10, 2019 WENDY ZHAILeave a comment

Today I want to tell you a sad story ~ Eh Eh, don’t change the channel! I’m talking about you! Keep your thumb away from the return key plssssssss:)

A handsome, exotic, beautifully acted film, full of the kind of humanism that festival juries like to commend.
Vincent Canby was so impressed with “Farewell my concubine” in the The New York Times.

In 1993, it won the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize, Palme d’Or, the first Chinese film to do so, and is considered the most incredible film by Chen Kaige.

Farewell My Concubine is a poignant story of drama, dreams, art and life.

The beauty of the main character Cheng Dieyi is directly reflected in his artistic performance, which is exquisite and unsurpassed.

According to Yuan Si-ye he is both male and female.

It was the beauty of his temperament: All the sensitivity, tenderness, intelligence, delicacy, vulnerability, even a little jealousy and selfishness born of love, mixed with male fortitude, perseverance, silence, introverted, and tolerance.

On a deeper level, the beauty of Cheng Dieyi is reflected in his devotion to his belief and dream, and his courage to practice.

The film succeeds in shaping the beauty of Cheng Dieyi, unleashing the immense power he possesses, and then destroying the life that carries it.

Hegel’s theory says that when a limited form of external sensibility can not sustain a strong inner spirit, it is bound to distort or even destroy.

The powerful tragic effect of the film Farewell My Concubine is mainly due to the suffering, frustrations and final destruction of the life of the character.

In that era of lack of faith, people were like wandering wanderers who can not find their homes. A lack of faith in life is bound to be lead to insecurity and fear.

“What you promise me is a lifetime! Missing a year, a month, a day, an hour, is not a lifetime!”

If he was not born in such chaotic times, perhaps he could have found a place for this infatuation, perhaps he could have remained pure until his death, perhaps he could have sung for a lifetime.

Which character or scene do you like best in this movie? Have you seen any other work of Chen Kaige?

PS: Maybe you would like to hear the podcast of Farewell My Concubine.

Did you get the joker’s laughs?

Nov 16, 2019Nov 24, 2019 WENDY ZHAI1 Comment

Recently, my friends have been talking up the movie Joker.

After the movie, many people that watched it have been heard to copy the catchphrase in the movie “justice is never late”. Others simply full into a state of dispassion and silence.

In the movie, the Joker wants to expose and laugh at is the ugliness of human nature.

Today, I will analyze the four laughs that Joaquin Phoenix exhibits in this film.

JOKER TRAILER

In this film, Arthur’s (the Joker) laugh is full of meaning throughout.

There are four types, each represents a different state of mind.

To understand the movie, you have to understand these four kinds of laughter.

One is just a normal and happy smile.

It was the warm, innocent smile Arthur had wanted all his life.

The film is extremely depressing, and the few tender moments are especially rare.

For example when Arthur meets the girl of his dreams and his heart goes out to her.

Once Arthur took the bus, looking out of the window, feeling sad, he feels that life is hopeless.

At that moment, there was a black child in front of him, teasing him, pouting, with a serious expression, it was very cute.

Arthur laughed, so he made faces to amuse the child.

The child was amused and Arthur was happy.

Although this scene is very short, I felt the warmth between these people.

The child was innocent, and Arthur, like the child, was simple and eager to be happy.

However it’s not that simple.

The mother of the child sitting next to him turned and said, please don’t bother my child.

I think everyone can relate to a similar situation in their own lives of kindness that isn’t reciprocated！

Arthur was so affected by this experience that he began to laugh wildly.

The sound echoed in the bus.

It was sharp and terrifying.

All the passengers on the bus tried to distance themselves from Arthur.

This is Arthur’s second laugh, which is pathological, because he has a unique mental illness, and when he gets excited, he can’t help but laugh, completely out of control.

It was an agonizing laugh, a sort of physical torture.

The third laugh, the psychological one, can be understood as an ordinary sneer. It was a forced smile to hide his pain and try to express indifference.

It was a smile of the utmost helplessness, ironic, dark, and sad. His ego was damaged.

The fourth kind of laugh is from the depths of the soul, self-confident, perverted, expressing pleasure from dark situations.

It was a release from depression, a bloodthirsty pleasure more exciting than earthly pleasure.

The first is a happy smile;

The second is a painful laugh;

The third is the ironic laugh;

The fourth is bloodthirsty laughter.

Arthur was a laughing boy since his childhood, but he was gradually transformed by the ugliness of human nature from the first smile to the fourth laugh.

How Joaquin Practised the Iconic Laugh

Have you seen this movie? How do you interpret Arthur’s smile differently?

PS: Maybe you would like to hear the podcast Joker.

(Photos taken from the film)

Her

Dec 3, 2019Dec 10, 2019 WENDY ZHAI4 Comments

Her is a 2013 American science-fiction romantic drama film written, directed, and produced by Spike Jonze. It marks Jonze’s solo screenwriting debut.

The film follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who develops a relationship with Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), an artificially intelligent assistant through a female voice.

Today we have the honour of a brief review of the film by Vaish, who is studying at the University of Westminster.

Or maybe you’d like this…

Will you like this film? Will you fall in love with an AI? It’s possible but I will leave that to you.

Welcome to leave your comments and subscribe Wendelicious!

Life of Pi

Nov 29, 2019Dec 10, 2019 WENDY ZHAI1 Comment

The highly anticipated adaptation of the Life of Pi will run at Wyndham’s Theatre in London from June next year (2020), with tickets available now.

Today I want to talk about the first film version of this work.

Life of Pi is based on Matel’s world-famous novel of the same name. It’s directed by Hollywood Chinese Director Ang Lee, the film follows Pi and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker as they drift for 227 days at sea.

Which of the three stories in the film do you feel you can relate to from your experiences of suffering in the past?

The first story is the most beautiful and spectacular part of the film, that is, the story of Pi drifting alone with the Bengal tiger, both co-existing and helping each other. Many viewers would like to believe this story.

The Japanese insurance company used the fact that the island does not exist to force the truth out of Pi. He then re-told the story to include his mother, the cook, and a sailor.

Even more desperate and dark is the story that the narrator does not tell, the plots hidden in the gaps of the narrative.

Through a careful reading of Ang Lee’s narrative, I’ve fleshed out the hidden story into a logical third story, which I will reveal at the end of the video.

Based on the idea that the Cannibal is the shape of the mother’s body, we can also make the following rational assumptions: Under the most extreme circumstances, the animal in Pi was wild, and in one of the darkest and most brutal moments of human nature, he ate his mother’s body.

Pi finally got saved and the tiger went into the forest without looking back, which signified the disappearance of the beast from Pi’s soul. The balance of good and evil, the beauty and the ugliness in human nature, were restored.

That’s why he broke down and cried when he was rescued.

“I have a tiger in my heart, and a rose in my nose”
says the English poet Sason.

We all have a tiger inside of us but we often are unwilling to look into ourselves or see into the hearts of others. The animal in our deep hearts often leaves us with a chilling sense of madness and barbarism.

The movie reflects the unpredictable nature of the human heart in extreme situations through the blind worship and devotion of religion. In the face of life and death, even religion is illusory.

People are double-faced, that is to say, good and evil, beauty and ugliness coexist, people can have more than one perspective on a matter.

Life of Pi has been read more than watched, and the reading of the classics is one of the pleasures in life.

Do you have a different interpretation of Life of Pi? Which story would you rather believe?

PS：Do you like the video I made? Welcome to subscribe my YOUTUBE channel!

Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Comedy Movies

Nov 24, 2019Dec 4, 2019 WENDY ZHAI1 Comment

Want to see some comedy movies over Christmas? Want to give a movie gift to a friend or lover?

Wendy compiled a list of 8 great comedy movies to watch over Christmas, sure to have any lucky recipient rolling in the aisles (or, on the sofas in their living rooms) on Christmas Day.

HOT ROD(DVD), £4.93

Amateur stuntman Rod Kimble has a problem–his step-father Frank is a jerk. Frank picks on Rod, tosses him around like a rag doll in their weekly sparring sessions and definitely doesn’t respect him, much less his stunts. But, when Frank falls ill, it’s up to Rod to stage the jump of his life in order to save his step-father. The plan: Jump 15 buses, raise the money for Frank’s heart operation, and then… kick his ass.

SHAOLIN SOCCER (Blu-ray), £7.00

One of Hong Kong’s top screen comics, Stephen Chow, co-wrote, co-directed, and headlines this three-way blend of sports, action, and humor. Sing (Stephen Chow) is a modern-day Shaolin monk who has become a master of traditional fighting skills, and is renowned for his “leg of steel.” However, these days there isn’t much call for a Shaolin warrior, and Sing and his fellow monks earn their keep working menial jobs until a soccer coach gets the bright idea of translating Sing’s talent for kicking to the soccer field. Sing becomes the lynchpin of a team playing in a tournament that could net them a $1 million purse, but even with Sing’s footwork, beating the steroid-fueled champions will be no easy task. Shaolin Soccer also features Man Tat Ng and Vicki Zhao.

THE BANK DICK (DVD), £ 4.45

In this film, the matchless W. C. Fields plays Egbert Souse, a bibulous denizen of Lompoc who supports his family by winning radio contests. While drinking his breakfast at the Black Pussy Cafe, Souse is invited by a movie production manager to finish directing a picture being shot in Lompoc.

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL(DVD), £ 2.99

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune — all against the back-drop ofa suddenly and dramatically changing Continent. I quite like the colours in this movie.

GOODBYE MR. LOSER(Blu-ray), £ 36.94

I like and recommend this film very much. It’s a story of a middle-aged loser (Teng Shen qv) who finds himself magically transported back to his high school years, enabling him to fix all his life’s mistakes.

THREE IDIOTS (DVD), £ 11.30

Two friends embark on a quest for a lost buddy. On this journey, they encounter a long forgotten bet, a wedding they must crash, and a funeral that goes, ridiculously out of control. As they make their way through the perilous landscape, another journey begins: their inner journey through memory lane and the story of their friend — the impressible free-thinker Rancho, who is in unique way, touched and changed their lives…

LOST IN THAILAND(Multi-Format) , £17.08

Lost in Thailand is the story of two rival business managers, Xu (Xu Zheng) and Bo (Huang Bo), who are fighting over a revolutionary new in-house technology for control of their company. If Xu wins, his future will be secured. The critical task is to secure control over the shares of the chairman, who is at a retreat in Thailand. Xu catches the first plane to Bangkok, where he meets the happy-go-lucky Wang (Wang Baoqiang), an unexpected travel companion who will open his eyes to life’s true priorities.

OMG – Oh My God! (DVD) £ 16.99

Drum beat….The last one I would recommend today is called Oh My God! ,which is directed by Umesh Shukla. Kanji is an atheist whose life takes an ugly turn when an earthquake destroys his antique shop. He, however, does not give up hope and decides to sue God.