
Taken during Sonic Camp. Photo: Jean Tan.
It’s Chinese New Year day 1. Nothing much happened, except for our visit to my grandmother’s place in Yio Chu Kang Gardens. We went there in the afternoon and I managed to collect some ang pow (red packets) from extended family members as well as some ‘unknowns’. After a while, everyone left except us; we were staying for dinner.
In the meantime, we watched Chen Kaige’s The Promise. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s quite a good movie. Sorry, everyone. But, it seems that my taste in movies has drifted way off from you. But could you not see how the characters in the film struggled with their destinies?
I suppose most people don’t really appreciate Chen Kaige’s directing of his actors. One thing about his films (except for Together) is the overdone expression the actors project. When I first saw The Emporer and the Assassin, I felt like I was watching a stage play. This would be true throughout most of his films. Most audiences seem to think this is a bad thing. Actually, this is one of the things I like most about Chen’s films.
When I first heard my friends’ opinions about the film, I thought, Oh no, don’t tell me Chen Kaige’s sold out [to special effects] too. They said that judging from my earlier opinions on films, I definitely would not like The Promise. But you know what? My friends were wrong. Again. Which means that next time, I’ll have to watch films for myself to say whether I like it or not.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home