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Kaguya-hime no monogatari (2013)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya - Happiness is vanished (from Wing NG)
A few months ago, I went to the manuscript exhibition of Japanese animation "Studio Ghibli" in Hong Kong Heritage Museum. There were so many visitors. Everyone came here for Miyazaki Hayao, but I came for another director Isao Takahata. Miyazaki Hayao's Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle are riddles for me forever, so I prefer the works of Isao Takahata relatively, easy to be understood but profound too.
Farewell Firefly of Isao Takahata was criticized before: as the aggressive nation in the war, Japan was dressed as the victim of war in the film. Actually, Farewell Firefly is across the region to tell the destruction of human life and happiness by war, and this kind of destruction appears again in his new work The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
The movie opens with the myth that the bamboo even gives birth to a beautiful girl, named "Bamboo", and she grows faster than normal people (therefore to meet the tragedy quicker?). The old man thinks she is a princess, so she was sent to the palace.
The movie shots are very special that most of the backgrounds are static, however, the stationary scenery on the background is already very beautiful, and Bamboo in the foreground is lively; while since she leaves her hometown, her name is changed to Kaguya which means light shine. Then it is turn for Bamboo to become stationary, as she could not appear and move freely due to the ethics. Thereby her freedom is forbidden and happiness is vanished.
The ending of the story is different from what I have heard - Bamboo returned to the hometown and found her lover had married and had a son. The movie has this scene, but it is just a dream of her lover, and Bamboo does not know his marriage in the dream too. On the contrary, the ending echoes the beginning, with a sense of myth. Bamboo cries to the moon, then the Buddha sends a messenger to pick her up. When she is put on feathers, all her memory losses, but she still takes a glance at the hometown at the end.
The Theory of Everything (2014)
The Theory of Everything - the Replication of Hawking (from Wing NG)
At first, I did not intend to watch The Theory of Everything, as I have seen too many film biographies, some films like The Iron Lady and The Lady in which the protagonist is similar to the real person both in shape and spirit, while some films like Hitchcock, My Week with Marilyn and Grace of Monaco are just stunts , lack of sincerity.
I also heard The Theory of Everything just focused on the love part. Although I may not completely understand A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, and has not penetrated to the physical basis that Hawking invited the future human to attend a party, the film should not omit the part of Hawking, or he would not be the world-famous Hawking.
While then the film won the Oscar for Best Actor, and even Hawking said, "The protagonist is similar to me". I finally went to watch the movie. Of course, it is the modeling that helped Edward John David Redmayne, but the trademark glasses of Hawking was removed at least several times, therefore, what really created a real Hawking was the eyes, speaking rhythm and the simulation of muscle hardening of the actor.
When compared with "A Dangerous Method" of Keira Knightley, you will know a world of difference on the acting. Both of the characters have language and physical problems, while Keira Knightley is not more than overacted, but created the most horrible performance in history.
Love in the movie is also very unique, talking love as well as the mysteries of the universe. For example, when looking at the stars in the night, Jane thought of the Bible "In the a beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss. God saw that the light was good; and he separated the light from the darkness"; Hawking did not believe that there was a transcendent god. While they did not argue, but just kept the curiosity of the unknown.
Even the movie scenes are very sincere, for example when Jane went the cyclotron stairs, the lens rotated too. In addition to echoing the study of black hole of Hawking, it also can make people associate with the man-made things inspired by nature invisibly, which contains the laws of physics.
In the end, Jane was divorced from Hawking and married other. She said 'I do my best', and the audience could feel she was physically and mentally exhausted when taking care of Hawking. Hawking was silent, however the screen appears "until now, they are good friends." As it turns out, true love is not to bear but to sacrifice.
Suddenly I remembered that the real Hawking came to visit Hong Kong years ago . My friend was a reporter, and grabbed a split to ask him 'Do you believe there is a God? ' Hawking said, 'Maybe'. The scene came into my mind through memory.
In order to "turn back the clock," Hawking relies on an equation; Jane relies on being immersed in literary works of the 1920s; while I rely on my memory.
Zhi qu wei hu shan (2014)
"Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy 3D" serves for politics (from Wing NG)
Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy 3D directed by Tsui Hark has been released in mainland long ago, while it is going to be released in Hong Kong on May14th.
Reproducing a model opera of the Cultural Revolution, the skilled are bold.
The movie began with "New York 2015" and I supposed I had come to the wrong cinema. It turns out that it had something to do with Tsui Hark's affection, that he first got to know the Beijing opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy in New York, therefore, the movie is arranged with some foreign citizens of Chinese origin singing karaoke and the television mistakenly showed Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, on the screen a person asked contemptuously, "What's that?" Actually, the movie had been playing nice. If it comes into reality, the person must have yelled out loudly.Tsui Hark was very clear about this of course, so I was wondering how he would reverse negative impression of those people (exactly we audiences) on Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy—strong political complexion,old-fashion and out of date.
Tsui Hark chose 3D.
But 3D is not a panacea. Ring 3D in Japan suffered a crushing failure.
Bullet passing through slowly and stop in a moment, then the scene circling back have been applied in Matrix in 1999. The 3D of Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy would not make any better. When ravens were flying over indoors, I could not help laughing out, for it was too similar to the owls in Harry Porter series.
By the way, I could not recognize Tony Leung who acted as a bandit "Hawk". But wearing a fake nose is actually again a copy from Nicole Kidman in The Hours.
In the end, I found it was only my own wishful thinking that Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy 3D would make a breakthrough apart from 3D. I can accept the protagonist is National Liberation Army and the dialogues are full of northeast dialect, but I cannot accept the movie "sticks to the original" to consecrate characters to serve politics. On the side of the protagonist, even girls and little children were loyal and courageous, having excellent marksmanship and extraordinary skills. They could catch a bandit standing guard on high by throwing up a rope; and the protagonist could fly to a snow mountain of thousands meter high by a rope.
It is really not worshiping and having blind faith in foreign things. James Bond has extraordinary skills, but he can manages to make the impossible possible, to make me believe, make me stop querying and engage to movie world. Furthermore, though he has extraordinary skills, James Bond has his weakness, which makes him more human.