4v291o
Watched on Friday May 30, 2025.
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Led by Apichatpong through a humid, fevered dream in search of the origin of all beings. All oppositions shaped by dualism dissolved into a primordial blur, human/creatures, body/soul, past/future, reality/dream…
Had I watched it anywhere else, I probably wouldn’t have been this immersed. When the end credits rolled, the silence was so deep I could hear the whirring of the projector. Because of this environment, I found myself especially drawn to the beginning, to every scene set at night, to
the sound of cicadas, water, breathing..
And I love how Apichatpong loves Chris Marker :))
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To me, everyone in Wang Bing’s documentaries feels like a brother or sister.
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It feels like Wang Bing’s own presence is more apparent - whether intentional or not - compared to Tiexi Qu. For example, during the night scenes, you can see the shadow of him holding the camera cast by the streetlights. Or when he climbs up a mountain in Yunnan to film people gradually walking into the distance. You can hear his heavy breathing picked up by the mic, and his conversations with the interviewees.
Although I haven’t yet watched the films he made between Tiexi Qu and the Youth trilogy, it feels like something may have shifted. When I wrote about Tiexi Qu, I described Wang Bing’s following shots as always maintaining a certain distance - a closeness that still allowed for objective observation. It wasn’t an immersive experience that forced the audience to "relive the hardship" and feel nostalgic about bitterness, nor was it a condescending spectacle that turned suffering into visual consumption. Rather, it was a distance that allowed for emotional connection with the subjects while also encouraging rational reflection on broader social issues.
But after watching these two films today, I suddenly felt that this kind of ive mode of filmmaking/viewing seems to have shifted, even just slightly, toward something more voluntary or active.
Also, some might think Wang Bing’s documentaries are long *for no reason*, but to me, the prolonged stretch in the second part - covered entirely by the deafening roar of sewing machines - *is* the reason. That length of time itself represents the very meaning of Wang Bing’s long-form documentary.
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Just an ordinary Japanese art film — way too symbolic.
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When the opening credits rolled, I didn’t expect it to be set in the near future — it caught me slightly off guard. The story unfolds from the perspective of high school students, and to me, it felt as if they were enclosed in a glass dome — not literally, but metaphorically. Through that fragile distance, the film attempts to speak on social issues that are just beginning or already unfolding. It seems direct, but in truth, the treatment feels somewhat simplistic — touching on weighty topics without quite digging deep.
Still, what comes through are voices that are clear, sincere, naïve, brave, and endearing. Like the recurring theme song, there are moments that feel a bit contrived or detached, but the visual and musical execution is undeniably polished and mature.
I kept thinking — if only that glass dome could turn into gauze. Something softer, more yielding. Something that could wrap tightly around the process of growing up, letting all those private, inner things sink into the soil, becoming seeds, silently nurturing something in preparation for the next second of reality.
On my way home, I looked up that melancholic song that kept playing — it turns out it’s called World. Somehow, that made the whole thing feel even more wistful….
The taste in music is truly just like Ryuichi Sakamoto's… really impressive.
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Watched on Wednesday March 19, 2025.
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Watched on Thursday March 13, 2025.
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Watched on Tuesday March 4, 2025.
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Watched on Tuesday March 4, 2025.
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二人の愛は流れる川のようだ
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Watched on Saturday March 1, 2025.
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Watched on Saturday February 22, 2025.
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25th Anniversary Director’s Cut - the longest version in history, five extra minutes
They drifted past each other through Singapore, Hong Kong, and Angkor Wat in 1966. But in the dreamlike haze of 2001, on a night tinged with blueberry hues, this time, we won’t miss the fleeting reunion of Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen in the convenience store. Now, perhaps, it can finally be the time for love...
A film born for the cinema.
I could stay in the cinema forever just to keep listening to Yumeji’s Theme and watching Tony and Maggie’s faces on the silver screen again and again 🥺
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Watched on Thursday February 13, 2025.
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Watched on Sunday January 26, 2025.
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the two sides of a frosty river
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I really love... those small, fleeting, intimate emotions...
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somewhat nonsensical
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i can watch this over and over again until my death, and then rewatch it in my coffin
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my true wonderland
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gongyoo i luv u tons
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perhaps the best contemporary feminist film in China????
A commercial film? Yes.
A comedy? Yes.
But it’s not just a new type of chick flick — it’s simply a film for half of the world’s population.
also really love the mother-daughter relationship depicted in this film, come across a beautifully written comment from Weibo, so touching:
"So many inheritance relationships in patriarchal systems—sons inherit their fathers' surnames, houses, and wealth, all of which are external possessions. But daughters inherit something truly belonging to their mothers: their reading habits, writing talent, sense of style, menstrual cycles, menopause, and even severe myopia..."
Watched on Monday November 18, 2024.
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This review may contain spoilers.
下午去看了娄烨新片，一部未完成的电影。哭了很久很久，后半段一直在掉眼泪。回家之后带着闷闷的情绪蒙头就睡了，现在醒过来胡乱写了一些东西。 写得不好，但是只能靠这种方式来缓解一下了。
现实意义绝对大于艺术意义的一部电影，甚至很多人都在质疑它究竟是不是一部电影，前半段是娄烨过去作品的混剪，后半段也穿插着一些真实的、当时人们记录疫情时代的短视频的混剪。可能是包含竖屏视频最多的电影，除了旧的电影片段、真实的短视频之外，还有无数次江诚和妻子以及被困在同个宾馆其他房间隔离的剧组同事们打视频电话的录屏，不属于传统拍摄形式上的写实却又那么真实，模糊的像素和断断续续的网络，觉得娄烨对于个人化/私人化的摄影这一件事绝对特别敏感，电影里没拍完的那部电影其实最后由每个人无意间记录下的几秒钟竖屏视频/footage共同完成了，是一种有巨大感染力的纪实的东西，表现他这种态度最直接的一句话可能就是电影里被隔离起来的剧组导演语重心长地对大家说：被隔离期间你可能想要拿起手机拍一些东西，多拍一些自拍和我们的生活，这些会和之前比是很不一样的。相比于其他作品这种混剪的方式肯定没什么特别多的艺术性，但是没办法，比艺术性更重要的东西还有很多很多。觉得除了必要的一些把我们带进叙事的技巧之外，没办法用虚构的方式来拍那段时光，就是没办法。
因为是从四五年后的后疫情时代来重新凝视那几年的时间，从一开头我就有一种浑身不安无力的紧张感，尤其看到屏幕上打着2019年年底的时间，看到大家所有人都说过年后再见，可能就从这个地方开始掉眼泪，想着现实中的2019年底和2020年初，想着那时候所有人都尚未知道即将发生的苦难。
太affect的观影体验，你不得不去把所有屏幕上的事和现实联想在一起，和所有记忆联系在一起，为什么不会有一个名为后疫情时代的概念呢？我觉得至今我都无法从疫情那几年带来的影响中真正走出来，像我这样拥有创伤的人一定也很多。影厅的观众不是很多，但每个角落都传来低低的抽泣声，我们观看电影，观看的是自己以为已经结痂但还在不断流血的伤口。
简单翻了翻letterboxd上的影评，看到评分不太高的都是外国人的评分，外加几句不痛不痒的话，觉得特别特别讽刺，可能除了中国人没人能懂电影里究竟在拍什么东西，不是quarantine而是封控和管控，是“你能做到吗？你明白了吗？”，是无数个“非必要”，是清零，是“大白”，是代表一切的健康码，是无数层的密接，是乌鲁木齐火灾… 看电影的时侯一直在想，觉得好讽刺好讽刺，这真真实实是困住我们几年的东西，看到电影里困在不同房间的剧组人员打着视频电话，每个人最终都自娱自乐起来，直到最后冲出房间来到走廊上聚在一起，下一秒就被突然出现的穿着防护服的人抓走回房间，特别痛苦地在想，只是一扇门而已，为什么打不破呢？我们真的曾经被困在门背后好长好长一段时间。李文亮的照片在荧屏上出现，武汉清明的默哀，方舱医院，排队做核酸，甚至火红的萨日朗和听我说谢谢你那首歌，太真实也太魔幻了。
没什么太多技巧的一部电影，但我们也需要这样一部电影。我们总会适应和消化苦难，但更应该记住苦难。
看完影片，从黑暗的影厅出来，带着沉重的心情推开大门，外面刺眼的阳光一下照在脸上，身边顿时充斥着排队聚在一起等着在同一个影厅看另一部电影的外国人，欢声笑语瞬间把我包围，那个矛盾的时刻真是感慨。无法用语言描述的感慨。
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the most poetic documentary i’ve ever watched
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Tokyo is portrayed as a city without any character. The film focuses solely on toilets as conceived spaces, highlighting their unique design and consistently spotless condition. However, it barely touches on their aspect as lived spaces, like the marks left when people interact with the unique, public-yet-private space of a “public toilet”. The impact of the marks of these interactions on the cleaner is completely ignored, leaving only the most fairy-tale-like interactions. Because of such portrayal, the protagonist’s stable inner life, missing the nuances of everyday, real life details, feels empty to me. A tourist's sightseeing movie.
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lmao so many political metaphors in this one
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It's absolutely adorable when Snoopy uses sign language to curse while he's driving 🥺
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A complete story, but it also means that there's nothing new. Austin Butler really looks like Johnny Depp in the movie…
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Full of a human-centered perspective and using a voiceover for the hippo is the worst idea, almost slept through the second half of the film
but the manipulation of different mediums in the first half of the film is really good, i also like the sound for the credits at the end
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spirit and machine, nature and city, human language and dog barks, tradition and modernity
best club scene i’ve ever seen esp bcuz of the lighting here
great capture of Mongolia’s landscape, since watching Jia Zhangke’s The World, I have always had a fantasy about Ulaanbaatar so I really enjoyed watching it
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Really adorable. With so many strokes in my name as well, I can't help but wonder what I'd do if God threw in an extra day to make up for the time I spend writing my name compared to everyone else.
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Two destitute men reminisce about a deceased pink film actress, the once-glorious era of pink films, and the bygone days of celluloid. The black-and-white imagery is drenched in melancholy, with all the colors living only in their memories of her. Because the image of Shoko is pieced together from the memories of these two men, who still don't understand her tenacity and beliefs, they can only try to catch a glimpse of Shoko through the most male-centred means of lust and sex.
The film touches on many things: the nostalgia for the entire lost pink film industry, the women exploited by this industry and male-dominated systems, the dynamics of gazing and being gazed upon, the tangled mix of lust and love, and the cold yet inseparable intimate relationships — all of which are eventually washed away by the incessant rain that decays everything. Only the goldfish swimming in the clear tank can continue to survive insensitively, leaving the helpless and inept people to grieve alone.
Regardless of the narrative, I really like the overall atmosphere, especially because I watched it on a late, cold, rainy night. It's a film that I'd deeply regret not seeing on the big screen.
It all turns to nothing
It all comes tumbling down
Tumbling down, tumbling down
i’m too depressed to write my essay, so I decided to rewatch this,,,,,,now i’m too depressed to live :)
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i’m so into Vincent Vega for no reason
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feeling all hyped up and down at the same time, this almost desperate pursuit of pushing beyond the limits leaves me unable to stop crying
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can’t believe i spent the whole semester writing on one single film, a refreshing way to read it from postcolonialism but i could have made a better choice
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animation rules the worlddddd
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Had I not viewed my life in the light of the ideal, its mediocrity would have been unbearable.
I want to live more and more intensely.
There's no getting away from it. There are only illusions.
…my desires and romantic nature have cost me dearly.
But should my life get even worse, I'll never lose the courage to live.
For people like us are wed to this destiny.
From the diary of Yu Hong
On a humid night, I've loved many and perhaps been loved by many. With a breeze of spring, these emotions seem to gather and scatter, floating in the air, turning into a transparent medium, absorbed into my body, merging with my blood. After that, nothing particularly special happened. I just continued along the path, walking to various unnamed places, until dawn. A drunken spring night without hope.
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“There are two kinds of people in the world: people who swing and people who don't.”
sooooooo cute and cheerful, a movie really makes u feel happy and start to listen to Jazz ♪
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I am a dog person but..
I want all these kitties 😭😭
luv it, fabulous black & white quality and great sounds, the editing is also great
just thinking Tetsuo can also be seen as a prophecy for the future: humans can no longer be killed by external physical attacks, only to internally self-destruct and joyfully embrace the apocalypse 🤖
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😭😭 just luv it,,,,,,,
luv it even more bcuz of this 3am watch
tho i couldnt stop laughing when i see Dylan Moran appears in a book store setting
the torrent of the times
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nah
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Well yah, nothing in life is predictable and certain except for the one right beside you, yah? Oh yah
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Johnnie To: nothing is more important than the framing and my theme song
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No ranking
- Himizu
- Love Exposure
- Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
- Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
- Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
- Lust, Caution
- Paprika
- Oldboy
- The Mission
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
]]>just currently very obsessed with this guy
]]>Film list saved for my honours thesis: Construction of Northern Cities in Chinese Cinema; the Possible Imagination and Narrative within the "Post-industrial" Space
Includes a range of Dongbei-themed Movies (intend to emphasise modern movies, but will include some Manchuria movies as well - not very sure how far I'll go)
Keep updating :))
- Black Coal, Thin Ice
- The Piano in a Factory
- Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks
- An Elephant Sitting Still
- The Long Season
- Why Try to Change Me Now
- Fire on the Plain
- The Widowed Witch
- The Last Moose Of Ao Lu Gu Ya
- Durian Durian
...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
]]>Personal ranking for Lupin III series
- Lupin the Third: Operation: Return the Treasure
- Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
- Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
- Lupin the Third: Episode 0: First
- Lupin the Third: Missed by a Dollar
- Lupin the Third: Seven Days Rhapsody
- Lupin the Third: The Fuma Conspiracy
- Lupin the Third: Island of Assassins
- Lupin the Third: Farewell to Nostradamus
- Lupin the Third: The Hemingway Papers
...plus 16 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
]]>time to watch some real movies apart from the required viewings
]]>U know I think I need a rubbish bin
]]>- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
- No Country for Old Men
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
- Don't Look Up
- Jacob's Ladder
- The Big Lebowski
- Blue Velvet
- Dirty Harry
- Constantine
- Demons
...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
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