I usually write about things that are cool. Cool can have many connotations. Things can be cool because I like them or they can be cool because, while not being easy to watch, they are memorable experiences. Such is with this Chinese movie.
I watched it on Canada's 'Showcase' satellite channel during their foreign film festival a number of years ago. Of all the movies I have ever watched this one has haunted me so much that I think one viewing is more than I can handle.
"Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding."
It's a love story but a tragic one - a deeply tragic one.
This movie was directed by Joan Chen and it contains beautiful vistas that contrast with the truly horrific things that happen to this girl when she is sent far away from her home. It got a grade of 96% from 'Rotten Tomatoes'.
Be warned that the film is beyond sad and the feeling of helplessness overshadows everything. You wish you could reach out and help her at several points but all you can do is watch. I was fixated an hypnotized.
This movie will never leave you. I saw the torrent today on 'Demonoid' but I just couldn't watch it again. I have only ever felt that way about one other film -a Russian movie about a man who spends his day killing people in Stalin's purge and subsequently loses his mind. I don't remember the name of it but it was also horrific.
10/10 (for the lasting effect it had on me)
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4 comments:
I hope I didn't refer you to this movie. It is so, so sad. Just don't watch it back to back with grave of the fireflies like I did.
If have never seen 'Graves of the Fireflies' but if it's anything like this movie I don't think I want to see it. I watched this one because it was on during a festival of excellent foreign films. It grabs you and you can't help BUT watch to the end. I haunts me to this day. Changed my views of life during the Chinese 'Cultural Revolution' that's for sure. I wish their was a word to describe it beyond sad because it's an amazing cinematic achievemant.
So based on your review I'm not sure whether to seek it out or not. Perhaps I'll just let serendipity take its course. If I am meant to see it I will see it.
I really think that is best.
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