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Registered: 02-2004
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Movie: Chinese Box


This is another movie that's hard to categorize (U.S./Japanese/French production with a Hong Kong director and English and Chinese actors), so I'm plunking it here.

Director Wayne Wang (Joy Luck Club) once again tries to thread together little snippets of life into a story, this time splicing together many shots of ordinary Hong Kong life and of Hong Kong's handover by Britain to the Chinese to form the background of his story starring Jeremy Irons, Li Gong, and Maggie Cheung. There is something of a love story going on between Irons and Li and also a parable of the relationship between Britain and Hong Kong through the Irons' and Cheung's characters.

Maggie Cheung is a bright spot in the film, and I can see why she has advanced from playing Jackie Chan's love interest to the meaty parts she gets now. Of course, seeing that this movie is partially a French effort, I'm reminded of Irma Vep, which I guess that, like Jerry Lewis movies, I'm just not French enough to appreciate.

Still, despite the favorable review I recently gave Volcano High/화산고/火山高 and my fondness for Moorcock, I generally prefer stories to have more of a story. Chinese Box too often gets caught up Wang's attempt to simply document what Hong Kong was just before and during the handover without making a strong point (despite ample opportunities to explore the politics of the situation) and without advancing the story.

Overall rating: 6/10
Movie is mostly in English, with some subtitled Mandarin and Cantonese

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blondie Profile
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Registered: 10-2003
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Re: Movie: Chinese Box


When was Chinese Box made? Is it on DVD or cable yet? It sounds like something I'd like to see, even though it sounds like it might be painfully slow.

The name Li Gong sounds familiar. I'm thinking she might have been the lead actress in Pavillion of Women with William Dafoe, but I'll have to check. Did you see that movie? Set in China just before WWII begins, it's about an American priest who is hired by an unhappily married Chinese woman to tutor her eldest son, and of course, the women and the priest are attracted to each other. The film is a bit soap opera-ish, but still entertaining.

And speaking of Joy Luck Club, what did you think of that film if you saw it? I thought it was pretty good, though its roots as a novel are a little too evident. I've also read some people complain that the film encourages a negative stereotype of Asian men in America. I doubt the writer or the filmmakers really set out to do that, but given how infrequently Asian men are featured in Hollywood productions, I suppose the complaints have some merit. Any thoughts?

Perhaps, especially since there are so many multi-country productions these days, it would be easiest to just create a topic called "Movies" in the "General Discussion" forum. That way, we could talk about films from any country, and not worry about how to categorize them. The only problem I can forsee is that it would create an excessive amount of discussion pages, though I think that would take a while. Any thoughts?
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Re: Movie: Chinese Box


引用 (quote):

blondie wrote:

When was Chinese Box made? Is it on DVD or cable yet? It sounds like something I'd like to see, even though it sounds like it might be painfully slow.

Chinese Box was made in 1997 and will air again on April 26th on TMC at 15:20 and on TMCP at 18:20.

引用 (quote):

I'm thinking she might have been the lead actress in Pavillion of Women with William Dafoe, but I'll have to check. Did you see that movie?

I haven't seen that, and IMDb doesn't think it's the same actress.
引用 (quote):

speaking of Joy Luck Club, what did you think of that film if you saw it? I thought it was pretty good, though its roots as a novel are a little too evident. I've also read some people complain that the film encourages a negative stereotype of Asian men in America. I doubt the writer or the filmmakers really set out to do that, but given how infrequently Asian men are featured in Hollywood productions, I suppose the complaints have some merit. Any thoughts?

Let's see…. I rated The Joy Luck Club a 7/10.

Yes, I think both complaints are valid: that it is structured like a book and that its portrayal of Asian men could be seen as negative. But I think most people will realize that the substories are meant to be interesting rather than representative. (My larger stereotyping worry is that half the film centers around women who fled to the U.S. instead of Taiwan when the Communists took over, which some viewers may not realize is not the typical background of Chinese immigrants in America.)

In my opinion, it's a good (but not great) movie and definitely worth seeing.

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Re: Movie: Chinese Box


Sounds good. I'd like to see it, do you know the rating?
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Re: Movie: Chinese Box


Here's the IMDb entry. It's rated R for a tiny bit of nudity and because Maggie Cheung says “f***”.

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Registered: 09-2003
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Re: Movie: Chinese Box


I haven't seen "Chinese Box," but I saw "Joy Luck Club" once on local TV. I thought it was okay but not great; the moral of the story seeming to be that a Chinese girl should find herself a nice American man to settle down with because Chinese men are all so rotten.

Actually, there was one scene where a Chinese girl's American boyfriend stupidly hogged all the food at the dinnertable, never quite figuring out that it would have been polite for him to take just a little bit and leave plenty behind so the older people at the table would not go hungry. Guess even the American men didn't come out looking so good in that movie.

As a side note, my Chinese (HK) born girlfriend absolutely hated that movie - but she wouldn't tell me why! I can't imagine: am I, perhaps, also a food hog?
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Registered: 04-2004
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Re: Movie: Chinese Box


I saw the Chinese Box a loooong loong time ago and I don't really remember it but I do know that it was an okay film. Yeah Gong Li was okay in it I think, to be honest I think Maggie Cheung did a better job. Jeremey Irons also did a great job in it too. This film portrays Hong Kong around the time of the 1997 Hong Kong handover and stresses the love relationship between Gong Li and Irons. Sorry I'm not that much help describing the film but I do remember that the film's soundtrack won me over, lol in fact I went out to buy the soundtrack. There is this one song sung by Alex To that I really like and it was also featured in the movie "The Corruptor" with Chow Yun Fat and Mark Whalberg.
However, this film is very different from Joy Luck Club. I absolutely loved Joy Luck Club (the only movie in which i cry every time i see it), it's one of my favorite movies but the Chinese Box isn't quite up there for me. ;)
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Re: Movie: Chinese Box


Thank you, Ccwf, I guess it would be okay for me to watch. I like Chow Yun Fat, can't say much about Mark though.
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