In fact, "Suzhou River" has been seen before, and I watched it again a while ago. I found "The Summer Palace" randomly today. I've always heard of it, but I haven't seen it. After reading it, I found that it should be banned, and I can't even do movie reviews.
I can't see other people's film reviews, so I still talk about my own thoughts, and I will record them for myself.
The thick literary texture is the kind of natural and calm artwork. It's not art for art's sake, no need to struggle, no doubt, it's such a confident and natural true literary film, also called a director's film. There are few directors in China who can make films of this quality. Whether Zhang and Chen can do it, I think they can, but they may not do it, dare not do it, and can't do it very well. Whether Jia can do it or not, he should be able to, but he was first caught and then lifted, and he couldn't carry it to the ground. Wang, Gu, don’t say so much. In short, Lou is in place.
I still want to say that, unlike "Suzhou River", the structure of the love story used in "The Summer Palace" does not seem to use the typical structure of a feature film, so it may be a purer literary and directorial film. At the same time, I have seen that it incorporates realistic and even deep period backgrounds, as if a romance film is placed in the background of an epic film. I don't know if it is the director's intention, whether it is the background of the times that sets the stage for the love story, or whether the love story reflects and dissects the essence of the times. I lean towards the former, my feeling is that the director is more focused on people. There are waves and contradictions in any era, people are always confused and longing, love is always blooming in an instant, and withering in distortion.
The director didn't do anything about the order, but just followed it down. It should be that the story does not need to be reversed.
If the theme has no meaning for specific analysis, then the characters are worth analyzing and learning. The four figures have a ladder in terms of weight, and the design is still very durable. The characters here are more realistic than those in Suzhou River, and they are the most representative personalities of that era. Changes in the relationship between characters in literary films are more random and willful, and there is no meaning to analyze them with structure. The changes in the film are also very romantic.
Do a good job of genre. If you want to make a literary film, you need to wait until the conditions are mature in all aspects. In particular, the work needs to come out on its own.
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