Comments on: Wrenching Heartstrings: Zhang Yimou’s “Coming Home” Trailer, Reviewed

By: Gargh

Gargh — Tue, 13 May 2014 15:00:08 +0000

Something like ‘To Live’ is pretty brutal. It was banned, of course, but unless it was misreported, he wasn’t talking about censorship so much as saying that Chinese people needed to make the films in the first place.

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 12 May 2014 02:51:32 +0000

Seriously? Amnesia? Way to reach for that cliched-yet-unbelievable cinematic narrative. I find that East Asian drama in general is incredibly melodramatic (although my experience stems from South Korean cinema and TV, the kings of melodrama). Would it not be more realistic to have her with dementia or something? But then it would unlikely have a happy ending. Strive and be uplifted, for it is truly how life is.

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 12 May 2014 02:47:59 +0000

Maybe Stone is after a movie that is totally and brutally honest, depicted with all the viciousness and unpredictability that the time swelled with. And not subject to a checklist of permitted aspects.

By: Chinese Netizen

Chinese Netizen — Sat, 10 May 2014 18:23:01 +0000

Maybe living in Beijing pollution too long and drinking crap beverages regularly makes one a bitter, cynical know-it-all?

By: Gargh

Gargh — Sat, 10 May 2014 11:35:00 +0000

Yeah, the criticism does seem odd. At this point all I can really say is that the trailer music is seriously, unnecessarily overpowering.

Also reminds me of that post about Oliver Stone a while back. It’s truly bizarre for him to say that Chinese people don’t make films about their history, and specifically about the Cultural Revolution. One look at Zhang Yimou’s filmography makes complete nonsense of that idea.

By: Jonathan Alpart

Jonathan Alpart — Sat, 10 May 2014 06:24:56 +0000

I really have no idea what you are trying to say here. Why all the contempt and sarcasm for this trailer? Sure, it’s a tad melodramatic, but most Chinese films are, but don’t forget it’s also an advertisement. It’s not even that bad, and not even close to laughable.

For someone who’s always rallying against censorship on this blog, I don’t know why you aren’t falling over yourself in praise about the release of this film.

“A stranger alone in the heart of his broken family, Lu Yanshi determines to resurrect their past together and reawaken his wife’s memory.”

Gimmick? Christopher Nolan?? How have you missed that this is obviously a metaphor for China’s whitewashing of their own past? This film looks like it will be a watershed for Chinese cinema.