Fixation of the Moment. So I finally got my copy of this Chinese movie, Red Cliff [Chi-Bi]. Its a dramatized retelling of a very famous chapter in Chinese history concerning the political intrigues and wars that erupt in Han China in 208 A.D. The Battle of Red Cliff is a turning-point in this historical period and its very famously retold in the Chinese novel, The Romance of the three Kingdoms,. If memory serves, it was written in the Ming Dynasty, about four hundred years ago. Its so famous that even an illiterate white-washed Asian guy like me knows the story. And thats sayin a lot, Mister Frodo. And now its retold by John Woo along with Tony Leung-Chiu Wai and Takehashi Kaneshiro. ^___^ So _this version_ comes in two parts. There also is also a single International version, as the release company figures that Westerners have too short of an attention span to pay attention to long movies. And knowing the habits of those around me, this is sadly true. Yall need to read more books or something. There is an inevitable swelling of Chinese pride as I remember that I come from (genetically) one of the greatest civilizations on earth, with a rich culture and history. I also remember that we happen to be polluting Beijing skies so much that we have to wear masks outside and the air is green-grey. But thats nickel and diming. Red Cliff is very special to me: Ive seen it years ago when it was released. At the time, it was illegally downloaded in its two-part, over-four-hour form over the internet. Recently, I re-watched the dumbed-down version on Netflix (which is still very good!) at some two hours and forty-eight minutes. The focus on characters suffers in the shorter version, but it is a very enjoyable movie. Its a beautiful epic war movie that takes time to take a soulful quality to it. It has this type of Eastern poetry to it; one that I come to really enjoy, or maybe even fixate on when it comes to domestic Chinese movies. An example is when one of the main characters Ku-Ming is trying to recruit an ally for war. Instead of debating over the finer points and strategy of an alliance, they play a duet with a type of Chinese harp. He leaves satisfied that theyll ally because he knew the answer not from treating, but from his counterparts music. It may sound cheesy to you, but I was all (*_*). Im also disappointed in the quality of the subtitles. They do the job, but theyre not a good translation. My Mandarin cannot get the job done in Chinatown: lemme tell you. But I could tell that Cao-Caos line, One stroke, all that lies under heaven! is horribly translated as, The entire world! or something stupid. Red Cliff has epic-war on a grand scale; hundreds of cavalry, thousands of employed Chinese soldiers serving as extras and a thousand wooden ships made (and then burned) for the production of this movie. There are ingenious depictions of war strategy; use of formations, morale and supplies brings this movie into reality for me. Seamless production design, sound-editing, and scoring are rife throughout Red Cliff. I argue that its not a great Chinese war movie; not even a great movie that happens to be in Chinese, but that its just a great movie. We both know that you wont bother to see it but heres the really stupid Hollywood-style movie trailer. And in the off-chance that you do, seek out the 4 hour cut; its honest-to-God better. youtube/watch?v=pd0bqLQrtdE Im going to finish Part 2 tomorrow.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 07:23:31 +0000