A Major Disappointment

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Blistering performances.

This movie is awesome. IT is so awesome that it is awesome. Its awesomeness cannot be defined. This movie is awesome. IT is so awesome that it is awesome. Its awesomeness cannot be defined. This movie is awesome. IT is so awesome that it is awesome. Its awesomeness cannot be defined. This movie is awesome. IT is so awesome that it is awesome. Its awesomeness cannot be defined. This movie is awesome. IT is so awesome that it is awesome. Its awesomeness cannot be defined. This movie is awesome. IT is so awesome that it is awesome. Its awesomeness cannot be defined. This movie is awesome. IT is so awesome that it is awesome. Its awesomeness cannot be defined.

I saw this together with Red Lantern and viscerally knew which one I preferred right away. Having given it a few days to sit now, I see that Red Lantern has grown even more in my estimation while this has almost completely faded from view.Lantern was precisely contained within narrative walls, it abstracted life by placing us in the midst of turning cycles of life and wove cloths out of that turning in the form of rituals that marked passage; color, sound, weather, architecture. It was akin to a Buddhist mandala to me, a cosmic picture directing me to find my own place in the center of things, choose repose over madness.Zhang by contrast here wanders unconstrained, under the auspice of history, aiming for a full chronicle of sorts of Chinese life as a family moves through the decades. The stage backdrop changes frequently; Civil war, Great Leap, Cultural Revolution.We do still have the turning of cycles and it does create a (cosmic) picture; a life of comfort squandered by the man's ignorance who loses it all, to one of hardship and quiet abiding. But eventually it doesn't direct towards a center that will illuminate the turn as something more than the ramblings of history.And it's simply not a very enviable position to want to be the chronicler of history like Zhang is trying to here, it reminds me of how Kusturica stifled himself in similar endeavors. It means our reference point always has to be an externally agreed version of reality and we have to be chained to that sweep.You can see him try to root himself in something more essential - the husband becomes a puppeteer putting on shadow plays for the people, life as the canvas where these evanescent shadow plays are enacted, now losing a fortune, now gaining back your family, so that we could see it from the distance of transient flickers of drama. Civil war is introduced as someone hacking down the screen, revealing war as another play that demands its actors assume their place.But this is forgotten in lieu of stopping at various points of history so that it ends up being more the Oscar winning type than history parting to reveal myriad reflections like Andrei Rublev. Had it come out from the West, I'm sure it would have won a few and the wonderful Gong Li her first. The best I got out of it eventually was the sense of a man and woman trying to make their way together as the skies shift and the stage quakes by the ignorance of unseen puppet masters enacting their little plays. The Great Leap castigated as a wall collapsing on a little boy, because the man who crashed his car and the boy were both overworked and needed sleep.Zhang took care to color history within certain lines so that we veer close to the monumental failures of the era but never quite see the full brunt of the horror, famine or mass persecution, only bits of abuse in passing. It was still banned by Party hacks anxious to control the play.

To live, the movie is based on an original novel by Yu Hua. In 1994, lifetime was directed by Zhang Yimou. According to Fu Gui's family rough fate as main line to narrate decades of up and sown of the suffering with Fu Gui and his family. These are showing one epitome of time in different the era of encounter. From the war of liberation and great leap forward to the Cultural Revolution, because they are lose too much and, their life have become numb. They are face probably only left "lifetimes" in their life. The movie is showing a compassion and sad black humor. It would condense the history and personal destiny. And the film showing that people cannot control own fate in history. This film review will focus on analysis the film's narrative approach and Fu Gui's character delineation.The film has clearly structure, and two main line interlaced. The first clue is the development of China's history. It is visible clue. The film would divided into four parts by the director, respectively in the forties, in fifties of great leap forward, in sixties of the Cultural Revolution and in the early eights. The film background is the modern history of China. Get through describe Fu Gui two generations of people's live, reflect to people's state of life in this historical background. According to this structure form of the line, the director would to depict characters into the history background. The director discards a lot of color of freehand brushwork type, and to emphasize feelings of original nature.The second clue is leather silhouette show. It is invisible clue. The leather silhouette show not only impact of emblem character and character rough fate, but also there are very important function in the transition of connection to the plot and scene. It is emphasize background and establish the emotional tone. Leather silhouette show is unique folk art, and has the very high artistic quality. The director is skillful use leather silhouette show in the film. For example, in the beginning of film, when Fu Gui gamble in casino, there is performances of a leather silhouette show. With a tense and fierce leather silhouette show, Fu Gui lost everything, and he was began the turning point of his fate. When he has nothing at all, Long Er gives leather silhouette for his. Fu Gui was began his career of a busk. The film's shot is ingenious transition from he picked up leather silhouette to scene of perform in the streets. Afterwards, he is captured by the communist party. The film's shot from under the bayonet leather silhouette transition to scene of perform leather silhouette show for the communist party. In the ending of film, the leather silhouette box is become chicken nest. The last scene is stand for new power and hope of living. It is the theme of the movie.Environment has a very important influence for character. To some extent, environment can change one person. Fu Gui from wealthy of gambling change to earthy farmers, and from earth farmers change to old man of kind to life. In different life experience and living environment, Fu Gu's character is also changing. He was born in the landlord family in the period of republic of China. Because he has a superiority of living condition, he formed the habit of gambling, and he has not sense of responsibility. However, when he loses everything and he witnessed the death of friend in the extremely cold environment, his survival desire is more and more intense. When he comes back, he is more cherishing reunion with his family. Fu Gui's patience and tolerance is Chinese farmers generally unique culture character. It comes from influences of China local culture and historical heritages. They are live in the misery and predicament, they cannot change life. However, Fu Gui is kind hearted. Chun Sheng accidentally killed his children, he has a passive forgave Chun Sheng. In the Cultural Revolution, he persuaded Chun Sheng to live, this is tolerant mentality, he not only forgave Chun Sheng in suffering, but also he can use with broad mind to accept the reality for his attack and shock and unfair.Living is not Fu Gui's patent, everyone is struggling in the fate. Jia Zhen, Lao Quan, mayor and Feng Xia, their fate is fate of China and fate of the most common Chinese people. Some people alive, and some people died, destiny often refuses to give happiness to kind and menial people.

Every life is bound to be born and last in a certain period. This film tells a story of a husband（Fugui) and a wife(Jiazhen) and how how they manage to live through China's tumultuous periods.The time line of the story is quite long. It starts from China's civil war to the Emancipation of China and then to the times of great leap forward and finally to the cultural revolution till its end. As for the characters, the status of Fugui and Jiazhen also changes from landlord to peasant.Due to the habit of gambling, Fugui lost all fortunes of the family, which accidentally saves his family as, with the communist party coming into power, they become peasants and avoid the fate of being killed. Later on, their son dies of an accident when melting irons in the times of great leap forward when all metals of every family are collected to produce irons. Their daughter dies of hemorrhoid when delivering her baby during cultural revolution when all the doctors and professionals are criticized and replaced by Red Guards who are not equipped with sufficient medical knowledge.To a large extent, the fate of Fugui's family is beyond the control of themselves. As opposed to an era, one person's life is like a grain of corn in the wild sea. However, no matter how harsh the living environment is, they make efforts to live because only when alive, one can feel hope.As the old sayings goes, it is better to live indecently than to die decently. In one word, what the common people need fundamentally is to live.