Bring on the Night

Most Chinese movies that is.

We have a pile of Chinese/Hong Kong movies on DVD lying around always ready to serve especially my wife’s television/movie genes. As she once told me herself, she is a “televison-oholic”. I don’t disagree. She is impossible to communicate with while the television runs a show or movie that she likes.

Since the language barrier hasn’t allowed her to get full value of English or Danish movies, it is my duty to translate and interpret as we watch. Sometimes it’s great to put on a Chinese movie that she understands with ease so I can relax my feeble brain. I’m not off the hook completely though as I have to watch them with her.

I’m not saying that I don’t understand most Chinese movies, but most are just lost on me. I’m not talking about them as being too brainy for me to fathom, but rather the opposite. For example your average kung fu movie is no problem, since they always entertain me in some degree (though I think I enjoy them for different reasons than the Chinese does). My beef is more with the movies that want to be ‘more’ than necessary. Some of them just play on too many horses, ending up as a complete pointless mess.

Maybe we are just unlucky in our choices of movies, but I still haven’t seen more than a few Chinese movies that made me wonder after pressing the ‘stop’ button. Somehow most of these movies always end up leaving me confused and not in a good way. I’m pretty sure I understand them (if you should wonder) but the message is always clouded by bad choice of mood or too much of everything.

Example:

2 days ago I saw an older Chinese movie about a Chinese family immigrating to Hong Kong. They meet the father’s father only to watch him die by lack of shelter and medical attention. A grim picture of life’s harsh reality in those days. Then we follow the poor family as they struggle to get food and a place to stay. The whole story ends up with the family’s father holding a hostage to force the police to find their lost children. This could be a good movie with a story that made you think of how good your own life really is, but the producers screwed it up. Instead of making it a sad story, they managed to apply totally unfitting “humorous” parts to the story. In the end the mood and message just came off wrong.

I can’t even remember the movie’s name (which essentially underlines my point). Update: The name of the movie is ‘Family Light Affair’ from 1986

I have seen many Chinese movies to this day, but most of them leave me with a question like:

– Wow, was that a complete waste of time?
– The end?… THE end??
– Good effects, but isn’t there supposed to be a storyline when you make a movie?
– Ehhh what happened? What was the message?
– Did I just watch a funny or serious movie?

I also noted that my wife has a completely different sync as of what is funny. She can laugh at what westerns would perceive as a cruel or a sad part. So sometimes I am left to believe that maybe I watch another movie.

The earlier mentioned movie is a good example:

As the poor family struggle to get food, the father find himself standing outside a restaurant making stupid faces to beg for food. In my opinion this is the ultimate low for this family, and I would suspect that in real life this family would lose face in China too. So I found it kinda sad. My wife, on the other hand, found the scene hilarious because of his “funny faces”. I am puzzled but conclude that it must be a Chinese/Danish thing.

In the end I think that most Chinese people have a different view on what’s important to a movie. The essence is to be entertained, while I myself tend to look for entertainment and a message as well.

My idea of a perfect movie involves: A message, Good acting, cult-like mood, something you can relate to, good camera angles, timing and storytelling pictures. I guess I better make another entry about my favourites later.

If you should wonder, I still watch Chinese movies with the misses. I have seen a few that’s western-style good or above average, and I probably will be positively surprised once and a while. But I prefer western movies in the end.

Good Chinese movies I’ve seen: Under the red lantern (I think this is the best I’ve seen so far), Dumplings Three Extreme (kinda gross, but I like it. Rip-off of ‘Death becomes her’ I suspect), House of flying Daggers / Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon / Hero (kung fu and beautiful effects/scenery) and probably a few more that I can’t remember.

So the question is: Am I a movie bitch or just too stupid to understand Chinese/Hong Kong movies? Or maybe I just need some time to adjust to them before I understand?