(no subject)

[oyceter]

Hee, look at my nifty seasonal icon! Thanks sophia_helix!

Things at work are winding down a little, but I think it's going to be a little more insane next week. Ah well.

This week has been full of social things, but next week looks very boring. I fear long nights of doing nothing but watching Good Eats reruns with the rats, because fannishly is leaving for Taiwan, and I can't force her to hang out with me anymore =(. On the bright side, I get to go home in a week and a half!

Not that the rats are bad company. They would be better company if they talked though. Then again, maybe not. I think the only things my rats would talk about would be things like "Ooo, ok, scritch between my shoulders... ooo, yes, that's the spot *chitter chitter*" or "Food? Foodfoodfood?" or "Ok, please stop manhandling me so I can get back to my nap now!"

Watched House of Flying Daggers a few days ago with fannishly, which sparked many more giggles that Zhang Yimou probably intended. It's a very pretty movie, with very pretty people and pretty scenery and pretty action sequences. But both plot and characterization fall apart about two thirds of the way through, and the movie never quite recovers from this.

Things I liked: the echo dance sequence in the beginning with the drums, watching all the pretty people on the screen, the fight sequence in the bamboo grove, the last fight scene in the snow, which felt like the antithesis to all the other beautiful, bloodless fight scenes.

Things I didn't really like: I never quite believed the Takeshi Kaneshiro character and Mei were in love. It felt too much like the director kept trying to tell me they were in love, but I saw no good reason for them to be in love, except for the dictates of the story. Also, I got very sick of watching men rip the clothes off of Mei and watching her lying there half-heartedly while they groped at her. Squick.

Big spoilers ahead!

The giant plot twist with the Andy Lau character -- ehhhhh. Although I was really starting to like him when he was explaining to Mei how much he loved her, and how she was falling for this guy she'd only known for three days, versus this guy she'd known for three years.

And then he had to go try and rape her, and that was the end of my sympathy for him.

At least they tried to make a point about not going on and groping the girl you supposedly love without so much of a by your leave.

And the ending totally lost me. Actually, a great deal of the movie lost me... I was making jokes with Angela and saying that the whole "I'm like the wind" thing sounded exactly like Rocky from Chicken Run, which may not be the most romantic comparison ever, given that he is a claymation chicken with teeth.

And then came the ending, in which all I could really think of was that bit in Monty Python -- "I'm not dead yet!" *snerk* Character death loses a bit of the emotional impact when the same character keeps almost dying over and over and over. And I have no idea why she hit the tree.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

See the comments here to find me frequently agreeing with you. Also, after a while "I am the wind" started sounding like a fart joke in search of a punchline.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/coffee_and_ink/399926.html

[oyceter]

LOL! I kept getting distracted every time Takeshi Kaneshiro talked because he has a very strange accent that I can't quite place.

see, i was half distracted

[crushw-eyeliner.livejournal.com]

by the translation in the subtitles and then the chinese, which sounded more romantic in my head. Also, takeshi? SO PRETTY.

My complaints were similiar in the passive/objectification of Mei (i kept on going, BUT IT'S LITTLE SISTER AND BIG SISTER, ASSHOLES about the names. WTF?!) but as you might remember, my rage was mostly directed at the audience i was with, who weren't even laughing at the moments you mentioned, but at completely non-laughter required scenes.

The director said that House of Flying Daggers is meant to be a postscript or companion movie to Hero - in that Hero was all about the sacrifices one makes for the good of all the people, and denying the self, and that House is about romantic, sweeping epic love (which I generally hate, and yes, it didn't work the entire way through - but the last snow scene. My God. Takeshi all covered in snow. *sigh*), and passion.

Good ideas, but as I said earlier...a little too JJ-ed by the end.

Ha, isn't it bad that I call it JJitis? Too much, at one time?

Even though I've read some disparaging comments/opinions on Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon and its status as a 'real' Huxia film, I think, overall, the story and arc plotted out is much better and tighter than Hero and House of Flying Daggers, though Hero and HoFD are just *stunningly* beautiful.

Re: see, i was half distracted

[oyceter]

I think I stopped paying attention to the subtitles about halfway through. The Chinese sounds much better. I think it's really hard to translate the succinct little phrases without sounding stupid and flowery in English.

Oh, yeah, I had no idea what was going on about the names. Nia? Huh?

I think Crouching Tiger still works best as a wuxia movie (says she who has seen maybe five, if even), though I still get so distracted when watching that because everyone's accents are so different.

Re: see, i was half distracted

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Apparently Anita Mui was cast in the movie and when she died they wrote out her part rather than re-cast it. I bet she was supposed to be Nia, and that's why the "Who is Nia?" storyline never went anywhere.

I also think Crouching Tiger works best as a movie, although Hero is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen onscreen.

Re: see, i was half distracted

[oyceter]

Ohhh, huh. That would make more sense. Although the ending would still be very strange ;).

I really want to watch Crouching Tiger again now, along with that Asia Invincible/Swordsman II (I think that's the English title?) movie that I used to watch when I was a kid. All I really remember now is the gender-bending and the final fight with needles.