Assorted media

[oyceter]

Back in Taiwan! Sadly, only here for another few days before school starts and I have to go back to the US.

三槍拍案驚奇/A Simple Noodle Story - 張藝謀/Zhang Yimou's newest movie, and a damn weird one too. It's based off of the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple, but from what rachelmanija says, this one is actually more Coen Brothers-esque than the original! A murder takes place in a tiny noodle shop in a deserted region of China, and half-hilarious, half-grotesque hijinks ensue. It has Zhang Yimou's now-signature color-coding and beautiful camera-work and all the violence and awkwardness of the Coen Brothers, with the addition of noodle throwing and a truly bizarre song-and-dance sequence at the end. I don't think I'd recommend it unless you're really up for something weird, and I'm still not sure I enjoyed it, but it was definitely an experience!

花木蘭/Mulan - With 趙薇/Zhao Wei/Vicki Zhao from 赤壁/Red Cliff (she played 孫尚香/Sun Shangxiang). An adaptation of the story of Hua Mulan, done with lots of extras, battles, and etc. I didn't remember much of the original poem at all when I watched this, save the loom and the twelve years, but it's interesting to see that the visit to the emperor is canonical! The beginning feels more like the Disney Mulan, though with less emphasis on the disappointment. I thought it was interesting that they still stuck with her sneaking off, especially since the press I've seen on this indicates that the director really wanted to make something different from the Disney version. However, most of the movie is not on Mulan's personal growth to accept who she is; rather, since she's in battle for twelve years, most of it is about her becoming a great general. The director also set this in the Wei Dynasty battling the Rouran nation (tribe? It feels weird using "nation" pre-nation-state-formation, but "tribe" feels so dismissive). Unsurprisingly, the Rouran are portrayed as more barbaric with furs and skins and such, but the movie mostly lays the blame on one Rouran ruler rather than all the people. And the Rouran princess was unexpectedly awesome and part of one of my favorite parts of the movie.

Spoilers

I was a little hesitant about adding the love interest because the Disney version had felt so perfunctory, but I kind of love the spin they give it here. Two people held apart by their own honor! Of course I would love that... I also really like that they turn around the trope of the woman sacrificing herself for her man out of love. Sadly, I don't think the movie does so deliberately, but because the protagonist is heterosexual cisgendered female, using all the usual movie tropes to do a romance or a war movie means self-sacrificing men and men in refrigerators.

The twist with Wen Tai as the son of the emperor was a little far-fetched for me, but in my head, I pretend that Mulan and Wen Tai never meet again, but Mulan instead gains a best friend in the Rouran princess.

I also decided I was not annoyed at the "Mulan is too emotional to be a general" thing, as they did not seem to be portraying that as a specifically female trait, and rather as something all the soldiers had to overcome (seen most notably when Wu Guei tries to rescue Xiao Hu). Plus, that seems to be a fairly common narrative trope taken from war movies and adapted without too much change for Mulan. I got the sense that romantic love was part of it, but not all, and the sense that Mulan would have originally done the same for Xiao Hu as well.

Spoilers end here!

Overall, more character development and less wuxia than I had expected. Some pacing problems, but I enjoyed it a lot.

終極三國/K.O. 3anguo - OMG people. Someone in Taiwan has remade Romance of the Three Kingdoms as HIGH SCHOOL AU! Like, this was actually filmed! Since I was only able to get through 15 minutes of it, that is all I can report on. 關羽/Guan Yu and 張飛/Zhang Fei have been kicked out of way too many schools, and when they meet a guy named 劉備/Liu Bei, he promises he can get them in one. There are also four time travelers (don't ask me).

All seven of the guys I have met so far have distinctly different hairstyles, which is really an accomplishment in and of itself. It was very handy for character identification.

Also, Guan Yu presses a button on his watch to magically zap his weapon into existence.

And then, the time travelers drop a coin which ends up tipping over a boulder that squashes Liu Bei right after the three swear to be brothers. (Seriously, don't ask me.)

I am not even describing the extremely bizarre and strange sound effects, visual effects (picture the heads of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei on little cartoon bodies), and plot or complete lack thereof. And did I mention the time travelers? That's about when I stopped watching!

One of my friends says it is fairly popular in Taiwan. I am completely at a loss.

Sherlock Holmes - I succumbed and watched! It was suitably funny and snarky, though I didn't appreciate the totally-non-subtext of "Women ruin everything between two men!" I desperately wanted to love the Irene Adler character, but she needed a much better actress. They really should have cast someone with the chops to stand up to Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, but sadly, they seem to have gone for looks instead. The movie also continues the rule that Satanism in fiction makes things funnier (thankfully, the movie was not very serious about the Satanism). And finally, although I am sure I will enjoy the snarky Holmes/Watson that fandom is inevitably writing right now, what I really want is fic with a much snarkier Irene Adler outwitting Holmes a lot.

Comments

[lnhammer]

Well, if Japan can do R3T as all-moegirls, why not as a high school AU?

I want to see that Mulan. Wonder what the chance of it being licensed is?

---L.

[oyceter]

True! Though it's Taiwan doing the high school AU... And it's not the AU per se that's weird, but the random time travelers! OK, and the filming style. And the very strange sense of humor....

I really hope it gets licensed, but given how long it took Red Cliff to show up in the US, I'm guessing I'll have the DVD from Taiwan a year before it even shows up in theaters in the US =(.

[lnhammer]

(Needless to say, I meant to type R3K, not R3T. Sheesh.)

[lady_ganesh]

There was an article on A Simple Noodle Story on NPR the other day. I wanted to see it after that!

I too am hoping the Chinese Mulan will be translated and brought over here; I suspect it will, just on the basis of the popularity of the Disney movie.

[oyceter]

I hope it will be, though I am slightly more pessimistic! I am guessing it'll be more of a straight to DVD thing?

[lady_ganesh]

Probably, but in these days of Netflix that doesn't bother me.

[yeloson]

Yeah, I'm always boggled at how movie Satanism always includes Hebrew lettering randomly strewn about.

[thistleingrey]

It is very narrowly not Satanism per se, I think, as the film presents it. FWIW.

[oyceter]

Good to know, thanks!

[djkittycat]

This was a reference to the Order of the Golden Dawn, which did use Hebrew stuff (while being anti-Semitic, natch).

[yeloson]

Yeah, I'm familiar with the European Magic/mystery stuff. I just thought it's always interesting, as you said, how it gets to be both using Hebrew and anti-semetic at the same time, both in practices and Hollywood.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I actually thought Sherlock Holmes did way better with the women than I expected. Mary was clever enough to catch Holmes in disguise, she was never presented as having been dishonest, and their relationship went forward in the end with his grudging acceptance. Irene, I agree, wanted a different actress, and we didn't see enough of her being amazing and taking care of herself, but she did stop the machine. (I think the plot would have forcibly dragged anyone to where she wound up going, so that's hardly her fault.)

[oyceter]

Haha, I complain, but I actually thought it did better than I expected too. Just... low bar! Very low bar. And I have little faith in fandom treating the women any better...

[thomasyan]

If you'd care to pop over to my LJ, I'd be curious to know what you and Oyce think about my suggestion for improving Dances with Thundercats Smurfahontas Avatar.

[thistleingrey]

I have a sad curiosity about the R3K AU, but I think that Dynasty Warriors will do. Is Guan Yu's weapon taller than he, or did they give him something more suited to be summoned via a watch button?

[oyceter]

It is still taller than he is! It kind of... shimmers and materializes into his hand? It's very, very, very strange...

[wintersweet]

OMG.
OMG.
OMG.
(終極三國)

My husband is moderately obsessed with 三國, you see.

[oyceter]

BWAHAHAHAHA!

(just noting that I warned about the bizarreness!!!)

[vehemently]

Having seen the original Blood Simple, I am squinting really hard to see how it could be made as a slapstick comedy. Because that movie still creeps me out when I think about it, and it's a movie with no magic, no special effects, and none of those irrelevant-scary-shot gotchas that most horror movies employ. It's basically a story meant to scare you with how one ordinary bad decision leads naturally into another until you're doomed, and wowsers does it succeed.

(Single most disturbing line of dialogue I've ever heard, which I won't repeat because it spoils one of the single ugliest shocks I've seen on film.)

So... singing and dancing, huh? Maybe it will be incredibly creepy singing and dancing!

[rachelmanija]

It's really strange. Really really strange. Especially if you've seen the original!

Basically, it keeps the plot (sometimes point for point) but entirely changes the tone. Though it's very dark slapstick comedy. Sort of very very vaguely Joe Orton-esque, but without the reliance on snappy dialogue.

[oyceter]

It's... not quite slapstick? It's still very, very dark. But it's also comedy in the way other Coen Brother movies I've seen are comedy, in a "I'm wincing and this is kind of funny but not really" way.

It's very, very, very strange. At least the singing and dancing is during the credits...

[rachelmanija]

So, the RTK High School AU was terrible? I still kind of want to see it!

[oyceter]

I don't even know if it's terrible or not! It was just so bizarre that I couldn't keep watching!