Actors are actors after all

Keyon 2022-02-07 14:51:56

Watching this movie is all about JI, and as his crush (has been crushed for a month, I don't know how long it will last), I really want to get to know him. Saying "want to get to know him" is ridiculous and impossible. I once thought it was possible, that an actor could show his intelligence and temperament in his role. Having watched several other films of JI, I am convinced that he is a very elegant and aristocratic man as people say. But this "Chinese Box" disappointed me a lot. How could JI accept such a bad movie? The script is so rotten that I don't want to say more. You don't pursue plot, but always pursue something, right? Always convey some of your ideas, always have an inner passion to support it. But this bad film is like a bland running account written by a person learning to tell a story. Is he trying to achieve a kind of ambiguity, a kind of sadness? Unfortunately, due to the lack of inner thinking, it is only reduced to a poor imitation. Loving someone who is impossible to love, repression finally erupts, and the end is a tragic end. It's such a trick. I actually like this model. But the problem is that the pattern can only provide you with a framework, and you have to fill it with your own flesh and blood to make it alive. And this movie has no flesh and blood. We don't know why the photojournalist has been in love with that woman for so many years. Of course, love has no reason. Yes, there is no reason for love, but this is what the person in love says, and it is the party's desire to talk. As a director, as a bystander storyteller, you have to provide us with a background of love. You can choose the background of this love, and its purpose is to convey a contemplation, a pain or a joy, etc. In short, people must feel life itself in the love between men and women, and realize its complexity, its pain, or its insincere words. Without that, every kissing shot, every sex scene, every close-up of a tormented face would be meaningless, because there is no meaning behind such a shot, the actors are just doing it out of their own natural fleshly advantage or accumulated over the years The performance skills are just broken performance exercises. Ask a question, is the heroine worthy of love like the hero? What exactly does she have? What attracts men? She has no desire to find out, she is not a mystery. Therefore, the obsession of men can not be moved.
All in all, it's a bad movie. I hope that JI will be more careful in the future. Don't destroy my imagination of him. Don't let my current thinking become firm, that is: an actor is an actor after all, and he lacks thought and judgment.

View more about Chinese Box reviews

Extended Reading
  • Cyrus 2022-02-07 14:51:56

    Came here to see Aunt Gong, but found that few people received the essence of the story...and was surprised to find that the film named after the Chinese box has a strong political metaphor. The film uses ingenious and naked stories to reflect the reality, and its ultimate purpose is only to express the reflection on the return of Hong Kong, one is whether the democracy and judicial system will be assimilated by the mainland, and the other is whether the economy can maintain sustained prosperity. The scenes have both positive and negative sides, but the overall atmosphere tends to be low and realistic. It can be seen that the director is not optimistic about the return, which cannot be denied. In particular, it is mentioned that the mainland wants to change the laws of Hong Kong, the students committed suicide for the democracy and freedom in their eyes, etc., and even mentioned North Korea. However, today, 22 years later, there has finally been a public incident of law revision in Hong Kong. I hope the mainland can give Hong Kong people more confidence in the future.

  • Mabelle 2022-04-20 09:02:35

    I don't know what the character needs or what, but Gong Li is very dull in the movie / Maggie Cheung and Irons are wonderful!

Chinese Box quotes

  • Party Guest: You were talking about democracy. Don't forget that Hong Kong never had democracy, and Hong Kong never asked for democracy, and didn't get it until 1984. But having been given it as a present, it might miss it if it's taken away again.

  • John: You must get a piece of jade, and keep it close. Then your blood will go into the stone, and the stone will get into your blood. The blood will then become stone, and you will stop bleeding.