Reviews written by zoltán
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Summer Palace (DVD) (US Version)
Summer Palace (DVD) (US Version) DVD Region 1
(1)Our Price: US$21.99List: US$24.99Save: US$3.00 (12%)Usually ships within 30 daysRelated promotions:March 20, 2008 Director You's MasterpieceOne of a spate of recent movies from China which examine the changes going on in the country as it moves out of the long shadow of its past. Both the values of three millennia of Chinese heritage and the recently-acquired Marxist/Maoist approach to society are being jettisoned in deference to modernization, whatever eventual form that might take. What has come about is in no way a smooth and certain transition to a better future. With little or nothing of the past left to cling to, people struggle, sometimes together and sometimes in isolation (and sometimes seemingly both simultaneously), toward an unknown, unpredictable future. "Summer Palace", in my estimation, captures time and place as masterfully as any film of my acquaintance. Sweeping events are caught not on a mural of gigantic proportion but with a succession of intimate canvases, each deftly executed with just the right amount of detail, even if what is communicated might be negative or ambiguous. A beautiful achievement and one which earned the director and producer lengthy government-decreed bans from working in their country, a country for which they obviously care deeply. Makes a suitable companion piece to "Lost in Beijing", "Platform", "Shower", "Still Life", and even the more openly comic "Getting Home". Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This)
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My Blueberry Nights (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
My Blueberry Nights (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3
(2)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:March 4, 2008 My Blueberry Delights"My Blueberry Nights" represents Wong Kar Wai at the peak of his craft. Not the stylistic transition I had expected but a translation into another spoken language. Which seems to make little difference, as Mr. Wong speaks a cinematic language that is both all his own and universal. Each slow-mo blur and obstructed frame has as much poetry in it as a line of Shakespeare. Wong motifs abound-- Trains, clocks, diners, female gamblers, policemen, the down on their life and luck and looking for love. Is the similarity of the names Su Li-Zhen and Sue Lynn mere chance? First-time actor Nora Jones (a prospect I winced at when I first read the news) acquits herself with charm and grace and the rest of the cast performs flawlessly, with David Strathairn perhaps being the standout. Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Deluxe Special Edition)
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Deluxe Special Edition) DVD Region 3
(3)Our Price: US$17.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:May 1, 2006 Sympathy for Park Chan Wook"Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" is the final installment in Mr Park's "Vengeance" trilogy and is a fitting successor to "Mr Vengeance" and "Oldboy" as well as a satisfying conclusion to this extended meditation on revenge and its consequences. In "Lady", director Park steps beyond the theme of individual revenge of "Oldboy" by expanding on what was treated tangentially in "Mr Vengeance": The treatment by society as a whole of those who refuse, for whatever reasons, to conform to the rules and mores of that society.
The film twists and turns toward a conclusion that will have the thinking, feeling viewer squirming in the viewing seat. Highly recommended!Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This)
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