Reviews written by Jason Shumate
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The Postmodern Life Of My Aunt (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
The Postmodern Life Of My Aunt (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All
(2)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 1 to 2 daysRelated promotions:2 people found the following helpful
June 12, 2007 Very ordinary filmAs I write this, there are only 2 reviews of the film. I am moved to write my own review as after reading the other reviews, I am almost left wondering if we watched the same film. This is a very ordinary film and I don't think it's as great as the other reviewers do. To be blunt, the film really isn't very interesting. I'm a Chow Yun Fat fan and this is a small supporting role for him. This is certainly not a Chow Yun Fat movie. This is the story of a selfish middle aged woman who abandoned her family to live in the big city (Shanghai) and in the end loses her life savings after falling in love with a con man (Chow Yun Fat). After being seriously injured and hospitalized, her daughter is forced to come to take care of her and in the end the woman has no choice but to move back to her small town life with her estranged husband and daughter. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. The ending seems rather abrupt to me. This movie is likely to be overrated by the art house crowd. I imagine the box office on this film to be very low as its depressing story line isn't likely to generate a lot of interest from people who like to go to movie theatres. I would hardly call this a "comedic drama" as I can only think of one scene that was even mildly amusing. This film is realisitic, but in the end I didn't really care for it or any of the characters in it. However, if you're into depressing films that offer no positive messages and just show how bad someone's life is, this is certainly the film for you. Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Big Times For The Crazy Bumpkins (Hong Kong Version)
Big Times For The Crazy Bumpkins (Hong Kong Version) VCD
(1)Our Price: US$10.49Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:August 4, 2006 Better than the 2nd filmOn the positive side, this film is much much better than the mean spirited second film in the series, _Return Of The Crazy Bumpkins_. On the negative side, it's not as good as the first and this film seems to be more hostile towards the main character, Ah Niu, than the films before.
Warning - Some spoiler information below, but not too much.
The film begins perhaps a few years after _Return Of The Crazy Bumpkins_. Ah Niu is out of money and must return to Hong Kong to find work. A corrupt government worker has been making money from bribes and investigators show up at his apartment before he has had time to hide his money. He throws a suitcase filled with money out of his apartment window and it lands at Ah Niu's feet. Ah Niu walks around Hong Kong and by blind luck finds Uncle. Uncle refuses to talk to him and tells him to leave until Ah Niu shows him the money. Then Uncle says he was only kidding. This sets a tone for the rest of the movie.
Ah Hua shows up a few brief times in the film in a long cameo role. She keeps warning Ah Niu that neither Uncle nor his "friends" really care about him, they only want his money. As you can imagine, Ah Niu ignores this good advice.
Uncle and his friends go through a variety of schemes to get money from Ah Niu. I began to lose all sympathy for Ah Niu. At first, you can feel sorry for a dumb guy who people exploit, but when he keeps coming back for more and more and almost begs to be exploited, well, at some point you can't feel sorry for him any more. The film does not have a happy ending for Ah Niu, although I have to say that maybe it was an appropriate ending.
It's very difficult to get information in English about this series, but it appears that there may be one more movie, not yet released, featuring these characters in Singapore. If so, perhaps that will be a future release.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Return Of The Crazy Bumpkins
Return Of The Crazy Bumpkins VCD
(1)Our Price: US$10.99Usually ships within 7 daysRelated promotions:December 13, 2005 Very bad and cynical sequel to a good filmThis is a sequel to the film _The Crazy Bumpkins_, which is a funny, entertaining movie. The first film was about Ah Niu, a dumb guy from the country who moves to Hong Kong and lives with his aunt and uncle and becomes involved in various schemes to earn money. If you watch the first film, at the very end the credits tell you to watch _The Return Of The Crazy Bumpkins_ to find out what happens to Ah Niu, so it is clear that the director intended from the beginning that this story would be told in 2 films.
_Return Of The Crazy Bumpkins_ features Ah Niu, his uncle, and Ah Hua, Ah Niu's female friend, from the first movie. It opens with Ah Niu being released from prison after 3 years for accidentally killing a co-worker. He goes to the place where his uncle and aunt lived and the building has been torn down. It would appear that no one has bothered to come visit Ah Niu while he was in prison. Ah Niu and his uncle meet later when Ah Niu starts singing and his uncle hears him. The film continues with Ah Niu working a series of jobs and losing most of them because of his own stupidity. There is no humor in this film. In the first movie, Ah Niu is a sympathetic character. Here, he's just a dumb guy who everyone, including his uncle, takes advantage of. He gets beaten up so much and never fights back that you stop feeling sorry for him. Ah Niu is now only worth your contempt as a viewer.
He rescues Ah Hua from an unhappy marriage and while she does care about Ah Niu and is grateful for his help, she doesn't love him. You realize that he's not going to get the girl. He gives all his money to her ex-husband to keep him out of her life and he keeps getting beat up. The director makes us think that Ah Niu might die at the end from his injuries. He doesn't die, but I will say only that the ending was so cynical that Ah Niu might as well have died because the director made sure to kill his soul before the film ended. The ending was perhaps realistic but after watching this film, I have to say that I was very disappointed. It is obvious by the end of the movie that no one really cares what happens to Ah Niu and as a viewer, you don't care either. Do yourself a favor and only watch the first movie in this series.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This) -
Double Bliss
1 people found the following helpful
November 7, 2005 Surprising good period musicalTo be honest, I knew nothing about this film prior to buying it and I bought it because it was very cheap and I thought I would take a chance. I was very surprised at how much I liked the film. The basic plot line is this - a rich girl and a working class boy from Hong Kong meet in the UK at music school and after finishing their classes, they return to Hong Kong to tell their parents they plan to marry. The problem - their fathers are long time enemies. The rich father runs a successful company and the working class father is a postman. OK, this certainly isn't an original plot with 2 fathers who hate each other, but the film is very entertaining.
All of the characters are very likable and a few times during the movie, the characters break into song. The songs are often very funny and I found myself laughing out loud at some of them or at least smiling as I watched it. This film was made in 1970, but musically it sounds like 1965 and the subject reminds me of American comedies made in the early 1960s. I admit that film is a little dated, but I thoroughly enjoyed it because the actors are so good and likeable. The actor who plays the postman steals the film. He looks a lot like Asian American actor James Hong, but they are different people. It's a shame this film was one of the very few of the Shaw Brothers re-releases that is on VCD only as it deserved much better, but as usual for the Celestial Pictures reissues, the quality is excellent.Did you find this review helpful? Yes (Report This)
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