A Brighter Summer Day in SF!!
Earlier tonight. San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival (deep breath) kickoff party. Packed house. Blaring old-school dance music. Finally sit down to look at the program, hot off the presses. Hm, that's nice ... that's nice ... The Home Song Stories on closing night, wonderful. Wait, what's this? A Brighter Summer Day. (More blaring dance music.) That's one of the big Taiwan New Cinema movies, isn't it?
Omigod. It's A Brighter Summer Day! The sweeping epic of Cold War Taiwan! Of which there are only one or two prints left in the world! The movie that obliterated a three-day weekend because I couldn't stop thinking about it, after watching it on VCD on a laptop.
Wait...wait: Look at the time ... 240 minutes! It's the real deal, kids!
Wednesday, March 19, Landmark Clay Theater, 2261 Fillmore, S.F. Be there or be not into great films.
(More on the rest of the spectacular festival lineup tomorrow.)
Here's what I wrote about ABSD after that first viewing. (Warning: Thematic spoilers.)
"Like Yi Yi, it's a long movie with a big subject that comes across in a number of different, connected stories. Both are well-balanced -- filled with well-balanced, well-composed shots and good pacing. Although I liked Yi Yi and thought Yang had a lot of success with a very ambitious concept, A Brighter Summer Day is in some ways even more ambitious. It's far more successful. He explores seemingly every aspect of Fifties life in Taiwan and underneath it all shows the current of violence. It's a metaphor for the threatened conflict with the mainland, and beyond that, for the whole undercurrent of violence in the Cold War. The story of the main character's growing up slips so delicately between innocence and danger. Then there is the creeping influence of American culture, the music, Westerns, romanticism, and what looks to an American like a West Side Story gang culture. Then there is the adults' attachment to the mainland past, and the sister's growth and academic progress. The way Yang fits in all these elements harmoniously and builds tension and brings it down, all over the course of four hours, is stunning."
Omigod. It's A Brighter Summer Day! The sweeping epic of Cold War Taiwan! Of which there are only one or two prints left in the world! The movie that obliterated a three-day weekend because I couldn't stop thinking about it, after watching it on VCD on a laptop.
Wait...wait: Look at the time ... 240 minutes! It's the real deal, kids!
Wednesday, March 19, Landmark Clay Theater, 2261 Fillmore, S.F. Be there or be not into great films.
(More on the rest of the spectacular festival lineup tomorrow.)
Here's what I wrote about ABSD after that first viewing. (Warning: Thematic spoilers.)
"Like Yi Yi, it's a long movie with a big subject that comes across in a number of different, connected stories. Both are well-balanced -- filled with well-balanced, well-composed shots and good pacing. Although I liked Yi Yi and thought Yang had a lot of success with a very ambitious concept, A Brighter Summer Day is in some ways even more ambitious. It's far more successful. He explores seemingly every aspect of Fifties life in Taiwan and underneath it all shows the current of violence. It's a metaphor for the threatened conflict with the mainland, and beyond that, for the whole undercurrent of violence in the Cold War. The story of the main character's growing up slips so delicately between innocence and danger. Then there is the creeping influence of American culture, the music, Westerns, romanticism, and what looks to an American like a West Side Story gang culture. Then there is the adults' attachment to the mainland past, and the sister's growth and academic progress. The way Yang fits in all these elements harmoniously and builds tension and brings it down, all over the course of four hours, is stunning."
posted by Steve at
10:30 PM
3 Comments:
Ahhh, wrong coast. I don't suppose you'd be willing to risk all to smuggle out a bootleg?
pssssst...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4930576570631580622
Hm, I guess that's only dodgy in a strictly legal sense. Apparently you can put a video of any length on Google Video! Of course, it's also a roughly 50 percent degradation from my VCD, which is, well, a VCD. But it gives you a taste.
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