i like this film a lot, but the fact that it’s less stylised than his earlier and later films, especially those with Gong Li, it’s sometimes overlooked.
Joks, I agree with you, that’s why I choose to start with it, I hope the strategy doesn’t back fire.
I’ll be watching this in the next few days.
Well, JR, I hope you enjoy it as much as you did What Time Is It There?
great intro I agree with everything you said :) I’ll write my thoughts sometime today.
Sek, great. Hopefully the manager for Tsai Ming-liang will do a thread as well
I think this film was a great addition to the 3 Ive already seen from Yimou (Red Lantern, Ju Dou and Hero) His cinematograhpy was certainly downplayed in Qui Ju but it somehow still managed to capture the barren reality that was seen in both Red Lantern and Ju Dou. So, in a way, his range is what defines him. That being said I didnt care for this story as much as his other films and some of it drug on a bit, even though it was intentionally gradual I couldnt help but feel disconnected at points. Everything else—acting, dialog—was fantastic and I hope he makes it through so I can see Red Sorghum ;)
I haven’t liked Yimou since Shanghai Triad, which was a poorly understood film at the time imo. It had the best use of filters this side of T.D.L.O.Veronique.
need to give Qiu Ju.
I like Shanghai Triad as well, and if Zhang survives long enough I will certainly use it. In Triad I see a heavy Leone and Bertolucci influence, and I think his only Western-type film (Western as in US, UK, Italy, not genre).
But that’s one of things I really like about Zhang, you have this great visual films Red Lantern, Ju Dou, and you have rougher yet still beautiful like Red Sorghum, To Live, Road Home, then the documentary style of Qiu Ju, then these almost fantasy epics in Hero, Golden Flower, Flying Daggers, and then there is the gangster flick Shanghai Triad.
He’s an accomplished filmmaker and I’d love to use the DC as a way to remind people of that.
^^agree about Shanghai, and it’s certainly one of the artiest/subdued gangster films ever made. The menace is subtle, but certainly very real. I think people expected something else, esp in a post-Tarantino world. Not to say audiences expected an American style crime flick, but they were too conditioned to watch those sort of ‘gangster’ flicks at that point to give something else a chance. This is also the reason i believe Little Odessa and The Funeral were such failures in the 90’s too. although they are both American films. American films with a Euro sensibility.
Well, let’s not put Ferrera in a conversation about Zhang :-)
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Looking forward to seeing this one. Thanks for the post, Uli.
Perhaps your overuse of the word “simple” in nearly every sentence put people off, Uli. Just an observation.
Something to think about, Uli.
Oh, and “flair” is mentioned thrice in just one sentence. Yikes.
Do you have a comment on the film or are you just trolling, please leave actual discussion threads to the discussion of a film, if you can’t that maybe this isn’t the right site for you.
Your simplistic take on Qiu Ju’s simple demand for simple justice failed to mention the absurdist, almost Kafkaesque, labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape that provides the frisson in the film. Zhang Yimou did, as well, failing, for the most part, to capitalize on the sardonic nature of the story, deciding instead to focus, on his then lover’s, earnest soot-stained face.
Then why don’t you mention it Cuddle, and contribute something to the thread instead of just trying to piss everyone off.
I disagree with you, I feel by avoiding the ins and outs of the headaches he kept the story focus where it needed to be, on the human aspect of the issue, not on the government aspect.
Noted.
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Very good film, Uli. I apparently liked it better than you did (based on our ratings). After seeing a few films stylized seemingly for the sake of it, the verite was a welcome relief. Great characters with Gong Li being the determined standout.
JR, if we had half star I would rate differently, but I enjoyed it a great deal, and probably more so after seeing more of Zhang’s films.
Serendipity—someone at work just recommended Raise the Red Lantern and it wasn’t until I checked that I realized it was by the same director. Is that one you’d recommend as well?
JR, I have in the past, yes, it is my favorite Zhang film.
Do you have a comment on the film or are you just trolling, please leave actual discussion threads to the discussion of a film, if you can’t that maybe this isn’t the right site for you.
Comedy.
Still five days to the vote on the match-up this is in, some for those who have not watched both, I encourage you to, both are strong films.
Hopefully a similar thread will be started for What Time Is It There?
Uli³Cain
The Story of Qiu Ju is a simple story of a woman from a country village in China who wants a simple apology from the village’s chief for kicking her husband in nuts, but once government gets involved in an issue nothing is simple any more.
Zhang Yimou put this film together without the usual visual flair in showed in his earlier films, yet the film had a different flair, it had a documentary flair, Zhang was capturing this story as opposed to telling the story.
Gong Li plays the title character, but even wrapped in layers of clothing and cutting down her beauty she still radiated a strength of character that propelled the film. We understood the justice she was seeking, we could feel her frustration through each level of government she had to go though.
I feel that we really saw all she wanted was an apology and did not want everything that came with trying to get it.
Zhang displayed the raw side of his polished talent here, as did Gong. They went contemporary and showed the hardship of regular people. They told a simple story that showed how complex little things can be made to be when pride and a power structure come into play.
The Story of Qiu Ju can be viewed here (password: mubi), and Tsai Ming-liang’s What Time Is It There? (also a fine film, and I think it will be a tough match) can be viewed on YouTube.
I hope you all enjoy both films and vote in the match up starting on the 10th.