Chinese and Indian cinema
Aug 28, 2014 10:58:10 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2014 10:58:10 GMT -5
The legendary bb took me to see another Chinese film recently, and this is what she posted in The Radio 3 Forum:
The film I preferred was called Charulata. Satyajit Ray’s own favourite of his films, set in late 19-century Bengal, boasts a marvellously vital Victorian heroine: Charulata, spellbindingly portrayed by Madhabi Mukherjee, is beautiful, intellectual and dangerously bored. Racing from window to window in her vast, ornate mansion, Charulata spies hungrily on the outside world through opera glasses.
According to Margaret Deriaz, her wealthy husband, the high-minded editor of a political journal, is too preoccupied with the latest tax legislation and the forthcoming English election (Disraeli v Gladstone) to pay much attention to his wife. Somewhat unwisely, he invites his charming younger cousin Amal, a would-be poet, to keep her company and encourage her literary talent. This is a household of seething, suppressed emotions, subtly revealed by Subrata Mitra’s eloquent camera. A richly atmospheric soundtrack evokes the wider world, while Ray’s wistful score and the romantic songs beloved of Charulata and Amal heighten the sense of longing. Exquisitely adapted from a novella by Rabindranath Tagore, Charulata was described by its director as ‘the one film I would make the same way if I had to do it again’. This ravishing new restoration does justice to its perfection. I could not but agree!
" ... Yesterday, we finally got to see Farewell My Concubine, which has come to define the Chinese epic – bold colours, exquisite compositions, decades of history told through emblematic characters, and resonant cultural signifiers, all with a garnish of political and sexual scandal. It also introduced Leslie Cheung, one of the most important screen actors of the last century. Cheung plays Dieyi, an opera performer who as a youth is brutalised into accepting his fate as a boy turned into a girl in order to play female roles on stage.
Unfortunately, Chen Kaige boosted the part of Juxian, preventing the film from dealing with Dieyi's homosexual feelings for Xiaolou, leaving a dent in psychodramatic credibility."
Unfortunately, Chen Kaige boosted the part of Juxian, preventing the film from dealing with Dieyi's homosexual feelings for Xiaolou, leaving a dent in psychodramatic credibility."
The film I preferred was called Charulata. Satyajit Ray’s own favourite of his films, set in late 19-century Bengal, boasts a marvellously vital Victorian heroine: Charulata, spellbindingly portrayed by Madhabi Mukherjee, is beautiful, intellectual and dangerously bored. Racing from window to window in her vast, ornate mansion, Charulata spies hungrily on the outside world through opera glasses.
According to Margaret Deriaz, her wealthy husband, the high-minded editor of a political journal, is too preoccupied with the latest tax legislation and the forthcoming English election (Disraeli v Gladstone) to pay much attention to his wife. Somewhat unwisely, he invites his charming younger cousin Amal, a would-be poet, to keep her company and encourage her literary talent. This is a household of seething, suppressed emotions, subtly revealed by Subrata Mitra’s eloquent camera. A richly atmospheric soundtrack evokes the wider world, while Ray’s wistful score and the romantic songs beloved of Charulata and Amal heighten the sense of longing. Exquisitely adapted from a novella by Rabindranath Tagore, Charulata was described by its director as ‘the one film I would make the same way if I had to do it again’. This ravishing new restoration does justice to its perfection. I could not but agree!