The documentary entails an interesting story regarding its release, since it was initially shot by Shinsuke Ogawa in the 1980s, in an effort to depict the lives of the people in the tiny Japanese village of Kaminoyama, who deal with the cultivation of persimmons. However, the film was concluded in the 21st century by his disciple, Xiaolian Peng, who stayed very close to his teacher’s style, even revisiting the same locations after 15 years, to the point that the change in helm is not visible at all.
Ogawa takes a very thorough, but at the same time very sensitive look at the growing, drying, peeling and packaging of the persimmons in the area, focusing on the agricultural, as much as on the humanistic aspect. In the latter fashion, a number of people dealing with the different stages of the cultivation are interviewed, talking about the perfect combination of earth,...
Ogawa takes a very thorough, but at the same time very sensitive look at the growing, drying, peeling and packaging of the persimmons in the area, focusing on the agricultural, as much as on the humanistic aspect. In the latter fashion, a number of people dealing with the different stages of the cultivation are interviewed, talking about the perfect combination of earth,...
- 3/26/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In his second part of an informal trilogy, director Li Yang critiques the patriarchal structures within the rural China. In 2003, his debut feature-length film “Blind Shaft” depicted the grim realities of the mining industry in his country of origin. To the director’s surprise, it was banned from release in China. The rebel director came back in 2007 with “Blind Mountain”, and in 2018 he managed to finish the trilogy with “Blind Way”, which focused on the problem of child beggars.
“Blind Mountain”uses documentary aesthetics to tell the story of young university student Bai Xuemei (Lu Huang). It opens with a scene of her in a bus driving into the region, and this is actually the last time we will be able to see her fully free and mobile. A couple of sequences later, she is kidnapped and sold as a wife to a backward family in a remote village.
“Blind Mountain”uses documentary aesthetics to tell the story of young university student Bai Xuemei (Lu Huang). It opens with a scene of her in a bus driving into the region, and this is actually the last time we will be able to see her fully free and mobile. A couple of sequences later, she is kidnapped and sold as a wife to a backward family in a remote village.
- 12/17/2019
- by Olek Młyński
- AsianMoviePulse
China’s decades-long One Child Policy gave birth to a generation of females lost in their identity, girls raised as the boys that their parents hoped for, who had to compete with their counterpart males at every step of the way. Director Teng Congcong’s debut film “Send Me to the Clouds” takes a look at the st’ory of one such woman in an effectively subtle yet humorous manner.
“Send me to the Clouds” is released in cinemas all over the Us, by Cheng Cheng Films
A chance visit to the doctor reveals that carefree yet strong-willed journalist Sheng Nan (a name that literally means “surpass men”) has ovarian cancer. Thoughts of raising the vast sum of money required for the treatment fill her mind when she receives an offer to ghost-write the autobiography of Mr. Li, a prominent artist and calligrapher in his day, through her colleague Si Mao.
“Send me to the Clouds” is released in cinemas all over the Us, by Cheng Cheng Films
A chance visit to the doctor reveals that carefree yet strong-willed journalist Sheng Nan (a name that literally means “surpass men”) has ovarian cancer. Thoughts of raising the vast sum of money required for the treatment fill her mind when she receives an offer to ghost-write the autobiography of Mr. Li, a prominent artist and calligrapher in his day, through her colleague Si Mao.
- 9/22/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
The social and economic pressures felt by China’s “leftover women” — referring to those older than 26 and unmarried — are examined in “Send Me to the Clouds,” a rewarding dramedy about a 30-ish journalist seeking financial reward and sexual fulfillment after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Bold by mainland standards for presenting a positive portrayal of a woman who’s chosen neither motherhood nor marriage, “Clouds” marks an impressive feature debut for female writer-director Teng Congcong, whose editing credits include “Reign of Assassins.” Starring and co-produced by popular actress Yao Chen (“Journey to the West: The Demon Strikes Back”), this timely pro-feminist tale grossed a respectable $4 million in limited domestic release in August, and has the warm heart and wry humor to attract art-house audiences when it opens theatrically in North America on Sept. 20.
Following similarly themed documentaries such as “Leftover Women” and 2019 Sundance prize winner “One Child Nation,” From the...
Following similarly themed documentaries such as “Leftover Women” and 2019 Sundance prize winner “One Child Nation,” From the...
- 9/17/2019
- by Richard Kuipers
- Variety Film + TV
With twelve features to his name, two of those winning him Best Director Academy Awards (Brokeback Mountain; Life of Pi), Ang Lee has become one of the most notable auteurs to achieve success within the studio system. While his 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility began a successful career in English language filmmaking, the Taiwanese director had already received two Oscar nods for Best Foreign Language film. Those include 1993’s The Wedding Banquet, premiering in Berlin, and 1994’s Eat Drink Man Woman, now available for the first time on Blu-ray, though it hasn’t enjoyed the same lasting reputation. After the film, Lee wouldn’t return to working in Mandarin until six years later (2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), so it represents a certain jumping off point for the director.
Food and sex are base human desires that cannot be ignored, or so Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung) remarks,...
Food and sex are base human desires that cannot be ignored, or so Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung) remarks,...
- 2/24/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
CANNES -- Massive applause broke out at the end of the first press screening of Li Yang's extraordinary film Blind Mountain, and it was as much for its final act as for the quality of the picture. The film screened in Un Certain Regard. Even though Chinese authorities forced the director to make many cuts before it could be shown in Cannes, the movie retains enormous political impact as well as being a moving drama.
It tells what has been a sadly familiar story in China where hundreds of thousands of women and children have been abducted and sold into slavery. Few of them escape or are rescued. The film's economical style, vivid cinematography and tremendous acting should attract audiences far and wide.
Li Yang wastes no time getting his story, set in Northern China in the early 1990s, off to a frightening start. Bai Xeumei (Huang Lu) is an attractive and bright young university student keen to make some money to help defray her father's expenses for her education. Having no luck getting a job, she's delighted when a fellow student tells her about an opportunity to sell medical supplies to rural folk. The two young women travel with a well-dressed executive type far into the mountains. After they're given refreshments however, Xeumei's drink knocks her out. She wakes up to find her two traveling companions have gone and her ID is missing. A leering man named Degui (Yang Youan), with bad teeth and a ubiquitous cigarette, informs her she is now his bride. Scared and furious, Xuemei demands to be set free but the man's gnarled mother (Zhang Yuling) and ancient father (Jia Yinggao) tell her that she has been bought and paid for and must remain.
When the young woman resists all attempts to make her submit, Degui rapes her while his parents hold her down. Repeated defiance results in increasingly severe beatings and no one in the village thinks there's anything wrong with that.
Astonished to discover that several wives in the community have been kidnapped in the same way, Xeumei decides to acquiesce until she can find a way to escape. It's a tough learning curve as she finds every avenue is closed to her from the remote location to the unwillingness of anybody to do anything to help without being paid for it. Each time she tries to flee, she is caught and beaten.
The local teacher, Huang Decheng (He Yunle), who has a lesser education than she does, is friendly and then falls in love with. She responds and they make love but then they are caught and he is banished. Desperate for money, she sells herself to the local shopkeeper but after paying for a ride to the nearest town and then buying a bus ticket to the city, she finds not even the police will prevent her husband and his family from taking her back.
As the months go by, and Xeumei becomes pregnant, she pins her hopes on the letters she writes to her father that the local mailman promises to send off. A local kid named Quingshan (Zhang Youping) whom she teaches when his father can no longer afford to send him to school also becomes her ally.
Helped greatly by the work of Taiwanese cinematographer Jong Lin (Eat Drink Men Women), Yang conveys the insular traditions of the villagers while abhorring their brutality and greed. He draws wonderful performances from a cast that includes local amateurs and professionals, including the utterly credible Huang Lu, who plays the abducted woman with intelligence and indomitable grace.
BLIND MOUNTAIN
Studio Canal
Credits:
Screenwriter-director-producer: Li Yang
Executive producer: Li Shan, Alexandra Sun
Director of photography: Jong Lin
Art director: Shu Yang
Costume designer: Liu Yi
Cast:
Bai Xuemei: Huang Lu
Huang Degui: Yang Youan
Ding Xiuying: Zhang Yuling
Huang Decheng: He Yunie
Huang Changyi: Jia Yinggao
Li Qingshan: Zhang Youping
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
It tells what has been a sadly familiar story in China where hundreds of thousands of women and children have been abducted and sold into slavery. Few of them escape or are rescued. The film's economical style, vivid cinematography and tremendous acting should attract audiences far and wide.
Li Yang wastes no time getting his story, set in Northern China in the early 1990s, off to a frightening start. Bai Xeumei (Huang Lu) is an attractive and bright young university student keen to make some money to help defray her father's expenses for her education. Having no luck getting a job, she's delighted when a fellow student tells her about an opportunity to sell medical supplies to rural folk. The two young women travel with a well-dressed executive type far into the mountains. After they're given refreshments however, Xeumei's drink knocks her out. She wakes up to find her two traveling companions have gone and her ID is missing. A leering man named Degui (Yang Youan), with bad teeth and a ubiquitous cigarette, informs her she is now his bride. Scared and furious, Xuemei demands to be set free but the man's gnarled mother (Zhang Yuling) and ancient father (Jia Yinggao) tell her that she has been bought and paid for and must remain.
When the young woman resists all attempts to make her submit, Degui rapes her while his parents hold her down. Repeated defiance results in increasingly severe beatings and no one in the village thinks there's anything wrong with that.
Astonished to discover that several wives in the community have been kidnapped in the same way, Xeumei decides to acquiesce until she can find a way to escape. It's a tough learning curve as she finds every avenue is closed to her from the remote location to the unwillingness of anybody to do anything to help without being paid for it. Each time she tries to flee, she is caught and beaten.
The local teacher, Huang Decheng (He Yunle), who has a lesser education than she does, is friendly and then falls in love with. She responds and they make love but then they are caught and he is banished. Desperate for money, she sells herself to the local shopkeeper but after paying for a ride to the nearest town and then buying a bus ticket to the city, she finds not even the police will prevent her husband and his family from taking her back.
As the months go by, and Xeumei becomes pregnant, she pins her hopes on the letters she writes to her father that the local mailman promises to send off. A local kid named Quingshan (Zhang Youping) whom she teaches when his father can no longer afford to send him to school also becomes her ally.
Helped greatly by the work of Taiwanese cinematographer Jong Lin (Eat Drink Men Women), Yang conveys the insular traditions of the villagers while abhorring their brutality and greed. He draws wonderful performances from a cast that includes local amateurs and professionals, including the utterly credible Huang Lu, who plays the abducted woman with intelligence and indomitable grace.
BLIND MOUNTAIN
Studio Canal
Credits:
Screenwriter-director-producer: Li Yang
Executive producer: Li Shan, Alexandra Sun
Director of photography: Jong Lin
Art director: Shu Yang
Costume designer: Liu Yi
Cast:
Bai Xuemei: Huang Lu
Huang Degui: Yang Youan
Ding Xiuying: Zhang Yuling
Huang Decheng: He Yunie
Huang Changyi: Jia Yinggao
Li Qingshan: Zhang Youping
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/21/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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