Figure this for a spoiler.
The film is basically another Mulholland Dr. but without the gratuitous and shocking sex scenes. This director lets the audience in on the secret, that the point of view is from an unreliable character, a bit sooner.
There seem to be two subtexts. One about modern white collar life in China. They other about the United States lecturing China. There are even a few flashes of the surreal to remind me of Fellini.
For me there were two disappointments. The first is the flabby Kevin Spacey. It is not flattering to America, but I guess its deliberate and part of the "lecturing" subtext. The other is the fairy tale blitz out. You go the whole film thinking "this is going to end bad" but at the last moment the fairy godmother steps in and clears everything up. I think that is deliberate too because the director makes it so obvious. So there might be some hidden subversive third subtext lying underneath it all.
Anyway, not having Chinese sensibilities, I am sure I missed a lot, and have to give it only a 7 out of my own inability to understand well enough.
The film is basically another Mulholland Dr. but without the gratuitous and shocking sex scenes. This director lets the audience in on the secret, that the point of view is from an unreliable character, a bit sooner.
There seem to be two subtexts. One about modern white collar life in China. They other about the United States lecturing China. There are even a few flashes of the surreal to remind me of Fellini.
For me there were two disappointments. The first is the flabby Kevin Spacey. It is not flattering to America, but I guess its deliberate and part of the "lecturing" subtext. The other is the fairy tale blitz out. You go the whole film thinking "this is going to end bad" but at the last moment the fairy godmother steps in and clears everything up. I think that is deliberate too because the director makes it so obvious. So there might be some hidden subversive third subtext lying underneath it all.
Anyway, not having Chinese sensibilities, I am sure I missed a lot, and have to give it only a 7 out of my own inability to understand well enough.