Two years after a debut at the Cannes International Film Festival that almost never happened, Wang Xiaoshuai's feature, which suffered the constraints of Chinese government censorship before and after filming, is receiving its New York theatrical premiere at the Screening Room.
As usual, it's hard to see what the fuss was about. The tale of a romantic triangle between two best friends and the beautiful Vietnamese nightclub singer/prostitute they kidnap, the slow-moving "So Close to Paradise" is best appreciated for its evocative cinematic portrait of life in run-down Shanghai.
Village farmworkers Dong Zi (Shi Yu) and Gao Ping (Guo Tao) travel to Shanghai in search of a better life. The former becomes a menial worker at the docks, while the latter makes his money through petty crimes and con games. When Gao Ping becomes the victim of a scam committed by Fatty, his partner, he enlists his friend to help him get revenge by kidnapping Ruan Hong (Wang Tong) in the hope that Fatty will try to rescue her. As seems to happen so often in movie kidnappings, Ruan falls in love with her captor, while Dong seems to be falling in love with her. When she realizes Gao's true intentions, she runs away, though not without leaving Fatty's address. Gao then attempts to follow through on his plans, with tragic results.
The filmmaker, whose even more controversial film "Frozen" was seen on these shores in 1997, is less interested in his melodramatic narrative -- which could have served as the basis for a film noir thriller -- than in conveying the seediness and moral corruption of its milieu. (This was apparently the basis for its difficulties with the Chinese censors, along with the fact that one of the central characters is Vietnamese.) In this regard, "Paradise" works reasonably well, but it ultimately suffers from heavy-handedness and a distinct lethargy in its editing and performances. While one appreciates the director's integrity and his bravery in tackling subjects less than palatable to the authorities, the material demands juicier execution.
SO CLOSE TO PARADISE
Cinema Village Features
Director: Wang Xiaoshuai
Screenwriters: Wang Xiaoshuai, Pang Ming
Producer: Han Sanping
Executive producer: Zhang Gonggu, Li Xiaogeng
Cinematography: Yang Tao
Editor: Liu Gang, Yang Hong Yu
Art director: Cheng Guangming
Music: Liu Lin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ruan Hong: Wang Tong
Dong Zi: Shi Yu
Gao Ping: Guo Tao
Su Wu: Wu Tao
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
As usual, it's hard to see what the fuss was about. The tale of a romantic triangle between two best friends and the beautiful Vietnamese nightclub singer/prostitute they kidnap, the slow-moving "So Close to Paradise" is best appreciated for its evocative cinematic portrait of life in run-down Shanghai.
Village farmworkers Dong Zi (Shi Yu) and Gao Ping (Guo Tao) travel to Shanghai in search of a better life. The former becomes a menial worker at the docks, while the latter makes his money through petty crimes and con games. When Gao Ping becomes the victim of a scam committed by Fatty, his partner, he enlists his friend to help him get revenge by kidnapping Ruan Hong (Wang Tong) in the hope that Fatty will try to rescue her. As seems to happen so often in movie kidnappings, Ruan falls in love with her captor, while Dong seems to be falling in love with her. When she realizes Gao's true intentions, she runs away, though not without leaving Fatty's address. Gao then attempts to follow through on his plans, with tragic results.
The filmmaker, whose even more controversial film "Frozen" was seen on these shores in 1997, is less interested in his melodramatic narrative -- which could have served as the basis for a film noir thriller -- than in conveying the seediness and moral corruption of its milieu. (This was apparently the basis for its difficulties with the Chinese censors, along with the fact that one of the central characters is Vietnamese.) In this regard, "Paradise" works reasonably well, but it ultimately suffers from heavy-handedness and a distinct lethargy in its editing and performances. While one appreciates the director's integrity and his bravery in tackling subjects less than palatable to the authorities, the material demands juicier execution.
SO CLOSE TO PARADISE
Cinema Village Features
Director: Wang Xiaoshuai
Screenwriters: Wang Xiaoshuai, Pang Ming
Producer: Han Sanping
Executive producer: Zhang Gonggu, Li Xiaogeng
Cinematography: Yang Tao
Editor: Liu Gang, Yang Hong Yu
Art director: Cheng Guangming
Music: Liu Lin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ruan Hong: Wang Tong
Dong Zi: Shi Yu
Gao Ping: Guo Tao
Su Wu: Wu Tao
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Two years after a debut at the Cannes International Film Festival that almost never happened, Wang Xiaoshuai's feature, which suffered the constraints of Chinese government censorship before and after filming, is receiving its New York theatrical premiere at the Screening Room.
As usual, it's hard to see what the fuss was about. The tale of a romantic triangle between two best friends and the beautiful Vietnamese nightclub singer/prostitute they kidnap, the slow-moving "So Close to Paradise" is best appreciated for its evocative cinematic portrait of life in run-down Shanghai.
Village farmworkers Dong Zi (Shi Yu) and Gao Ping (Guo Tao) travel to Shanghai in search of a better life. The former becomes a menial worker at the docks, while the latter makes his money through petty crimes and con games. When Gao Ping becomes the victim of a scam committed by Fatty, his partner, he enlists his friend to help him get revenge by kidnapping Ruan Hong (Wang Tong) in the hope that Fatty will try to rescue her. As seems to happen so often in movie kidnappings, Ruan falls in love with her captor, while Dong seems to be falling in love with her. When she realizes Gao's true intentions, she runs away, though not without leaving Fatty's address. Gao then attempts to follow through on his plans, with tragic results.
The filmmaker, whose even more controversial film "Frozen" was seen on these shores in 1997, is less interested in his melodramatic narrative -- which could have served as the basis for a film noir thriller -- than in conveying the seediness and moral corruption of its milieu. (This was apparently the basis for its difficulties with the Chinese censors, along with the fact that one of the central characters is Vietnamese.) In this regard, "Paradise" works reasonably well, but it ultimately suffers from heavy-handedness and a distinct lethargy in its editing and performances. While one appreciates the director's integrity and his bravery in tackling subjects less than palatable to the authorities, the material demands juicier execution.
SO CLOSE TO PARADISE
Cinema Village Features
Director: Wang Xiaoshuai
Screenwriters: Wang Xiaoshuai, Pang Ming
Producer: Han Sanping
Executive producer: Zhang Gonggu, Li Xiaogeng
Cinematography: Yang Tao
Editor: Liu Gang, Yang Hong Yu
Art director: Cheng Guangming
Music: Liu Lin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ruan Hong: Wang Tong
Dong Zi: Shi Yu
Gao Ping: Guo Tao
Su Wu: Wu Tao
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
As usual, it's hard to see what the fuss was about. The tale of a romantic triangle between two best friends and the beautiful Vietnamese nightclub singer/prostitute they kidnap, the slow-moving "So Close to Paradise" is best appreciated for its evocative cinematic portrait of life in run-down Shanghai.
Village farmworkers Dong Zi (Shi Yu) and Gao Ping (Guo Tao) travel to Shanghai in search of a better life. The former becomes a menial worker at the docks, while the latter makes his money through petty crimes and con games. When Gao Ping becomes the victim of a scam committed by Fatty, his partner, he enlists his friend to help him get revenge by kidnapping Ruan Hong (Wang Tong) in the hope that Fatty will try to rescue her. As seems to happen so often in movie kidnappings, Ruan falls in love with her captor, while Dong seems to be falling in love with her. When she realizes Gao's true intentions, she runs away, though not without leaving Fatty's address. Gao then attempts to follow through on his plans, with tragic results.
The filmmaker, whose even more controversial film "Frozen" was seen on these shores in 1997, is less interested in his melodramatic narrative -- which could have served as the basis for a film noir thriller -- than in conveying the seediness and moral corruption of its milieu. (This was apparently the basis for its difficulties with the Chinese censors, along with the fact that one of the central characters is Vietnamese.) In this regard, "Paradise" works reasonably well, but it ultimately suffers from heavy-handedness and a distinct lethargy in its editing and performances. While one appreciates the director's integrity and his bravery in tackling subjects less than palatable to the authorities, the material demands juicier execution.
SO CLOSE TO PARADISE
Cinema Village Features
Director: Wang Xiaoshuai
Screenwriters: Wang Xiaoshuai, Pang Ming
Producer: Han Sanping
Executive producer: Zhang Gonggu, Li Xiaogeng
Cinematography: Yang Tao
Editor: Liu Gang, Yang Hong Yu
Art director: Cheng Guangming
Music: Liu Lin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ruan Hong: Wang Tong
Dong Zi: Shi Yu
Gao Ping: Guo Tao
Su Wu: Wu Tao
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/15/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Shower" may be the work of a Chinese filmmaker, but it possesses a Hollywood sentimentality in its account of a callous yuppie who rediscovers his true values when he's reunited with his aging father and his mentally impaired younger brother. It's easy to see why the film -- showcased at a variety of festivals, including Toronto, Cannes, Sundance and most recently New Directors/ New Films -- has been picked up for commercial distribution by Sony Pictures Classics, which plans to release it this year.
Directed by Zhang Yang, a music video director whose first feature, "Spicy Love Soup", was a major success in China, "Shower" makes its points from the opening scene, a farcical depiction of the central character, Da Ming, enduring a mechanized shower resembling a car wash; he is the sort of ultra-ambitious young businessman who would hardly have time for a bath. This is particularly ironic since his elderly father, Master Liu, runs an old-fashioned bathhouse in a run-down section of Beijing, aided by Da Ming's younger brother, the infantile Er Ming. Receiving a letter from his brother that leads him to the mistaken belief that his father has died, Da Ming heads home, where he finds his father in good health but the bathhouse on the verge of closing.
This is unfortunate not only for Da Ming's family but also for the neighborhood, whose residents use the bathhouse as a communal meeting ground, socializing and engaging in such activities as chess and cricket fighting contests. The customers are a colorful bunch, including a teenager preparing for a singing competition who can only perform while under running water, the henpecked husband pursued into the bathhouse by his harridan wife and the debtor who hides underwater from his pursuers.
At first, Da Ming has little use for the bathhouse and its patrons, but a series of crises draws him further and further into its operations, and he soon rediscovers, in true "Rain Man" fashion, his priorities and his love for his family.
Although predictable at every turn, "Shower" possesses an undeniable charm that is ultimately difficult to resist. Its quirky and farcical humor benefits from the director's low-key approach, and though that aquatic singing cherub proves more than a little annoying, the characters and situations are mostly amusing. The film is also ultimately quite moving, thanks to the insightful performances.
SHOWER
Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Zhang Yang
Screenplay: Liu Fen Dou, Zhang Yang, Huo Xin, Diao Yi Nan, Cai Xiang Jun
Producer: Peter Loehr
Executive producer: Sam Duann
Photography: Zhang Jian
Editors: Yang Hong Yu, Zhang Yang
Music: Ye Xiao Gang
Color/stereo
Cast:
Master Liu: Zhu Xu
Da Ming: Pu Cun Xin
Er Ming: Jiang Wu
He Bing: He Zheng
Bei Bei: Zhang Jin Hao
Running time -- 92 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Directed by Zhang Yang, a music video director whose first feature, "Spicy Love Soup", was a major success in China, "Shower" makes its points from the opening scene, a farcical depiction of the central character, Da Ming, enduring a mechanized shower resembling a car wash; he is the sort of ultra-ambitious young businessman who would hardly have time for a bath. This is particularly ironic since his elderly father, Master Liu, runs an old-fashioned bathhouse in a run-down section of Beijing, aided by Da Ming's younger brother, the infantile Er Ming. Receiving a letter from his brother that leads him to the mistaken belief that his father has died, Da Ming heads home, where he finds his father in good health but the bathhouse on the verge of closing.
This is unfortunate not only for Da Ming's family but also for the neighborhood, whose residents use the bathhouse as a communal meeting ground, socializing and engaging in such activities as chess and cricket fighting contests. The customers are a colorful bunch, including a teenager preparing for a singing competition who can only perform while under running water, the henpecked husband pursued into the bathhouse by his harridan wife and the debtor who hides underwater from his pursuers.
At first, Da Ming has little use for the bathhouse and its patrons, but a series of crises draws him further and further into its operations, and he soon rediscovers, in true "Rain Man" fashion, his priorities and his love for his family.
Although predictable at every turn, "Shower" possesses an undeniable charm that is ultimately difficult to resist. Its quirky and farcical humor benefits from the director's low-key approach, and though that aquatic singing cherub proves more than a little annoying, the characters and situations are mostly amusing. The film is also ultimately quite moving, thanks to the insightful performances.
SHOWER
Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Zhang Yang
Screenplay: Liu Fen Dou, Zhang Yang, Huo Xin, Diao Yi Nan, Cai Xiang Jun
Producer: Peter Loehr
Executive producer: Sam Duann
Photography: Zhang Jian
Editors: Yang Hong Yu, Zhang Yang
Music: Ye Xiao Gang
Color/stereo
Cast:
Master Liu: Zhu Xu
Da Ming: Pu Cun Xin
Er Ming: Jiang Wu
He Bing: He Zheng
Bei Bei: Zhang Jin Hao
Running time -- 92 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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