The Garden of Evening Mists (2019) User Reviews

Exceeded My Expectations

[zhenwenho · 8/10 · 21 January 2020]

As a Malaysian myself, it was odd watching such a well made film; in fact I would go as far as to say that I am equally astonished and blown away by this movie as it was just so darn good. Well, the movie has been called a heartbreaking love story, although that is true in a certain manner, I think the more proper branding of the movie would be self-healing.

Firstly, I must acknowledge the themes thrown around in the movie, and to me personally it would be the anger and the hatred towards the Japanese post WW2, and as an individual whom has grown up knowing that Japan were known as some of the most respectable and polite individuals on the planet, I found it hard to understand the hatred that was shown towards them still amongst the Chinese community and after viewing this movie I can say that I can kind of see the anger and resentment felt towards them still. But yes, as mentioned before this movie is about self-healing so in the end, we can't continuously allow the past define the way we see life or how we treat others; sure, there are some few rotten apples here and there but the sample size is simply unsuitable for us to judge an entire community based on the few experiences that we have lived through. Thus, the importance of love, mercy and grace.

Okay, on with the praises I have regarding this movie. Cinematography is incredible, my gosh what a beautiful movie. However, I believe that it is so mainly because of the location the movie was shot too and these scenes revolving around the vast environment of Cameron Highlands aren't exactly artistic shots but the imagery within the Japanese house where the garden is located is absolutely stunning.

Although the movie looks stunning, I must bring attention to a certain scene within the movie where the scene could've been better shot which is the scene where the main character, Teoh Yun Ling ponders upon her sister's photograph and the scene plays out in such a way that it felt unnecessary to have a close up on the picture again as it had been done in the earlier part of the movie and the next cut is of her reacting to that picture. This probably isn't an issue for the vast majority but it felt unnatural to me and it stood out too much to my liking. Furthermore, the first 15 minutes of the movie felt choppy to me, this could've been a personal nitpick.

The acting on the other hand, this is a difficult one to comment upon as it was good but as this movie was labelled as a romantic movie, I went in expecting some serious chemistry between Teoh Yun Ling (Angelica Lee) and Nakumuara Aritomo (Hiroshi Abe) and since this movie focuses on the pain Angelica Lee's character, Teoh Yun Ling experiences during the Japanese invasion of Malaya during WW2, there is constant tension between the two characters due to her prejudice against the Japanese people. But looking past all that, I must say that she did a wonderful job portraying a strong character but at the same time broken, she absolutely nailed all the emotions required in each particular scene and her performance truly nailed this movie home and even brought me to tears.

All in all, this was a heartbreaking movie, I went in with some form of expectation after seeing the number of awards it was nominated for at the 56th Golden Horse awards and this movie definitely delivers and this is a movie worth catching in the cinema.

An ernest effort

[Kahuna-6 · 6/10 · 20 September 2020]

This movie should be lauded for ambition. Tackling an issue like comfort women isn't going to be easy. Compound it with other heavy weights like loyalty, independence, then adding intrigues like the gold of Yamashita and trying to present them in a digestible package under 2 hours, the problem is obvious. The central love theme could not be developed convincingly. In a more assured hand like Ozu, the quiet scenes could have been really evocative. With some one like Kurosawa, the tension of the hanging, violence of rape or unstated pressure of recall etc would have been palpable. Instead it is presented rather without emotion. Even the pain of the tattoo just could not lift beyond the screen. But credit must be given to the producers and director for their attempt. Sufficient time has passed for the history of WW2 to be visited with an objective eye. Hope HBO would continue to put their resources into making such movies.

Ambitious but too "theme-first"

[hou26-tw · 8/10 · 4 December 2019]

In the first half of the film, the scars of World War II are mentioned by the scenes of hanging, rape, and blasting. The Cold War conflicts are also presented then. The history background is well expressed then. The sex scene of the women from the victimized country and the men from the aggressive country is very different from the films I've seen. It can be recorded in the film history. As a multi-language film, it is arranged harmoniously. I can understand why the director (from Taiwan) chose Cantonese among the Chinese dialects used by Malaysian Chinese, because the others (Minnan, Hakka) are very common in Taiwan. Sylvia Chang performed persuasively the roles from Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China or Southeast Asia. No other actors at the same age can surpass her. There are lot of advantages in the movie but the disadvantage are also significant. Nakamura, the male Protagonist, is more complicated than the Japanese army of "The Girl Who Played Go", "City of Life and Death" or "Mei Lanfang". Although it is known that the main axis of Japanese gardens is deliberately creating conflicts between the heroine and her lover, it is suspected that the Malaysian Chinese in the era could be so fascinated by Japanese gardening or tattoos? Before the war, the group donated to the invaded mother country actively (The Japanese invaded China in 1937 and Malaya was occupied by them in December 1941). Maybe they yearn Chinese Gardening more? (I thought of Chang Dai-chien who became an overseas Chinese after civil war, tried hard to build a garden in Brazil.). The beginning scenes of the tea farm on the mountains is amazing, but the place that tea trees grow must have a very humid climate. Thirty years later, the situation of papers and the wooden house must be terrible. Maybe above reasons bother me. Maybe the past scenes are too fragmented. I feel that this historical drama is too "theme-first". Instead of trying to piece contemporary imaginations together into reality, I prefer the film illusions built with many historical sources.

A rather beautiful story...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 12 May 2022]

I never read the book here, so I didn't know what I was in for when I stumbled upon the 2019 movie "The Garden of Evening Mists" here in 2022. I saw that the movie had Julian Sands on the cast list, and that was all I needed to know, as he is one of my favorite actors.

The storyline in "The Garden of Evening Mists", as written by author Twan Eng Tan and then made for the screen by writer Richard Smith, definitely was a beautiful and heartfelt story. It is difficult not to get swept away by the storytelling here and investing emotions into the characters and situations portrayed in the movie, especially since it is all so very realistic and down to Earth.

Director Tom Lin managed to put the script into a beautiful visual movie on the screen, one that I think will have a wide appeal to a broad audience. Because there is something for just about anyone to take away from a movie such as "The Garden of Evening Mists".

The movie jumps between Cantonese, English and Japanese language, but does so very nicely. And having these natural languages in the situations appropriate adds so much realism to the movie. And the movie also jumps between the past and present, letting the audience follow the characters in different times. This was also done very nicely, and brought lots of layers to the movie as well.

Something that definitely carried the movie a great long way was the cast ensemble. The movie has some pretty amazing names on the cast list, with the likes of Angelica Lee, Sylvia Chang, Hiroshi Abe, Julian Sands and John Hannah. It was good performances from the cast ensemble, and they brought the characters and story to life in a very enjoyable manner.

"The Garden of Evening Mists" was a pleasant surprise of a movie, one that provided me with genuine entertainment. However, I think the pacing of the narrative might throw off some viewers, as it is a somewhat slow paced narrative.

My rating of "The Garden of Evening Mists" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Interesting..... Averagely Good Film About A Tough Subject

[neener3707 · 6/10 · 21 March 2021]

Not quite the movie I thought it would be, I expected it to be good and it was.... good enough to moderately satisfy. People say the story of comfort women in WW2. Much like the Holocaust, when you make a movie about a tough subject you better make sure you do it right. But I wouldn't even really say this movie was about comfort women AKA sex slaves in the Japanese Military. So while I liked it, it just about did its job, it doesn't really go above and beyond.

Its a very slow and quiet (mostly) movie that tells a story of a woman attempting to hire a Japanese man in post-WW2 Malaya to make the dream garden of her younger sister who was a sex slave. Anyway, won't wrote an entire synopsis but I will speak on the film itself. Its very well shot and the story managed to hold my moderate interest. There are some twists and turns at the end and while it was interesting semi-"climax", it didn't knock my socks off like some of the other famous film shock endings. And thats possible due to the writing of the characters, one character has her motivations and we sympathize with that, but thats about it. She's missing any sort of complication or nuance, its very clear what she's thinking and what she as a character is about. The other main actor is stoic und unreadable with small moments of humanity. While his intentions and secrets are revealed, it again was not enough to knock my socks of, because I only moderately sympathized and felt with the characters.

And the acting was passable for the most part. The Brits give a passable performance and so do the Japanese soldiers and Communist insurgents. But the main lead was odd to me. It could be the cultural divide as far as the expression of emotion, vocally and with facial inflection, but I didn't really care for it. And the films tone is strong, possibly too strong, possibly trying a little bit too hard? Not really sure but I liked it an any heavy handed shots and sequences didn't bother me too much.

All in all it was ok, I liked it, and I suppose people interested in the story of Comfort Women should probably look elsewhere, but fans of your typical romance/war setting film. Give it a shot.

Good Enough

[PennyReviews · 6/10 · 7 March 2020]

Haven't read the book, which sounds pretty interesting after watching the movie, so I can't compare the movie to the film. But the film, overall, was okay. The leading lady did a good job with her performance, but the movie felt like they were leaving things out. The trip back the memory lane was well handled, though.

The art of borrowed scenery (shakkei)...

[aj1t · 10/10 · 12 January 2020]

This is a story of Yun Ling (played beautifully and seamlessly by both Sylvia Chang and Angelica Lee) who through series of flashback and present day scenes, tells of her experiences under the occupation of the Japanese during the second world war and apprenticeship under the former royal gardener of Japan, Aritomo (absolutely amazing Hiroshi Abe), after the war. The background to the movie is the glorious Cameron Highlands in the state of Pahang in Malaysia , the essence and beauty of it captured beautifully by the cinematographer, Kartik Vijay. The multicultural cast, consisting of mainly Malaysian, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and British actors, were just sublime and amazing under the direction of Tom Lin. Tom managed to capture the spirit and the beauty of the book of the same title by award winning Penang author , Tan Twan Eng. I had the absolute honour of being invited to the gala viewing in Penang (thanks to GL Ooi and Penang Monthly!). From the opening scene I was amazed that Tom Lin managed to capture the lives, hopes and fears of the people of Malaysia during and after the war. The multilingual dialogue truly exemplifies the multicultural melting pot of Malaysia. The philosophy of perfection in the creation of the garden just drives home the dedication involved in bringing the original source to life. When the end credits rolled, I was amazed to find out that the crews were mostly Asians... For me this is the truly Asian (Malaysian) movie and will deserve all the accolades that will be bestowed upon the cast, crew and the author of this movie. This is a movie that I will watch again and again and will never be tired of!

Way more than meets the eye

[Bgappl07 · 7/10 · 26 April 2022]

Were there moments while I was watching this film that I became distracted way too many for my taste but after the movie was finished I actually sat back and thought about it I'm not Asian and I know that Asian people like so many other people approach things differently based on their culture this was not a movie to excite or entice it was not to show the comfort women or the incredibly cruel Japanese army Or the downtrodden Malaysians or even the upcoming communists or for that matter the colonizing BRITs it was basically a love story a strange one but a love story and when I was pondering that I thought how that could apply to anyone anywhere that has faced adversity and who has come out of it one way or another so I was very touched by it and I'm very glad that it was made and I was able to view it.

May not be as good as the book but still an excellent movie

[parrotbrandjuice · 9/10 · 19 January 2020]

I have not read the book and as quoted from the story I saw this film "without prejudice" and found it excellent. It is not a perfect movie but it was based on a great story and the director told this story very well. The main cast did a fine job. It is slow paced as most historical dramas but was able to draw you into the mesmerizing tale set within a turbulent time.

Film Review - The Garden of Evening Mists (2019) 6.4/10

[lasttimeisaw · 6/10 · 5 November 2020]

"The catch is, not enough scenery of crisp verdure, or an artificial brook of dainty Japanese lanterns, nor a doughty, noble, deeply-felt performance from Lee Sinje, can save this plodding vehicle from swanning along to its finish line, and Lin's partisan leanings gets blatantly offensive in his outrageous depiction of the acquisitive and savage Malayan communist rebels. Also Yun Ling's over-intimate relationships with both British colony, and Aritomo, the man might or might not be a Japanese spy, from a country that wantonly brings inexpressible suffering and bereavement to her, are problematic, to say the least. As an intimate, personal story, THE GARDEN... is poetic, touching, if overwrought in its final application, but if one tries to obtain a critical take on Malaya's WWII turbulence and its colonial days, the outcome is cripplingly jaundiced and romanticized."

read the full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

Balance - man v nature, man v woman, loyalty v country

[tyd-1 · 9/10 · 5 April 2021]

Wonderful visuals carry the tragic story of lives and loves during the difficult history of WW2 Japan v the world, and it's aftermath. Great story and great acting with a surprising twist to explain the journey upon which the movie has taken us.

If you love Japanese art and gardens you will be transported.

A few interesting moments but the romance is agonizingly boring

[phd_travel · 3/10 · 16 January 2020]

The interesting parts of this film are the war time Japanese atrocities in Malaysia and the communist insurgency against the British Colonials. The romance is heavy handed and agonizingly boring in parts. The only funny part is when she asks him Must you always talk like that? Direction isn't good because the story isn't clear. It's quite confusing and he ending isn't clear. The filming is quite beautiful though. The English subtitles are useful because the Japanese star Abe's English diction isn't easy to understand - sounds like Ken Watanabe.

This is a lovely tale

[killercharm · 8/10 · 17 October 2022]

This is a lovely tale slowly told so you can savor. Not so you can savor the horrors of murder, nor the horrors of rape, not even the horrors of institutional rape and murder, war. I think it's so you can savor everything you can't get out of your head. If that includes horrors you yourself have perpetrated then it does. In this story we savor a point of view that feels singularly Japanese. I kept being reminded of Shinto, especially in the view inside the square. In this story we have an antiterrorist survivor of the Japanese work camp the Golden Lily looking to honor her sister who died in the camp. She seeks the former gardener to the Japanese emperor who lives in Malaysia now. He can help her create the garden her sister always dreamed of aloud to while away the time in the camp.

Heartfelt movie

[ingwer_ginger · 10/10 · 18 April 2021]

Very subtle movie. Many things left unsaid in words but they were understood by feelings, gestures, meaningful silence and actions.

A movie about healing, about romance, about coping with the horrors of war and difficult realities.

Beautiful love story

[neetabora · 9/10 · 20 September 2020]

It's been ages since I've loved watching a romantic movie, reason being none have the depth. This movie is brilliant! I loved it.

A Taiwanese tried, badly, to direct a Malayan story!

[michellesiow · 1/10 · 17 January 2020]

The book is award-winning material which the film completely dumb-downed for the most part, choosing to focus on symbolic imagery in a highly superficial manner without attempting to showcase the rich complexities of the story. The are many missed opportunities to showcase the cross-cultural highlights - from the Japanese art & heritage to what Malaya was really like at that time. There were powerful flashbacks such as the most beautiful memory the protagonist had of a Kyoto garden - you would be hard-pressed to see any depiction of it save for a few mentions despite this being a strong counterpoint to the darker memories the protaganist had. There is one scene at a local coffee shop which really gave a true vibe of Old Malaya but the film mostly misses the diversely strong cultures of Malaysians, the history of highland plantations & the Indian community, the Orang Asli who to this day inhabit the Highlands (& had a bigger role to play in the book), the familial ties and subversive support for Communists were missing (save for a few gangster-like scenes of a few Commies), and even details such as famous Cameron Highlands scones or the iconic Smokehouse are glaringly absent. At a book event, the author himself said the script was returned with extremely critical feedback on his first review. I suppose there's consolation that it might've been much worse had he not intervened.

Imaginative

[limsuebeng · 8/10 · 13 September 2020]

Nostalgic from Malaysian point of view. English subtitles would be helpful for the other languages spoken in the movie.

This film is an attempt at an art-house movie that fell on its face

[david-161-28390 · 1/10 · 26 January 2020]

Beyond tedious and weird. The book is infinitely better. I went to see this with a group of friends and unanimously we considered it a boring waste of time. The cinematography was reasonable, the actors are good, but the overall production proved you can take a good book and turn it into a tedious film which over-focuses on the wrong sub-plots and scenes and omits what probably should have been included. What makes this particularly frustrating, is that the geo-period of history it was set in was so intriguing - a lost opportunity!

Depravity, midogyny, brutality, and violence

[socalgranny-30982 · 1/10 · 26 September 2021]

This started out with a woman who had been brutalized by Japanese invaders in WWII finally getting a chance to even the score. But it quickly deteriorated into lengthy flashbacks of rape and torture. Her attraction to a cold, boring, and two faced "gardener" is capped with a horrific scene of masochistic tatooing and sex in a tub of water. It is depressing and the only way to get through it is with fast forward to the end where full Stockhom syndrome is on display. Avoid this one to stsy sane and happy.