|
|
转自krf.org的讨论
 Darcy参加了媒体试映会，他对这这部电影评价粉高啊
Darcy Paquet
Mon Jul-18-05 10:10 AM
#12970, "LADY VENGEANCE: initial thoughts"
Mon Jul-18-05 10:19 AM by Darcy Paquet
Barely managed to get a ticket into this press screening... the producer apparently didn't want any of the "international press" seeing it, but I'll be writing some short impressions that will appear in Cine21 next week, so they got me in. (As part of the deal, the piece I write will appear on their website in Korean translation only instead of the usual bilingual deal, at least until the Venice film festival) Meanwhile Kyu Hyun will be writing a review for this site that will be posted shortly after the film's commercial release on the 29th.
I did like it quite a bit. It's perhaps harder to digest in one sitting than OLD BOY or MR. VENGEANCE. Even though watching it is quite intense in parts, it's the sort of film that leaves you thinking afterwards, and I imagine my feelings about it will continue to evolve over time.
I suppose the first thing to address is what people should expect after OLD BOY. It's a much different film... somewhat meandering and preoccupied with the character of Geum-ja, as opposed to the unstoppable forward narrative drive of OLD BOY (or the slower, but equally unstoppable momentum of MR. VENGEANCE). In the latter two films you get the impression that the characters' actions were not really born out of free will... like a Greek tragedy, where the end is foretold. On the other hand, Geum-ja (while just as motivated) seems to be making her own choices. In that sense, we're dealing with a completely different kind of moral landscape.
Don't get your hopes up too high regarding the appearance of Choi Min-shik. Not that he acts badly or anything (could he act badly if he tried?), but the character he portrays is very thinly characterized... He's simply evil, and that's it. I can't think of any other character appearing in a Park Chan-wook film who is presented in such black and white fashion, which leads me to believe that he's meant to be read as a symbol, rather than seen as an individual. Certainly it's intriguing to think about what he may represent. I could call him Stalin if I wanted, and that would give the film a very interesting twist.
Of course, it will come as no surprise to anyone if I say that the film is beautifully shot. Not stylish in the same way as OLD BOY, but almost. Lots of those weird, quirky Park Chan-wook touches... some funny, some bizarre in a damp, clammy sort of way. The tempo is slower. If OLD BOY was allegro and MR. VENGEANCE was largo, then this is moderato.
I'll be very, very curious to read the reviews of this in the Western press. Many critics dismissed OLD BOY as technically brilliant but thematically empty, but I don't think that will be possible with this film. It's obviously taking on real issues. However the violence -- physical and emotional -- is strong enough that many will feel that their emotions are being handled in too brutal a manner. One scene in particular contains really no onscreen violence at all, but it's the sort of scene that you can never, ever forget, especially if you are a parent.
I'm guessing that most people who were really floored by OLD BOY might feel a mild disappointment after watching this, and some will find the ending a bit flat, but I think that this is a movie that will age well and be remembered as a work by a director who was at the top of his form.
After watching this I'm also going to go back and re-watch one of the masterpieces of early German cinema, which seems to bear more than a passing resemblance to this film. (though I don't really want to say which one)
--Darcy
=========================
Damian Mon
Jul-18-05 12:38 PM
#12976, "RE: LADY VENGEANCE: initial thoughts"
In response to Reply # 4
Darcy, there was a report at Twitch which mentioned that Park had originally planned the gradual fade into B&W, but was so taken by the finished full colour presentation that he was now toying with which version to release. It was then alleged that we may see both versions on the eventual DVD, but I don't believe any of the info has been confirmed beyond hearsay. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the film, by the way. Am also grateful that you didn't give away plot points as well - much appreciated. Personally, think I'm still anticipating A Bittersweet Life just that little bit more, but that could well be due to the DVD now being just around the corner. Think we'll be lucky to see Lady Vengeance on DVD before year's out, but fingers crossed all the same. I actually hope they hold out as long as necessary in order to complete the DVD release it deserves first time around, instead of the 'Ultimate Edition' situation we had with Oldboy...
============================
dandredger Mon
Jul-18-05 07:50 PM
Could you send me the title of that early German masterpiece referenced in Darcy's post? I'd appreciate it...unless, of course, knowing the plot of the German film will in some way ruin a bit of SFLV.
Thanks.
- Dan
=========================
Darcy Paquet
Mon Jul-18-05 08:59 PM
#12983, "RE: LADY VENGEANCE: initial thoughts"
In response to Reply # 11
Mon Jul-18-05 09:01 PM by Darcy Paquet
I was referring to this:
http://www.criterioncollection.com/asp/release.asp?id=30
(if you don't want to know, don't click on the link).
On second thought, I don't think there's too much of a connection between the two films. A couple aspects of the plot are similar, but it doesn't seem like Park is referencing it in particular, the way that the school flashback in OLD BOY feels like an homage to VERTIGO. The way the two films are constructed is also completely different.
I'm not sure if saying the title qualifies as spoilers or not... probably not, but better to err on the side of caution, I guess.
--Darcy
=======================
Q
Mon Jul-18-05 12:47 PM
#12977, "RE: LADY VENGEANCE: initial thoughts"
In response to Reply # 0
Like Darcy, I think I must also watch it 3-4 times more at least to come to full understanding of how I feel about it. It wasn't quite the kind of overwhelming experience that SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE or OLD BOY was, although it was unmistakably a Park Chan-wook film: breathtakingly beautiful, absurdly, blackly comic, insanely inventive, deeply moving, perplexing.
My biggest surprise was how Geumja's revenge sort of made the left turn in the last third of the film. Depending on how it can be interpreted, the film at that point becomes either tritely Hollywood-like, at least in spirit if not in action, or emotionally accessible to the "ordinary" viewers in the manner reminiscent of JSA, opening the film up to genuinely hardboiled reflection on the nature of justice, good and evil, and meaning of revenge and how it can become indistinguishable from acts of crime that spurred it. Those who found MILLION DOLLAR BABY no big deal might not like this film either. On the other hand, I dare any mainstream American critic to call the last third of the film "emptily stylistic" or "Tarantinoesque."
I would also be very interested in knowing the foreign viewers' response (in the US, Japan, Europe, Sinophone nations and Southeast Asia) to Lee Young-ae's performance in this film. Don't expect DAEJANGGEUM, of course, but assessment of her performance will be controversial. Some Anglophone viewers might groan again at the fact she speaks English in some scenes, even though her Korean-accented English makes sense in the context of LADY VENGEANCE. All I can say at this point is that Director Park knew exactly the strengths and weaknesses of Lee Young-ae as an actress and tried his best to place her in the best possible light.
But the bottom line is that this is a Park Chan-wook film (his sixth already!) and I won't go so far as Marlene Dietrich who claimed that people should make a sign of cross whenever they utter Orson Wells's name, but look, I know you know and we all know that this is a cinematic tour de force and you are going to have to watch it, if you have any claim on being a film fan. I already feel that I can write a 150-page book on the film and I have seen it only ONCE.
====================== |
|
发表于 2005-7-19 19:47
.很值得期待的作品~你啊!可以第一时间欣赏,眼红ing
发表于 2005-7-19 23:10
