To Live
1994 ‘Huozhe’ Directed by Zhang Yimou
Synopsis
Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry.
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Dang smirnoff, when you said To Live had an even bigger impact than The Road Home, it was a bit of an understatement! I’m still reeling from the impacts that just kept hitting in this decades long story. No parent should have to endure so much. Even with all that, something very interesting was going on with the couple, while their world went in and out of turmoil; a type of a serenity undercurrent. It was reminiscent of Tom and Gerri from Another Year. I just read the back cover of the DVD and it says, “striving to reach a calm within the storm”, so I guess what I saw was completely intended and while I can't claim it as a personal discovery, it still fascinates me.
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One compelling movie, this one is a personal, intriguing account of the Communist movement in China. Brilliantly paced, with reserved, natural performances, Huozhe is a must watch for anybody interested in China's birth as a nation. The advent of the Working Class is beautifully captured through the eyes of a puppeteer and his family, and the movie is at the same time, melancholic and hopeful.
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Dang smirnoff, when you said To Live had an even bigger impact than The Road Home, it was a bit of an understatement! I’m still reeling from the impacts that just kept hitting in this decades long story. No parent should have to endure so much. Even with all that, something very interesting was going on with the couple, while their world went in and out of turmoil; a type of a serenity undercurrent. It was reminiscent of Tom and Gerri from Another Year. I just read the back cover of the DVD and it says, “striving to reach a calm within the storm”, so I guess what I saw was completely intended and while I can't claim it as a personal discovery, it still fascinates me.
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This is a great film about a Chinese family during the 1940s-50s. It's a very affecting story that takes us through their hardships and personal loss through the years.
I like that the father of the family (Fugui) starts as a gambling addict, someone we detest at first for putting his whole family in danger. But slowly, as we follow him through his time in the war and later struggling as a worker, we actually like him.
Through the movie he matures slowly, learning from life and their poor situation. Lucky for him he has a very good wife (played by Gong Li), who returned to him after he stopped gambling (not that he became such a good man, he…
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Gong Li has never been lovelier she is an actress that radiates the screen she is the emotional anchor of the film. I remember crying at the end of this movie it is a moving, charming and very poetic work.....
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This will always be one of the moments when film suddenly became completely and utterly serious for me. And it wasn't even the first Zhang film I'd seen. It's his best, though. His *best*.
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Zhang Yimou, dammit! You used to make movies like this as naturally as falling of a chair. When was the last time that one of your movies got banned (not that that is the only valid litmus test of authenticity - Dubai banned Borat, but that doesn't make it great cinema) due to its meaning too much to too many? Citizens weren't even allowed to mention this film's title when it debuted. How can you be the same director who spawned the recent travesty, A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop? So you're the establishment now... and rich to boot; you'd really think that being financially positioned well beyond the the clawing masses of petit bourgeoisie would make your…