Day 6 of the 7-Day Film Challenge
To share our love for cinema as part of Japan's ongoing #savethecinema #映画リレー and #minitheatreaid campaign, I was challenged by my dear friend, Edmund Yeo
Each day I will nominate 3 new people to take the challenge (maybe not :P) . 7 days, 7 movies. Explanation is optional.
OMG! It already day 06, I just warming up! Today I gonna share one of my favourite native language film. But before that I was faced a hard times to choose which one from the director's works. Good Men, Good Women 好男好女 (1995); Directed by Hou Hsiao Hsien 侯孝賢 I was struggling in between it with Three Times 最好的時光 (2005), A City of Sadness 悲情城市 (1989), Dust in the Wind 戀戀風塵 (1986), Millennium Mambo 千禧曼波 (2001), Café Lumière 珈琲時光 (2003), those almost same level to me!!
If I have to choose only 1, I guess it will be "Good Men, Good Women" at this moment. I love how the Director Hou's intermingling three storylines into such masterpiece based on the true story of Chiang Bi-Yu. Both of the stories (Chiang's story flashback & the play of an actress (Liang Ching) who's took her role as Chiang) have some "links" that I can felt so related.
I also felt the fear and the depress toward to the White Terror first time from this film, eventually make me realised how dark and controversy that government really can be (as well as myself toward my own government and the world situation during COVID-19 now)
Annie Yi really impressed me in this film, since I knew her as "Celebrity" when I was teenager, but she showed that she was a true talented actress in this film. She acted multi-role as the Chiang & Liang Ching (the actress) show different side of two characters as well.
Some of the scenes really interesting to me, the black & white historical scenes, the play and reenactment, the girls fighting scene, Liang Ching talking toward a phone without respond etc, all these scenes are very new to me during that time (perhaps now days many works already inspired by those)
When Setsuko Hara (原節子)in Late Spring (晩春, 1949) appeared in the television, I was connected as well, although I only able to feel it rewatch Good Men, Good Women again cause I just able to watched Late Spring last year 2019 (thanks to Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur)
Overall I have to choose this film for today because my brain is full of it images compare to others, but doesn't mean those not as good as this film. I myself also love Three Times so much, especially the first and last story (not the second). And I love Café Lumière but it is mostly Japan film look alike.