Painted Skin

[Drunk Monk]

Spinoff #1 from this thread: http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/view...f=9&t=1411

There are 3 factors to consider in this review: #1. The version I saw had a new avi code that I couldn't decipher even after several updates to various viewers, so there was no sound. There were no subtitles either. I only saw the visuals. #2. I consider Donnie Yen as a leading choreographer right now. #3. I'm fascinated by Vicky Zhao Wei. I saw her perform live at a Shaolin festival opener and she blew me away alhthough that might have been because she was the only celeb I recognized. She first caught my attention as the goalie in Shaolin Soccer. Vicky has these freakishly huge eyes and she knows exactly how to use them. She can flick from emotion to emotion with quick tiny tics of her eyes. And she can make them wet - oh so wet - I swear Vicky can store a full cup of tears in her lower lid before spilling the first drop.

I was thoroughly entertained by Painted Skin. The story is a classic from Chinese myth so I can't comment on it's originality. The film is very visual: sweeping landscapes, ornate sets and props, baroque costumes - China now realizes that it can make great period flicks because it has the manpower to build sets, sew costumes and field hundreds of extras. Glynch old pal, you are never going to be able to ply your trade in China. The set builders there are doing some great stuff, paying more attention to detail, but they still aren't above paper mache boulders. The cinematography is swirling, like a cantopop video - lots of brids-eye views swooping down into close-up. PLenty of good close-ups on the eyes of the female leads (and we all know that Asian eyes are the most soulful and sexy) but a few too many shots that were askew like the villain's lair in the Batman TV show. The soundtrack, well, I didn't hear it, did I? That could be a dealmaker or breaker. The acting was all about Vicky in my mind. Everyone turns in a crying scene, but there's no matching Vicky and that cupful of tears. It was all about her. The other lead actress was new to me and played excellent counterpoint. The effects are mediocre at best - heavy usage of the Predator-camoflage effect, a few qi blasts and fairy dust. There's one good moment when the ghost is revealed that's novel, but not stunning CGI-wise, more eerie on a conceptual level. And the fight scenes? Well, despite Donnie, this is not a martial arts movie. It's a Chinese ghost story with martial arts in it. Followers of the martial genre and Donnie will be unimpressed. It's cartoon fights, a lot of wire flying ala Crouching Tiger, but less in impact than Dragon Tiger Gate. Donnie comes off well, but it's a significant step down from Flashpoint and perhaps even down from Empress and Warriors. It may impress the uninitiated, but even for the novice fan, there's little fresh choreography here.

Is it Academy worthy? It's not nearly on the level Crouching Tiger or Hero, so I say no. It's a very entertaining film, but the Best Foreign Film needs to be more substantial, more profound. Nevertheless, it's very enjoyable, even without the sound. I look forward to seeing it with dialog although I feel pretty clear on the story arc without it.

I think my dog appears in it. I won't say where, but it's clearly in character with my dog.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I'm thinking your dog appeared in the restaurant scene as an entree. And not a very big entree at that.

[Drunk Monk]

...this is a story of the supernatural so they it's not dog that they eat. they only eat dog in the normal world.

the other lead actress was zhao xun (see http://girlpics.blog124.fc2.com/blog-entry-473.html). believe it or not, our boss is a personal friend of hers. the last time she was in america, she stayed at her house. and when my boss's son went to china, he stayed with zhou. but she's never even introduced us - that tops my disgruntled employee bitches list.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

See Image where. not to be picky . . . . .

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

This thread was useful with pics. Thank you.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I'd be at Gigi, too. Of course, I'd still hold out for Crystal.

[Drunk Monk]

So PS1 did quite well in China. It's one of those 'works in China, doesn't work anywhere else' flicks.

Now look at the trailer for PS2 which looks a lot more promising. I knew there was some reason I tuned into this flick aside from Vicky and Donnie.
[youtube]czhA4szPexQ[/youtube]

[cranefly]

Did I detect wire-work with horses?
Looks very intriguing.

I kept thinking I had seen the original Painted Skin. But after reading the plot on wikipedia, nope, don't think so. I was likely confusing it with Painted Faces, which is about the Seven Little Fortunes (Jackie Chan [not in the film], Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, etc.), their training in Beijing opera. As to whether I've even seen that one, I'm uncertain. So it's possible I'm confusing Painted Skin with Painted FIre. Painted Fire is a respectable Korean film about the life of Jang Seung-up (1843-1897), also called Owon, a rebellious painter in those times. I think of him as the Lord Guan of Korean art, to mix metaphors on an insane palette. I should have reviewed it here after watching it. But there was a spell of about 18 months when I watched maybe 200 movies from Netflix while working full time, and I just couldn't find the time.

I'm afraid my brain can no longer reliably tell me what movies I've watched and what I haven't. I need to start over.

[Drunk Monk]

NOTE: this is in 3D

http://img5.178.com/chinagame/201105/100...598175.jpg
http://img0.178.com/chinagame/201105/100...614989.jpg

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Whenever I see the phrase "In 3-D" all I can hear is the studio saying "We've found a great way to charge you more"

[Drunk Monk]

So last Friday, I had an interview with RZA in Chinatown and that evening, I was working Phish at BGC, so I figured I'd stay in SF, work from home on Saturday, and treat myself to either Expendables 2 or Miike's Harakiri, which I assume is playing in SF somewhere. Century at Embarcadero had neither, but Metreon had PS2. Metreon is AMC and AMC recently got bought out by a Chinese company, so they are playing some new Chinese movies. So I caught that and Dark Knight as it started right after PS2 ended. I should add that PS2 just broke box office records across China and that the showing I attended was essentially empty (there was one Asian couple, and then some theater hoppers ducked in but escaped quickly when they saw the subtitles).

Man, I wish I saw this in 3D. Like Avatar, a lot of it is CGI, so it is probably fairly robust 3D. It is visually stunning, like Legend of Zu was in its day. The color schemes are outrageous, cascades of flowing silk, glittering golden armor and ghostly white hair tentacles. I'm delighted to have seen this on the big screen. It's so visual and psychedelic. Vicky Zhao Wei and Zhou Xun return but this story is only loosely connected to the first. Vicky is a scarred princess general and gets to cry hell of a lot, which is her forte with those crazy frog eyes of hers. Zhou is the fox demon and she also has freaky eyes, perfect for a demon. And Yang Mi perfectly chirpy as the bird demon. It's sappily romantic in that Chinese sacrifice-love-for-station-and-circumstance, and some of those scenes get a little long, but the musical interlude is a traditional melancholy ballad and all three actresses are just stunning in their roles. It's funny, sexy, tragic, campy and stylish, and apart from a few romantic scenes, moved at a decent pace to keep me engaged. The romantic scenes are redeemed by the literal giving of hearts, as demons have no hearts so they must eat them regularly and have one given willingly to become human.

Plus there's some fun sword fights. It's magical flying about coupled with some decent chopping.

Loved it., loved it, loved it, but I'm as much a sucker for Chinese myth and Vicky as I am for Catwoman, so take that into account.

[Drunk Monk]

It's all about Wuershan (the director) for me now. I loved this movie. I loved tBtC&tS (<!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2471&p=14579">viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2471&p=14579</a><!-- l -->). I'm watching everything he makes for a while.

I just realized that Yang Mi was also the hottie in Wu Dang (<!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2657">viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2657</a><!-- l -->) but I read her 'English' name in the credits. She has two English names: Mini Yang and Mimi Yang.

[Drunk Monk]

Watched PS2: tR again because I’m researching Wuershan. It holds up remarkably well although some of the shots are a tad longwinded. Wuershan seems hypnotized by his own compositions and lingers on them. But it is, at its core, a complex love story, as many yaoguai tales are. Zhou Xun is a striking 9 tailed fox demon.

Seen on hoopla.