'Vive L'Amour' is about three separate characters whose lives unexpectedly meet in an unsold apartment. May-Lin is the estate agent, Ah-Jung is the guy she unexpectedly has sex with, and Hsiao-Kang is the salesman who is living in the apartment (unknown to them).
In 'What Time is it Over There?', A watch seller, Hsiao-Kang, is trying to come to terms with his father's death. His mother is becoming increasingly insane, so he tries to spend as much time as possible out of the house. He sells Shiang-chyi his watch, and has the urge to change every clock he sees to CEST (the time in Paris). Meanwhile Shiang-chyi travels to Paris and befriends a girl.
To celebrate buying a new region free Bluray and DVD player, I decided to start watching Ming-Liang's films on region 1 discs. Taiwan seems to be one of the best countries for films, with master directors Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang making films there. Ming-Liang is very critically acclaimed, but I did know his films were different from Hsiao-Hsien's and Yang's works. From watching the segment of Ming-Liang in 'A Story of Film: An Odyssey', I learnt that he believes in the most pretentious saying "If you drink, you must piss or cry". So his films contain lots of drinking, lots of pissing and lots of crying. If you see someone drink in one of his films, you could play the "Will he piss or cry? game". Seeing someone piss on screen is the least cinematic thing ever. It shows how his films encapsulates everyday life, without removing the toilet stuff, to create a realistic portrayal of society. You probably never thought The Terminator took a piss several times during the plotline of each of the films, but I'm going to be honest here, no-one really cares. Seriously Ming-Liang, removing the "man pissing in bottle" scene in 'What Time is it Over There?' or "Lady sits on toilet scene" in 'Vive L'Amour' would improve the films significantly. There is no plot or character development in these scenes, so they are pointless and disgusting.
Something Ming-Liang did use from the Yang and Hsiao-Hsien films was the long take. When I heard about the term "long take" for the first time, I thought how boring they must be, and how no cuts would irritate me. Films like 'The Travelling Players', 'A City of Sadness' and 'Berlin Alexanderplatz' immediately disproved this idea and I now adore the brilliance of the long take. However, Ming-Liang's long takes seems to return to my pre-conceptions. The shots may be composited nicely and use artificial lights impressively, but the long duration emphasizes the fact that nothing happens on-screen whatsoever. They are not so much boring, as tedious and annoying. So little happens in them, I could have fast forwarded x2 the entire films and missed nothing. Character's rarely speak to each other and spend most of the runtime in beds crying, sleeping or walking through vacant corridors and rooms. I'm sure Ming-Liang would think me writing this review on a laptop alone in my room, would be high quality entertainment. Well, it's not.
Ming-Liang is not afraid to show the gritty depressing realism of life. In 'Vive L'Amour' there is a scene where the young salesman attempts to slit his wrists. There's another scene where the insurance saleslady cries for 10 minutes (a painfully long take). Both films contain sprinklings of very bleak comedy, most notably in 'What Time is it Over There?', which contains some genuinely laugh out loud moments. The long duration and the seriousness of the scenes, are mismatched with some subtle neo-slapstick.
I found 'What Time is it Over There?' the better film, because of the improved visuals and the superior story. The film deals with death and the constant expiration of time, as well as featuring a legendary cameo. 'Vive L'Amour' is an earlier film, but is far duller and way more irritating. The story weaves in and out of the three protagonists lives, based around the one apartment where neither of them (legally) live. There is impressive acting from Yang Kuei-Mei (May Lin), and the film is filled with bizarre and unexpected moments, but the the film never gels together.
Vive L'Amour
TO CONCLUDE
I admire the beauty, but the film is painfully slow. I was uninterested for the entirety of the running time.
SCORE
65
What Time is it Over There?
Equally as slow as the previous Ming-Liang, but is a much more interesting, funny and watchable film. Although it's still not enjoyable.
SCORE
69
No comments:
Post a Comment