Has anybody seen it? It’s a “love or hate” movie, I guess, and I would like to hear what other Seguists think about it.
I liked it very much, and not only because I’m possibly one of the biggest Citroen DS fans in Taiwan.
Oh, and does anybody know “The Scent of the Green Papaya”?
Iris
I saw the ad on a small vietnamese restaurant in rui-an street. It’s titled “L’odeur de la papaye verte.”
Must be a good movie. Don’t know where to see it:)
ax
“The Scent of the Green Papaya”, a French-Vietnamese movie, is a great movie, very slow, colorful pictures. It’s very popular in Germany, I’ve seen it loads of times. I was just wondering if anybody else knows it.
Iris
I saw “The Scent of the Green Papaya” when it came out about ten years ago. I don’t remember much about it other than its striking and beautiful visual sense, which is quite lush, if that doesn’t seem too incongrous a word for a movie.
Somehow, though not intentionally, I’ve never seen a film by Clara Law. 
IRIS: "I liked it very much, and not only because I’m possibly one of the biggest Citroen DS fans in Taiwan. "
Iris! You love Citroen Deux Chevaux too? I thought I was all alone!
I used live in Paris, Rouen, too, drove around in those deux chevaux all the time.
REALLY? YOU TOO?
Do they still make them? In taiwan too?
No, Formosa, I mean the big ones, the “hippos” that were made between 1955 and 1975. They were revolutionary among other things in introducing a hydropneumatic system that allowed them to lift up or go down, apart from having such a revolutionary design that Uma Thurman even drove one in 90s science fiction movie “Gattaca”. I’ll stop here (believe me, I could go on for pages :?). You can find pictures here.
I don’t know, but I wouldn’t think that there are any here in Taiwan (but I’d love to learn that this isn’t true 
).
The Deux Chevaux, “Ente = duck” as we call them in Germany, are not produced anymore, either. However, my 19-year old sister drives one, a beautiful red one 
. I wouldn’t think that there are any of these here in Taiwan either .
Iris
We used to have a Citroen GS Pallas, a super car, and a 2CV6, a dreadful car. Other bad cars we have had include a Renault Megane Scenic (sold within months of purchase!), and an Opel Manta which even though bought from new and with regular servicing at the Opel garage was the most unreliable car I have ever come across. Utter and complete rubbish. But as a youngster I thought it was great. I remember loving the uppy-downy suspension in the Pallas - very comfy. I suppose they’ve all rusted away now… the DS is a fabulous car, but God help you if anything goes wrong with it !
My first car was a Renault 4. I must say, it ran well for about 2 weeks of the year that I owned it…
My family has owned French cars ever since I can remember (no DS, though ), and most of them ran more or less perfectly (my dad loves taking care of his Renault 4s). The Peugeot 205s couldn’t be killed until my sister crashed one badly last year. I love to see the “normal” French cars here, makes me feel like being back in civilization after all the Santana 2000 in Shanghai :?. Seeing a Renault Twingo always makes my day, they look so cute .
Anyway, back to topic:
Has anybody seen “The Goddess of 1967”?
Iris
No.
I had a 205 back home. Small, red, fun to drive and reliable as anything. It only acted up on me once over a span of 3 years. I love french cars, but have to drive japaneseones, as french ones are expensive to maintain here. Would love a 205 cabrio as 3rd caar though.
Me neither.
The first car I ever drove was a Peugeot 104. Splendid little thing. It was immaculate too. Bright red. Didn’t even have a radio. Black vinyl seats. Don’t see too many of them around now.
Haven’t seen ‘Goddess of 1967’ but I’m a huge fan of Clara Law, even though i’ve only seen two fo her films. I was kucky enought o meet her about 6 years ago when she was appearing with her film ‘Floating Life’ at the Wellington film festival. My friend, being a young NZ-Chinese ‘in the scene’ got asked to show her round town a bit, so I got an introduction, and even though we only exchanged a few words I got a good impression of her. Her Q & A with the film was great to. She made most of her movies in Hong Kong, but now lives and works with her filmmaker husband Eddie Fong (I think his name is) in Australia.
‘Floating Life’ came out about 6 years ago and is a great story about a family of Kong Kongese who emigrate to Australia. I love a scene which goes from crowded HK to a Sydney suburb. You can just feel the emptiness freaking them out.
‘Temptation of a Monk’ is a fantastic film set in ancient China, that came out a few years before ‘Floating Life’. It seems very influenced in cinematic style by Kurosawa’s ‘Ran’ and 'Kagemusha - lots of great colour.
Brian
Yep… I thought it was pretty good… although I felt the Character development was a bit weak (Why was her Child Molesting Father living in the Cave??)… the “Dance Scene” was probably the best I’ve ever seen in a film of that Genre…
Ever seen “The Lover” ???
just to bring this back to the top and to return this thread to the topic of the movie itself.
definitely put me under the HATE THIS MOVIE category.
hands down the MOST PRETENTIOUS and UTTERLY LONG AND BORING movie I have EVER seen.
I say this with a twinge of understatement.
I almost never walk out on a movie and this one had me wishing I did.
p.s.
Clara Law seems like a nice enough person though. I just hope she doesn’t make any crap movies any time soon.
Iris lent me the movie and it was fantastic.
the wild story line might put a few people off, but I htink it’s nice that Clara Law has retained a bit of the old Hong Kong sensibilites regarding bizarre plots.
Amazing cinematography and some excellent acting.
Brian
wow! this might even turn into a debate!
Not too many people have seen this movie as far as I know. Clara Law seems to be a little more well known on this side of the pacific than on the other but I never thought I would be engaging in any kind of discussion about this film.
When I first saw it in the theatre it was at an asian film festival and Clara Law was there. The theatre was packed and people sat silently and watched. Afterwards, the opinions I got about the fim were all more or less on the fence. I was pretty adament that it stunk thousand year old eggs.
Remembering back to the pain I felt watching it still gives me shudders. Mind you, if stylishness without any real regard for plot is your thing than this may be the movie for you. The highly “symbolic” and not-so symbolic nature of this film is quite irritating.
Here’s one piece of such dialogue that I remember with great disdain:
“Do you mean Mars the planet?”"
“No I mean Mars the chocolate bar.”
If you can imagine under what context with this kind of dialogue to be relevant in any shape or form, I urge you to step forward. What this movie boils down to for me is this: utter post-modern nonsense.
That said, I have yet to see a movie from HK that I have really liked.
I do appreciate that some people have seen the film are willing to stand up for it (iris, SDB) but if there’s one movie I feel inclined to argue to the ground kicking and screaming it’s this one. It deserves it.
What do you mean ‘without any regard to plot’? The plot was excellent. A little far-fetched and crazy perhaps, but i like that in a plot. At least you can’t accuse this film of stale formulism.
Actually, I’m not sure that there’s that much room for debate here. Some people hate this film, and actually I can understand that. My best friend, whose opinion regarding cinema I respect, didn’t like it either.
Brian
To be honest, I don’t really like to debate movies. I either like them or I don’t. Mind you, I liked the new Solaris, too. But when Rascal asked me to explain what it meant and why I liked it, I couldn’t. Maybe it’s because movies for me are just a hobby. Apart from very few at school or uni, I’ve never seen any movie from a scientific point of view.
I can live with your opinion on the movie. And I’m sure there are movies both you and me like. But please don’t ask me to defend my opinion.
Besides, wasn’t the DS great???
Iris
fair enough.
iris–
I thought it was interesting that you started a thread about the one movie I hate with a passion and asked if people love or hate this movie. I feel kinda baited.
as for the car, i don’t much care for automobiles, though this one seemed to hold its own in this movie.
SDB–
I was kidding about the debate. I don’t find forum debates all that interesting myself. I think your position is interesting given your fondness for old japanese movies (which, indeed, are great).
iris, SDB, I think we can safely say we agree to disagree and leave it at that. If perchance we meet in the future, we can engage in a mud wrestling match to decide it and then watch some movies afterwards.
cheers.
Or watch a movie first and then have a coffee, like we’ve done before in our weekly movie sessions (not this week, though 
).
Why don’t you join us for one of those?
Iris