Reviews

"Like teardrops, the petals from the peach tree fall..."

The Peach Girl was a tragic tale of forbidden love between the classes. Ruan Ling Yu and Jin Yan made for a beautiful and tormented couple in this classic silent film.

Miss Lim (Ruan) and her parents worked on a large property. When Lim was a baby her mother planted a peach tree saying it was a symbol of her child's life. If the little girl was good it would blossom. Lim and the owner's son, Teh En, became friends despite his mother's disapproval. Even at the tender age of five, love blossomed along with the peach tree. Teh En moved away, later returning as a young man. He and Lim reconnected and their love continued. His mother still did not approve. Teh set Lim up in an apartment and told her his mother was going to let them marry. This was a bold-faced lie because his mother was arranging another marriage for him. When Lim's father found out what was going on and that Lim was pregnant, he confronted Teh En's mother who offered to pay them off. Insulted, Lim's father refused the money and was fired for his efforts.

"A man's life might be easily altered by circumstances." Teh En begs his mother to let him marry Lim and she responds by locking him up in their mansion. This was more in mind than physically because she was half his size and constantly shaking from her opium addiction. He could have easily pushed past her at any time. Teh's mom is worried about their "social dignity" more so than their familial integrity. Teh believes that "wealth or poverty does not come between love" but in real life that isn't always true, especially when descending from wealth into poverty and for a man who never worked a day in his life.

While Teh's mom tries setting him up with other girls Lim has their daughter. By this time Lim's mother has died and her father has been blinded. Melodrama thy name is Peach Girl. Lim's landlady attempts to pimp her out to an old man but upon seeing the peach blossoms she determines to stay strong.

"Sickness invariably visits the poor and helpless" especially in a Chinese silent films. Lim lays dying and Teh finally gains enough courage to push past his overly dramatic mother to run and stumble and run and stumble and run and stumble to the woman he loves. With Lim's last breath Teh promises to live to take care of their child and stand up to his mother.

The intertitles were beautifully decorated and had dialogue in English and Mandarin. In the version I saw there were also simpler English translations beneath for some intertitles. The print I watched had no music. I've read that silentfilm.org has added music on a DVD they released. By this time in Hollywood most movies, with the exception of Charlie Chaplin movies, had sound. Possibly due to access issues, lack of theatrical infrastructure, and Japan invading Manchuria in 1931, the Chinese were slower to add sound. Many frames were badly faded but did not take away from my experience.

Ruan Ling Yu's expressive face and the timeless story adapted well to silent film making the story easy to follow. This was not the best performance I've seen by Ling Yu, at times it was hampered by the thick white theatrical makeup. Without the gift of spoken words, she still conveyed a wide range of emotion brilliantly emoted through her facial expressions and body language.

Peach Girl's story at this time in history feels overly familiar, but in 1931 might have felt fresher. Perhaps due to the hard times, the plight of an abandoned woman often left with a child and living in poverty was a common theme in many of the surviving silent films I've watched. More often than not the woman was criticized by society but not the filmmaker as the film called out for audience sympathy. In this film, the director and writer highlighted the discriminatory gap between the classes. "Class distinction does not exist among children." The lesson was nearly always learned after a high price was paid.

The Peach Girl was entertaining and worth checking out if you enjoy older films and Ruan Ling Yu's performances. The alternate title, Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood might have been more accurate for this film. "Observe how teardrops are petals of the peach tree…the peach tree speaks of love, of sorrow, and of tears."

5/11/23

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In what can only be described as the korean adaptation of the Nicholas Cage's Christmas classic The Family Man, Kwon Sang Woo's character gets a taste of what life could had been like if he had made different choices.

Switch (2023) captures the feeling of the original film and brings a new life, heart and laughter into the story. The director and writer, both, know how to make this adaptation feel fresh, even when it's a story we have seen before. The acting is the strongest point of the story, with everyone delivering their A+ game and making you feel everything their characters are feeling. The humor in this movie is also very good, so I am sure everyone can enjoy it.

Overall, I fully recommend it!

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100% Fun.

If you are craving for something "funny", then this movie is perfect for you. I literally paused it at certain parts cause I was unable to control laughing.
I began this after seeing that this movie had the same director as "Oh no! Here Comes Trouble", which had the perfect mix of mystery, bromance and comedy.
Secrets of The Hotspring gives you the exact same vibes, though it leans more towards comedy.

Xiao Gin, a delinquent new student, takes his two "frenemies" to his grandparents' "hotel". Things start to take an ugly turn when both his friends Little Princess and the sleep walking Lu Qun find out that something was very strange in their new getaway. And Gin's grandparents seems to be mysteriously hiding something...

The comedy is what I remember the most out of this, but it does have its share of emotional scenes, particularly for Xiao Gin.
The story is really cliched, but the performance of the actors and its hilarity makes up for it. The bromance between the three is to really cute and I loved watching them grow reluctantly closer.
7.5/10. I knocked off the score due to its predictability, but other than that, this was worth my time.

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Warm and fun

Following the structure of Love Actually but using quintessential korean elements, A Year End Medley follows a group of people learning to live through heartbreak and disappointment, first love and second chances, and figuring out the best way to support your friends.

This film knows what it is and doesn't try to be anything else. The director fully understand what needs to be done to get the viewer invested in every storyline. That's a difficult task when you have a cast as big and star-studded as this one, where everyone is bringing their A+ game. Even the random 30 second cameos that you don't expect are really fun to watch.

The music is fun and catchy, making you feel at ease and immediately in the happy holidays mood.

I really liked this film. It left me a big smile and a feel good warmth when it ended. I recommend it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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"...it's a woman who never falls down."

New Women was a radically feminist movie for 1935 and a bit of a real-life revenge flick as well. Moreover, it was also silent film star Ruan Ling Yu's next to the last film with an ending reflecting her own. Though heartbreaking verging on melodramatic at times, New Women also strove to normalize working and independent women and call out the men who preyed on them.

In real life, Director Cai Chu Sheng was rumored to have had an affair with left wing actress and writer Ai Xia. When Ai Xia was savaged in the papers over her private life, she committed suicide. This film was said to be inspired by her struggles. The film also explored the new roles women were taking on in society prompting New Women to be promoted as a film about "the woman question."

Wei Ming (Ruan) is a beloved high school music teacher and aspiring writer. She has written for a local paper and submitted a book to a publisher. Though she is drawn to her book editor he gently turns her down while still supporting her at the publishing house. She is pursued by Mr. Wang, a wealthy married man, the husband of an old school friend. He sabotages her at the school hoping to force her to turn to him. An editor at the paper also tries to seduce her while promising her more work if she is cooperative. Even the local pimp states that with money you can always cop a feel.

Our beautiful heroine is behind in nearly all of her bills. After being paid at the paper she buys a wobble doll with a female worker on top of the globe. She tells the book editor he'd like it because the doll never falls down. Wei has a female friend, Li Aying, who works at a factory and also teaches the women workers to sing songs about being strong and independent. Aying is in a similar boat financially as Wei. To add to Wei Ming's woes, her sister informs her that her husband has died and she must bring Wei Ming's secret daughter to come live with her. Upon her arrival, the daughter is coughing, a sure sign in a Chinese film that the child is dying. The hospital staff informs Wei that the child's pneumonia can be easily cured with the new antibiotics but she must pay upfront for the treatment and the women have nowhere near enough money even after pawning most of what they own. To compound her discouragement, Wei Ming notices the wall of medications and the ward full of empty beds at the hospital ironically named Philanthropy Hospital.

After trying every legal way she can to cobble together the money for her daughter's treatment, Wei's landlady who works with the local pimp tells her that by agreeing to prostitute herself she could earn more than enough money in one night. Regarding a woman's plight, she tells the younger woman, "What other path is open to us?" Desperate to save her child, Wei Ming agrees only to find her wealthy client is the dastardly Mr. Wang. She refuses him and knows that if her child dies, she will follow her.

The film was set in the 1920's as women were beginning to enter the work force causing pushback from the males in charge. As in most countries, women were often paid less, discriminated against, sexually harassed and assaulted with little recourse. Li Aying stated that the new woman is born from hardship. There were different kinds of women presented in the story. Wei Ming was intelligent and focused on earning money with her talent, not her body but because of her beauty and physical fragility the men in charge sought to take what they wanted from her. They used the resources at their fingertips to bring her down and punish her for not acquiescing to their sexual demands. In a time when it had to seem rebellious to the standard quo, she equated marriage with slavery for a woman and felt like one night of slavery prostituting herself would be better than a lifetime. Aying was tough mentally and physically and believed in the Left's view of equality. One of the greatest movie moments in history was when she headbutted a despicable lech---twice! Mrs. Wang was unwilling to rock the boat and risk losing her status and wealth via her close proximity to Mr. Wang's power, thus turning a blind eye to his wandering proclivities.

Ruan Ling Yu gave an enchanting and heartrending performance in a role that not only mimicked Ai Xia's life, but hers as well. When the movie was screened, the press took great exception at being portrayed so negatively and forced the director to make numerous cuts to the film. In retaliation, they printed salacious stories about Ruan which in combination with an ex-lover's lawsuit, possibly instigated by the press, drove her to commit suicide a month after the film's opening.

The movie had some primitive sound effects and dubbing over the intertitles. In the copy I saw, the music became quite distorted at times. Overall, the quality of the cinematography worked well as the director utilized the different camera tricks he had at his disposal. The ravages of time had done some damage to the frames, but not enough to become a distraction.

New Women attempted to break new ground by calling out predatory men and a predatory press. It also sought to give hope to those who had been knocked down one too many times even with the film's heartbreaking ending. When Wei Ming decided she wanted revenge on the men who had brought her low, Aying told her, "…to continue living is without a doubt the prerequisite for doing anything at all!" New Women could feel a tad propagandistic at times but for the most part portrayed women's struggles in the world, especially those who attempted to follow a dream, in a fairly realistic manner. Even after the "Me, Too" movement many decades later, women are still seeking respect and equality at work and in society. When a film entertains and causes the viewer to think, that makes it successful in my book.

5/10/23

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I'm so confused but I kept watching it.

If you are looking for a pure horror and suspense movie, this ain't it chief. I don't know if they intended it to be a lil funny (cause you know, the main character is a comedian) but it's a mixture of horror and comedy, as well as romance and action. I know, a lot of conflicting genre to this movie. But that's how it is.

The concept is good that's why I had high expectations about this movie. Sadly, it didn't achieve it. Maybe the non-closure of the homes is the reason for it? Sure, the plot didn't say that they'll gonna "solve whatever happened to the place" cause it's definitely not a ghost hunting story but transitioning to the other scene makes it difficult to understand.

Unlike other people (i've seen other reviews) i sorta liked the ending. Maybe because it's the only part of the movie that excites me lol That's the only part that caught my attention.. well.. disregarding the weird vfx from the incense (it was cool at first but doing it repeatedly is a lil cringey and doesn't really match up with the horror vibes.. but THEN AGAIN i don't know what genre this is categorized on) It reminds me of a Korean drama called "Sell Your Haunted House". ESPECIALLY the real estate agent? oof- (Yes, that one is a ghost hunting story and IT'S VERY GOOD– okay i'm not here to review that. I'm here to review Stigmatized Property. Let's go back –)

The acting is okay. Some people find the lead actress' acting obnoxious but it's an -eh- for me. Kame's okay. The rest is an -eh- too.

All in all, It's an okay movie. I don't really expect nor wish to have a remake cause it's an open-ended storyline. There's no proper ending for this so there's not gonna be an organized plot for it.

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Really fun movie

The first scene got me thinking that this movie was made by a man for men. You know, bikini clad women in some action, guns, blood, the usual.

I wanted to change the channel but then, the fight scenes started and I was hooked. I decided to stay and let's say I had a great time!

I don't care if this was made for men or not but I enjoyed this movie. Badass girls sticking together, and will literally die for each other is one of my favorites. It might not be Hollywood but the fight scenes were okay!

It's got some dry humor deliveries I love and the girls are really so sweet. I was just watching totally spies yesterday so I was kind of getting that vibe.

Overall, it's a fun movie. There's a bitter part but you'll get over it before you know. Definitely going to rewatch when I have the time.

If you're fond of women centric movies then this is for you.

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It is a mediocre Xianxia movie with bad plot and stupid cliffhanger

Jade Dynasty, started by Xiao Zhan, Li Qin, and Meng Mei Qi, is a mediocre historical Xianxia movie with an interesting plot but not a good ending.

The beginning explains how he got to the heavenly realm, but the ending does not explain how he got the demonic blood in his DNA. The ending has a cliffhanger, and stupid for them to let him go knowing that he can be potentially bad.

For a 2019 movie, I expected better CGI. I would rate it as a C-rated movie and give it a 6.0 rating. MarcusHere, a Youtuber recommended it, so I checked it out since it started Xiao Zhan. I was not impressed because the plot is so stupid.

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Where's the story?

I was expecting a lot for this movie but., I was
just disappointed. If you really focus you'll find that there is no storyline. It's just about a female killer who is the top of her company who manages contracts killing, then one day she is the one to be killed. I was imagining that trying to kill booksoon would've been more thrilling and would have given scenes where they are tracking her, making groups to chase her,...etc.. but no, in one scene "the trying to kill book soon" is gone.
I think this movie is overrated
Sorry for those who liked it. It's just my opinion

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"Gossip is a fearful thing"

When I watched Ruan Ling Yu in The Goddess I was mesmerized by her performance. It was honestly one of the best performances by an actress I had seen in a long time. Discovering that she had taken her own life at such a young age was crushing. Center Stage was a strange amalgam of documentary and movie about her captivating and tragic life.

In one of her best performances, the ethereal Maggie Cheung played Ruan. During an interview she stated she could understand how Ruan must have felt finally going from secondary "wall flower" roles to having serious roles offered to her. Maggie had plenty of ditzy female characters on her resume before this film and afterwards would go on to star in such films as In the Mood for Love and Hero. In much the same way Ruan had suffered from gossip, Maggie also understood the vicious nature of gossip about actors' personal lives

The set-up of the film did not work for me. Ruan was a gifted actress with a sad, yet fascinating life. The back-and-forth between re-enactment and interviews and behind the scenes shots destroyed the rhythm of the story. It was very distracting when the film cut from a disturbing scene straight to an interview with a 90-year-old who knew Ruan. Some of the interviews and speculations did not line up with the timeframe of the story as it was laid out which could make the following scenes confusing. Due to the film's structure, I was always aware that people were acting and it destroyed my emotional connection to what was happening on screen. For me, it would have been far better if they'd shown the interviews after the film along with the behind-the-scenes shots. Having the director yell that he could see Maggie breathing and then show them reshooting the scene and then presenting what was supposed to be a sorrowful funeral felt emotionally false.

When the movie had longer stretches of showing Ruan's story instead of people telling us her story, it was much more meaningful. But just as the joyful or sorrowful moods would crescendo, there would be a startling halt and a cut to the documentary.

Ruan Ling Yu was a stunning actress who lived a tumultuous life, having had three different lovers who contributed to some if not most of her problems. Two of the men were married with multiple mistresses and her first love was an inveterate gambler and womanizer. They cost her dearly financially and personally. Because of the constant tonal shifts in the film there would be no catharsis for the viewer at the end as the gossipy papers and people wrought devastation on her life pushing her into a corner, she saw only one way out of. By the time of the funeral scene, it felt more like a sterile documentary with high-end re-enactments one might find on television.

What kept my attention was Maggie's performance and her insightful interviews. The film also had clips and images from Ruan's films no longer available. I found the business aspects of the film informative, more so when they let the characters show the business dealings instead of the documentary telling about them. There were so many sides of this complicated woman to explore which were not touched on, such as---Why did she always choose cruel, unavailable men? Much of the action took place when Japan had invaded Manchuria causing political and financial upheavals which were barely touched upon.

When Ruan starred in New Women, based on a real actress who had been hounded by the press and committed suicide, it exposed an unflattering and malodorous side of the press. Instead of self-reflection and changing of their ways or going after the men in the film or the studio, they turned on her and hunted her relentlessly, plastering what they wanted to about her private life in their rags. I felt the film let me down with explaining the ex-lover's story and how he was legally tied to her. Born a wealthy man, his family disapproved of Ruan, the reason he gave for not marrying her. He burned through his money gambling, then turned to Ruan to support him. When she tired of dealing with him, she broke it off. They had never been married and yet he sued her for support and later for adultery. The last lawsuit seemed to be the final straw for her along with the cruel gossip.

The film's stuttering style failed to affect me emotionally. Which is a shame because I have been quite curious about this talented woman. Ruan Ling Yu's life was more dramatic and heartbreaking than most of her films. Though Ruan had a couple of female friends, an adopted daughter, and at least one lover at any given time, she seemed utterly alone and vulnerable. She was no match against the power of the poisoned pen and wagging tongues in combination with her devious ex at the young age of 24 or 25, especially during a time of crisis for her country. Dying at the pinnacle of her career caused Ruan Ling Yu to become a screen legend. In her suicide note she wrote that she was not afraid of death. "My only fear is the malicious gossip." Nearly one hundred years later too many young entertainers are still dying because of malicious gossip. Gossip truly is a fearful thing.

5/9/23

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When perfect acting meets imperfect plot... it leaves a strong but short-lived impression

A touching story, but the script comes out lacking when put together with such superb acting.

It'll start by saying that this movie is not family-friendly. I would watch it with adult friends and siblings, but I wouldn't show it to my parents or underage kids. Too much cussing, suggestive scenes, morally questionable actions, etc.

Besides that, the trailer and the movie don't match. The trailer makes it look like it's all fun and games but that's not the case. It's heart-breaking actually, even if there are a couple funny scenes.

I did quite enjoy this movie though.
It's about reconciliation, sacrifice, closure, hope.
The actors did such an amazing job bringing out their characters and making them real. As the audience you become so attached to the main characters you can't help but feel what they feel and suffer alongside them (...I cried).

However, it's definitely not perfect. It has flawed pacing, a lacking plot and a somewhat rushed ending.
I won't go into details or give out spoilers, but I can't help thinking that with such phenomenal casting they could've polished the story itself quite some more.

To sum it up, after going up and down on an emotional rollercoaster... in the end it's a forgettable movie.
This might sound harsh but this movie doesn't bring anything new to the table. The tragic situation that gets revealed past the half-way-point was so predictable it almost became bland and, worse, it took attention away from what should be the main focus of the plot instead of adding to it. Also, the different plot pieces don't quite fit. There are a lot of typical tropes, but the main problem is really the lack of a clear objective on the scriptwriter's part.

I won't spoil it, but I'll leave you, who is going to watch or has watched this movie, with a question to wonder about: what made the older brother change?

...Will/Do you perhaps see what I mean?
I think you'll find that's the fatal flaw in this movie... What it does is make it seem that, ultimately, what caused him to change was an external factor rather than something that came out from within him after an inner struggle. External factors should remain as mere triggers, and change should come from a difficult choice. Otherwise things don't add up, it doesn't feel earned but lacklustre instead... They had the ingredients to do that in "My Annoying Brother". It's a pity.

Still, I think it's worth it to watch this movie.

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