I love what I'm discovering about the infamous ending of the Manga story on which this was based. It is extremely entertaining when self-righteou, anti-sex, know-it-all prudes freak out, lose their shit and minds over fictional material in a story they can stop reading at any time. So many of them, however, relish their outrage to such a degree that they have to read/watch/listen to the bitter end. Most likely because that at which they claim to be morally disgusted actually makes them feel moist in their naughty places.
Adorable. Sweet. Big-hearted. Loving. I love this young man who followed a whim of his heart because it was the right thing to do in the moment. And because of that he is forever changed for the better. The child actors are wonderful/believable. I have been watching some nice movies because I took in a string of Korean heart-breakers and have worn out my tear-ducts. I shed a few tears at this one, but it turns out happy tears don't hurt at all. :)
Pros: casting, acting, special effects, storyCons: tad bit slow in some partsThis is on Tubi at the moment with…
How do you know what to skip until you've seen/heard what the scenes you skip contain? These historical dramas are gorgeous but almost impenetrable to me.
Even Chang Chen and stunning sets, costumes, realism, grandeur, whatever could make this work. I'm American and at least at this point I still find it extremely difficult to keep track of who is who and what they are doing in Asian historical dramas like this. Plus, a great part of the "action" is actors dramatically spouting expository dialogue/monologues while they stand around exchanging deeply meaningful, piercing glares. So I will leave this one too to be enjoyed by those with a much better grasp on ancient Chinese/Korean/Japanese history.
lol...I just now realized, upon finishing the movie, that Chang Chen did not utter one word the entire film. I stuck with this strange piece of work because I like odd things, but the flick crossed over into annoying quite a few times, and utterly silly at others. I guess it's some deep work of art, eh? The dumbest part was the two rolling inmates right at the end. lol I kept thinking the director/writer/whoever was doing the weirdness for weirdness' sake thing, and I may be right. The wife was clearly quite mentally ill, as well as being the world's fastest wallpaper hanger. There's no way the prison would allow her to see him, but then there's the psycho warden who seems to be enjoying things...
Samsies. I never used to shy away from sad looking films before discovering Asian cinema. They take 'sad' to a…
Geegee, it's you again! And also once again you have spoken my own thoughts. Just this evening I watched "Mr. Long," which is now a favorite, out of nowhere surprise. I am now a huge Chang Chen fan. Anyone who can convey so much feeling with so little dialogue has my respect. But after sobbing through the ultimately upbeat ending of that film which I did not expect, I was once again thinking about how I have sobbed more and gone through more paper towels in the last 18 months since my discovery of Asian gay cinema, BL, and Asian cinema in general. Most Americans are oblivious to the hundreds of powerful Asian films that could change their lives. I am happy to no longer be one of them.
I watched "Crossing" two days ago and almost lost my mind with grief.
Kenji's love story tore me to bits!! I have to appreciate the excellent writing, however, in the fact that they…
Geegee, I had one caveat about this film: That fight scene at the end...I found it unconvincing. The bad guys all kind of waited one-by-one to take on Mr. Long and get knifed. Why wouldn't they swarm him all at once since he was so outnumbered? Am I wrong?
When the actor dialogue is only few sentences and still it delivers a brilliant preformance... A heart warming…
YES! Chang Chen said almost nothing...lol. And yet he deserves an academy award. The boy was sensational as well. Little Korean actors are the best! I was so happy the director gave us that ending. I've watched a LOT of heart-breakers lately so this was a wonderful change.
Forgot to say the soundtrack to this movie is beautiful, minimalistic and just right. I was aware of its simplicity and beauty, but not to where it distracted me.
An instant favorite! Thank you God and Mr. Sabu, for that ending. I have watched so many excellent but unspeakably tragic Korean and Japanese films of late that this ending saved me. :) I ugly-cried anyway but for good reasons. This flick has been on my to-watch list for months but the synopsis didn't grab me all that much. Ha! What do I know from synopses?
I loved the pace of this film, the fun/interesting characters of the townspeople, the PHENOMENAL acting of both Chang Chen and the young man who played the son/boy (there seems to be an unending supply of stunningly talented and natural child actors in Korea...quite a few of them have broken me wide open recently, making me laugh AND cry}. This child, the little actor, was particularly outstanding. I fell in love with him when he first brought Mr. Long the bottle of water and my affection for him grew throughout the film. It's terrible that he is not pictured and credited with the cast above. I adored the way he toddled when he walked and ran. And not many images have been more sweet than him washing dishes as Mr. Long cooked at the stall.
I am extremely sad at the choice the mother made and I can't say I understand it.
Overall, I'm giving this a 9.5/10 and it's going on my re-watch list. I'm sure there's a thousand details I missed. BRAVO! Bu the way, Chang Chen is not only an amazing actor (not everyone can pull off that kind of extremely understated character) but he is stunningly sexy. Good god. :)
I don't understand why the mother was so timid and compliant after that horrible, murderous, rapist pig chased her back to her house. I get that she deliberately led him there to get him away from her boy and Mr. Long, but I was hoping she would use the time she had before the monster showed up to hide a knife in her hand or something like that so that when he started banging her, she could give it to him in the back a few times. I also get that perhaps her history and the trauma of seeing her lover and father of her child murdered before her eyes, along with god knows how long a period of serious heroin addiction had left her too damaged to be able to think clearly and fight back in that way. And I know that the asshole shot her up before raping her, after which there was no hope and you could see that she just checked out. But to hang herself, knowing that her son would likely see her swinging by a rope there...? Really?
Perhaps I was just hoping for too MUCH good stuff at the end, and should just be happy with the beautiful ending I got. I was so happy to ugly-cry from happiness rather than sadness for once.
The village folks hunting Mr. Long down in Taipei to reunite him with the little boy is one of the loveliest scenes I have ever beheld. To see Mr. Long finally break and shed tears of joy as he held the boy too...that was worth the entire movie. We'll just agree to ignore how in the hell they could have found him, and it seemed to be by accident, lol. What are the chances in a city of millions?
I enjoyed this very much, though Jongdae was exceedingly annoying at times. lol It's interesting that the older boy, who displays such responsibility, maturity, kindness and loyalty, doesn't seem to understand that those traits and many more make him extremely valuable despite the fact that he keeps saying his future relies on Jongdae, who seems to be a bit of a nutcase. The VERY ending however, shows some hope that that situation is improving. Regarding the almost-ending, why not throw that gun in the river and get out of town with the other three?
I have become a big fan of Yoo Ah In's acting, which is what brought me here. He still mouth-breathes a bit too much, but he's a great actor.
It is extremely entertaining when self-righteou, anti-sex, know-it-all prudes freak out, lose their shit and minds over fictional material in a story they can stop reading at any time. So many of them, however, relish their outrage to such a degree that they have to read/watch/listen to the bitter end. Most likely because that at which they claim to be morally disgusted actually makes them feel moist in their naughty places.
Pretty terrible but the guys looked great in their swim trunks at least. I kept hoping it would be revealed that Perth was carrying Tan's ______.
March especially keeps getting more and more handsome with age. Tor too. My god, those abs
6.5/10. Two of those points are for Tan's abs and Perth's nostrils.
I kept thinking the director/writer/whoever was doing the weirdness for weirdness' sake thing, and I may be right.
The wife was clearly quite mentally ill, as well as being the world's fastest wallpaper hanger. There's no way the prison would allow her to see him, but then there's the psycho warden who seems to be enjoying things...
I watched "Crossing" two days ago and almost lost my mind with grief.
I loved the pace of this film, the fun/interesting characters of the townspeople, the PHENOMENAL acting of both Chang Chen and the young man who played the son/boy (there seems to be an unending supply of stunningly talented and natural child actors in Korea...quite a few of them have broken me wide open recently, making me laugh AND cry}. This child, the little actor, was particularly outstanding. I fell in love with him when he first brought Mr. Long the bottle of water and my affection for him grew throughout the film. It's terrible that he is not pictured and credited with the cast above. I adored the way he toddled when he walked and ran. And not many images have been more sweet than him washing dishes as Mr. Long cooked at the stall.
I am extremely sad at the choice the mother made and I can't say I understand it.
Overall, I'm giving this a 9.5/10 and it's going on my re-watch list. I'm sure there's a thousand details I missed. BRAVO!
Bu the way, Chang Chen is not only an amazing actor (not everyone can pull off that kind of extremely understated character) but he is stunningly sexy. Good god. :)
Perhaps I was just hoping for too MUCH good stuff at the end, and should just be happy with the beautiful ending I got. I was so happy to ugly-cry from happiness rather than sadness for once.
The village folks hunting Mr. Long down in Taipei to reunite him with the little boy is one of the loveliest scenes I have ever beheld. To see Mr. Long finally break and shed tears of joy as he held the boy too...that was worth the entire movie. We'll just agree to ignore how in the hell they could have found him, and it seemed to be by accident, lol. What are the chances in a city of millions?
It's interesting that the older boy, who displays such responsibility, maturity, kindness and loyalty, doesn't seem to understand that those traits and many more make him extremely valuable despite the fact that he keeps saying his future relies on Jongdae, who seems to be a bit of a nutcase.
The VERY ending however, shows some hope that that situation is improving.
Regarding the almost-ending, why not throw that gun in the river and get out of town with the other three?
I have become a big fan of Yoo Ah In's acting, which is what brought me here. He still mouth-breathes a bit too much, but he's a great actor.