Word: zhang
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Zhang Yimou has come a long what since working as cinematographer for Chen Kaige. The director of such films as "Red Sorghum" and "Raise the Red Lantern," Yimou is only now starting to garner the praise and attention he has long deserved. He wins awards at Cannes almost as often as he is banned by the Chinese Government--it's becoming a tradition...
...gets the doctor a basket of hot buns. The delivery is complicated and they call for the doctor, but has eaten so much be can't stand. Fengxia's life hangs by a thread and the only doctor for miles lies unconscious in the next room, stuffed with buns. Zhang Yimou takes inherently bland components and constructs a thing of beauty and dark humor...
...Zhang Yimou is prone to relying on visual gimmicks. Whether it was the wine in "Red Sorghum", the lanterns in "Raise the Red Lantern" or the dyed fabric in "Ju Dou," his cinematic crutch is obvious and sometimes self-defeating--it forces the viewer into visual overload. "To Live" is a happy exception...
...year when few memorable films were released "To Live" is a nice aberration. Zhang Yimou always entertains, but with this film he has created something special. Yimou has finally learned the lesson of moderation, and we are thankful for it. Photo Courtesy of the Brattle Theatre The radiant GONG...
This trials-of-Job saga has been told more powerfully in other brave Chinese films (Farewell My Concubine and The Blue Kite), and To Live lacks the surprise and sumptuousness of Zhang's The Story of Qiu Ju and Raise the Red Lantern. But the Chinese censors can still be shocked -- and vindictive. Zhang was recently forced, under the threat of never making another film in his homeland, to write an apology for wanting to promote To Live at Cannes. So one has to ask, How severe is the punishment for the crime of being an honest artist...