Mmm... maybe i walked into the screening with too big of an expectation for the film... i guess i was prepared to be blown away... and i wasn't...
i really didn't care much for the characters to enjoy the movie (except maybe for the cyclo rider)... i felt that the director tried too hard to be subtle... to incorporate "asian-ness" in this film... i don't really know Tony Bui's background very well, but this film feels like to me, an american-born asian trying hard to make an asian film... as an asia-born/bred asian, that was how the film felt like to me... and my other friend with me for the screening felt the same too...
Yes, the film looked beautiful and the film does has its moments... but on the whole it felt very disjointed and sometimes pretentious... the little boy story stood up like a sore thumb to me... esp becoz the director has made the choice of setting all the scenes with the little boy on a rainy night... the other three subplots went through days and nights whereas the boy's story felt like it happened on just one rainy night.. this created a problem for me when the four stories were intercut together... it almost felt like to me that the director's initial intention was just to make a short film with the boy's story, then maybe he happened to find sundance to finance him and added three other stories to intercut to make it into a feature... i'd rather if the film is separated into four different segments... like how the wonderfully made taiwanese film "Love A-go-go" is structured... and may i say if you wanna know what real "subtle" is, see that film instead!
I am not saying that "Three Seasons" is a bad film, but it didn't move me at all... and i am really curious about the film winning the two big prizes in Sundance... i am beginning to worry about the direction Sundance is going in the future...
i really didn't care much for the characters to enjoy the movie (except maybe for the cyclo rider)... i felt that the director tried too hard to be subtle... to incorporate "asian-ness" in this film... i don't really know Tony Bui's background very well, but this film feels like to me, an american-born asian trying hard to make an asian film... as an asia-born/bred asian, that was how the film felt like to me... and my other friend with me for the screening felt the same too...
Yes, the film looked beautiful and the film does has its moments... but on the whole it felt very disjointed and sometimes pretentious... the little boy story stood up like a sore thumb to me... esp becoz the director has made the choice of setting all the scenes with the little boy on a rainy night... the other three subplots went through days and nights whereas the boy's story felt like it happened on just one rainy night.. this created a problem for me when the four stories were intercut together... it almost felt like to me that the director's initial intention was just to make a short film with the boy's story, then maybe he happened to find sundance to finance him and added three other stories to intercut to make it into a feature... i'd rather if the film is separated into four different segments... like how the wonderfully made taiwanese film "Love A-go-go" is structured... and may i say if you wanna know what real "subtle" is, see that film instead!
I am not saying that "Three Seasons" is a bad film, but it didn't move me at all... and i am really curious about the film winning the two big prizes in Sundance... i am beginning to worry about the direction Sundance is going in the future...