3 hours. This is enough to deter many people from watching the film. Maybe it will be different if it is a three hour Marvel hero movie, but it didn't feel like 3 hours to me at all. The Golden Era talks about the life story of a Chinese female writer 萧红 from the June 2, 1911 – January 22, 1942 in the format which resembles that of a stage drama, a documentary and an interview.
Some may find it boring and monotonous, but it was just like how a normal person's life is. Their life was not exaggerated or romanticised or dramatized. I found it enlightening. This is life. It's not a movie, it's not a fairy tale where the male and female lead will get back together and live happily ever after. It's life. A life with regrets and questions.
The Golden Era was not biased towards any characters. OK, perhaps it was biased by choosing a good looking actor Feng Shaofeng as Xiao Jun (the real person was not tall and muscular), and audience tend to pity him during the breakup. It made the audience decide what to believe and made me think. I overheard one of the audience said how there was almost no climax throughout the film. But being able to be in the audience's mind, to be able to make the audience think about the film, is a form of success, a form of "climax" to me.
Award-winning (female) director Ann Hui had left the whole film true to the life story. Unanswered parts were filled up by with her friends' answers. Different sides of the story (like the real reason behind the break up between Xiao Jun 萧军 and Xiao Hong) were also shown.
After watching "The Golden Era", it took me a few days to get over the many unanswered questions that were in my mind. Why was Xiao Hong so calm and unperturbed during her pregnancies and during war time? Why did Duanmu marry her knowing that she was pregnant with Xiao Jun's child? Why did he disappear on her on her final days?
Xiao Jun, Xiao Hong's husband remarried after they broke up and had a total of 8 children. Did he still love Xiao Hong? Did he ever regret? What really happened during the break up? Questions that made me search through the web for days, reading the commentaries and forums from various online sources before I could rest my mind.
If you are wondering why you should even watch this, when you don't even know who this author is (after all, she's not exactly JK Rowling or Suzanne Collins), this is a film you should watch because it's about living life the way you want it and not the way others want you to live. I love the way the actors depict the different characters. They were not acting the characters but being them. I remembered a scene when a character burst into tears talking about Xiao Hong. The audience laughed. I didn't understand why so. Is it funny when you burst into tears when talking about a deceased friend?
Read more: http://tiffanyyong.com/2014/10/15/golden-era-movie-review/
Some may find it boring and monotonous, but it was just like how a normal person's life is. Their life was not exaggerated or romanticised or dramatized. I found it enlightening. This is life. It's not a movie, it's not a fairy tale where the male and female lead will get back together and live happily ever after. It's life. A life with regrets and questions.
The Golden Era was not biased towards any characters. OK, perhaps it was biased by choosing a good looking actor Feng Shaofeng as Xiao Jun (the real person was not tall and muscular), and audience tend to pity him during the breakup. It made the audience decide what to believe and made me think. I overheard one of the audience said how there was almost no climax throughout the film. But being able to be in the audience's mind, to be able to make the audience think about the film, is a form of success, a form of "climax" to me.
Award-winning (female) director Ann Hui had left the whole film true to the life story. Unanswered parts were filled up by with her friends' answers. Different sides of the story (like the real reason behind the break up between Xiao Jun 萧军 and Xiao Hong) were also shown.
After watching "The Golden Era", it took me a few days to get over the many unanswered questions that were in my mind. Why was Xiao Hong so calm and unperturbed during her pregnancies and during war time? Why did Duanmu marry her knowing that she was pregnant with Xiao Jun's child? Why did he disappear on her on her final days?
Xiao Jun, Xiao Hong's husband remarried after they broke up and had a total of 8 children. Did he still love Xiao Hong? Did he ever regret? What really happened during the break up? Questions that made me search through the web for days, reading the commentaries and forums from various online sources before I could rest my mind.
If you are wondering why you should even watch this, when you don't even know who this author is (after all, she's not exactly JK Rowling or Suzanne Collins), this is a film you should watch because it's about living life the way you want it and not the way others want you to live. I love the way the actors depict the different characters. They were not acting the characters but being them. I remembered a scene when a character burst into tears talking about Xiao Hong. The audience laughed. I didn't understand why so. Is it funny when you burst into tears when talking about a deceased friend?
Read more: http://tiffanyyong.com/2014/10/15/golden-era-movie-review/