Summer Palace
by Lou Ye
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DVD details
Actor: Bai Xueyun, Cui Lin, Duan Long, Guo Xiaodong, Hao LeiDirector: Lou Ye
Brand: Universal Studios
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Mandarin Chinese (Original Language); German (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 140 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-03-11
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Palm Pictures
Product features:
- From the director of Purple Butterfly & Suzhou River comes Lou Ye's sprawling epic Summer Palace. Yu Hong (Lei Hao) is a rebellious young woman from a small Chinese town transplanted to a politically charged Beijing University in the late 1980s. The country's social turmoil is witnessed through its disaffected youth, whose newfound sexuality and activism culminate in violent suppression. S
DVD Reviews of Summer Palace
DVD Review: chinese soft porn big chill
Summary: 3 Stars
this movie is the big chill chinese version-- w tiannamin sq instead of our kent state etc--- following (like the slightly better but also overrated big chill ) a bunch of young soon to be free spirits --in college---discovering their bodies, orgasms -- the protagonist girl esp- she really likes her newfound pleasure principle at it were and we see her attaining new heights in this categroy quite a bit- in fact most scenes devolve into sex scenes as she hops around like most college kids i guesss discovering themselves and who they are--what they like how they like it etc- but alas that never lasts too long- society and govt and the staus quo beats them/us into submission soon enough---the movie is a bit ludicrous tho-- the so called politics are never explored at all---- which i fine cuz i hate politics anyway---- but to have a rep as a movie about politics is ridiculous as this movie is really a soft porn flick disguised as something else---the guy who gives her the best sex-- she spends the whole movie regretting having blowning him off- but she finds him again--like 2o yeaRS LATER at the very end--- and not much happens even then---anti climactic to say the least despite all the other climaxes we glimpse so often in this fairly predictable coming of age type movie- the backgrounds to the plethora of sex scenes are minimal -any serious themes ignored and/or under explored -tiannenam sq- a blur of fire smoke armed men w mean guns- kids rushing all about---its totally whitewashed of any seriousness or reality or brutality- its like a disney version of tianneman sq- dreamlike in its slapdash and sophomoric look--but if we remember that the movie is told and seen thru the eyes of a self obsessed horny young lady--its probably just how she saw it----shallow! the most interesting thing about the movie i think-- was my own realization while watching -- that in life kids who seek it find liberation at first-- only for society to punish and repress and oppress them into submission -- and the sublimation of all their greater instincts and passions and lust for life is sublimated w their individuality----returning them to the objects instead of people they could be-- so society -- can use them and abuse them for their own nefarious means---just like this country in the sixties-- the whole movement of freedom -- squashed really--successfully--- as the hippies became yippies then yuppies--- and finally more like guppies i guess u could say---i feel like i get 5 stars for making these revelatory connections and epiphanies--because if the director had this in mind--- he displayed it only competently enough to liberate me from the tedium of watching it-to muse on my own -what he barely hinted at-----the directors focus- the diarist-- her sexual life--his seemimg obsession w it--at the cost of any other themes here--- and that one guy she spends most of the movie pining after- dreaming about him while having sex w whoever --all her other lovers husbands or what have you- take precedence -----but to be fair-- there are moments in the movie -- that are very poignant-----the moments that seemed to freeze time-- the moments that made me think about youth- liberation freedom and rearing its head-- how society invariably succeeeds in its repression /sublimation-- the way societies crush individuality-because they have no use for it-- and it in fact threatens their whole existence---there a a few of those moments----no one in the movie certainly shows any understanding/appreciation of this ---- like i say the movie is really mostly the story of a girls sexual life--and her and the directors seemingly shallow obsession w it-- the rest just backdrop----i truly do not beleive even the director saw such themes consciously in this movie- i think therefore that w this movie-- there is more said than even the director imagined----but he presented it all enough for the connections to be made----and tho the plot-- flimsy as it is-barely kept our interest---spiced up by the young ladys active libido every ten minutes or so---it did haVE THESE FEW MAGIcAL MOMENTS-- WHERE THE CAMERA TAKES ITS TIME- AND WE ACTUALLY GLIMPSE A REALITY HERE-- one scene i remember-- in germany-berlin i think---where after tianneneman sq- some of the gang move on to -other places of political upheaval-- just in time for that wall to come down --- the guy the diarist pines after- her best long lost lover--- in conversation w an american - she spoke english-- them talking about his going back to china--- us thinking of the re union that might finally take place w our horny self obsessed diarist-- there are a few moments in this scene that hint at the despair of waning youth--- loss-- things going and moving on-- but at a price----- theres a suicide in the movie-- moments there ring true too--- and penetrate and resonate off the much explored eros theme--- the young suicide off a building-in view of her young lover-- our diarist's lover-the one and same----the suicide-also a friend of our diarist--the seeming causual self obsessed concerns and unconcerns we all had in youth----not committing to anything involvng intimacy--being unable--unready-- unaware----as i re play the movie in my mind i actually give it 5 stars-- but i was always on the brink while watching it--of shutting it off out of frustration--every scene devloving into soft porn and fairly loveless meaningless sex----so i actually think it was what i brought to the movie-and what you may bring -in the themes it got me to explore in my own head--and maybe yours-even tho the movie didnt explore them that well----and what the title summer palace means-- i have no idea---i re dub it chinese soft porn big chill---and by the time the lovers finally re hook up-- thats what we get-- a big chill-----the thrill seems gone and passion fire gone out----an existential moment----and the credits catch us up w the characters-- much as we have done here ad infinitum-- and have mostly moved on to mocking such conceits---in this thing we arent really much interested-- the thoughtless lover-- our horny onery diarist--- the world has seemingly well tampered them & the fire of their passions---i have to watch the end of the big chill again--- were the people in that movie-heading down the path of entropy and the seeming oblivion of lost youth and a dead life--- or is it only here in this movie where it's so strkingly apparent? interesting questions and i guess the movie resonates more in retrospect that upon its intial viewing-----i guess i like it after all---or MORE what it made me think uopn ANYWAY ! SEE WHAT YOU THINK--- its not a total waste of time -
Description of Summer Palace
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