Thank you Jeff for your unstinting labour (of love, I think). Your mindful history is a rich and enriching anchor for my questing mind. A great gift🙏❤️
What happened between 1984 and 1994 in Chinese cinema is, I think, truly unique. I can’t think of any other movement where art house meets historical epic meets political therapy. And they worked with a clear purpose. Imagine WWII veterans having ten years to make films about the war before censorship closes the topic for good!
Anyway, Farewell my Concubine is obviously a great choice. However, I'd urge any fans to also watch Blue Kite and To Live. All three were released basically in tandem, just when the cencors were dropping the veil on these topics in post-Tiananmen China. Farewell passed the cencors—just about. To Live and Blue Kite did not. This is a tragedy because they were much closer to the everyday experience of the average Chinese. (Indeed, I picked To Live as the go-to film for someone trying to understand 20th Century China. https://onhumans.substack.com/p/how-to-understand-chinese-history)
Anyway, thanks for writing this Jeff! No better way to dig into Chinese history.
PS. For anyone interested, both Blue Kite and To Live are on YouTube with English subs! Blue Kite is a bit low quality but I didn’t mind.
Thank you Jeff for your unstinting labour (of love, I think). Your mindful history is a rich and enriching anchor for my questing mind. A great gift🙏❤️
Thanks Jeff! Great angle.
What happened between 1984 and 1994 in Chinese cinema is, I think, truly unique. I can’t think of any other movement where art house meets historical epic meets political therapy. And they worked with a clear purpose. Imagine WWII veterans having ten years to make films about the war before censorship closes the topic for good!
Anyway, Farewell my Concubine is obviously a great choice. However, I'd urge any fans to also watch Blue Kite and To Live. All three were released basically in tandem, just when the cencors were dropping the veil on these topics in post-Tiananmen China. Farewell passed the cencors—just about. To Live and Blue Kite did not. This is a tragedy because they were much closer to the everyday experience of the average Chinese. (Indeed, I picked To Live as the go-to film for someone trying to understand 20th Century China. https://onhumans.substack.com/p/how-to-understand-chinese-history)
Anyway, thanks for writing this Jeff! No better way to dig into Chinese history.
PS. For anyone interested, both Blue Kite and To Live are on YouTube with English subs! Blue Kite is a bit low quality but I didn’t mind.
Thanks and thanks for the recommendations,