sixth generation

a small tribute to lou ye, jia zhangke and their contemporaries. today i began watching summer palace by lou ye who is director of one of my favourite films, suzhou river. suzhou river shows us a man who is a videographer and who falls for a girl with an imagination. he shows us this man without ever seeing more than his arms and legs which soon become our own and we begin a story that doesnt end. its pointless to give any clear details about certain films and this is one of them. i should just say it changed things for me and was highly influential in helping shape my own ideas of narrative and identity within cinema.
summer palace is quite a departure from suzhou river. ive just decided not to write about its content but instead briefly on how i felt whilst watching it.
i felt my heart start to beat heavily inside of me and stopped breathing for brief moments. i could almost feel myself being pulled into the emotions of the characters as i unwittingly recalled everything that could make it real for me. the film is unsettling and involves the viewer in its discomfort. its difficult. its beautiful.
i forgot to mention that the only version of this film i could here (summer palace is banned and as a consequence for its making its director is too from making films for 5 years. the second time he's been issued this punishment) is one without english subtitles. my chinese is still not what it should be and so my experience of this film was 'limited' by this. ive enjoyed many films in this way and i dont think it damages a viewing to much extent. so long as you don't hold onto your own ideas of whats said too strongly. its impossible to do this with films that rely very heavily on dialogue though of course.
i have to say whilst im here that for me, often the experience of film is a little like that of music and indeed most of my favourite films use music / sound as an integral part of the narration / story. for example; all about lily chou-chou, akira, blue velvet, chungking express. there is a strong relationship between the two in the way they function as an art form i believe. i enjoy films i cant fully grasp as i do with music. i thoroughly enjoy not being able to understand the lyrics in a song when voice is used. without this you hear tone and rhythm like every other instrument. theres nothing to decode.

for my own plans: i found out my actress has a very traditional boyfriend which will make it difficult for her to play the role i'd written. im considering a different approach in a smaller town near the countryside, or rewriting the story in the city to be suitable for her to play a part in.