about the film reviews
A note about the film reviews I wrote for this site.
If you need to blame anyone for something you read in the film
review portion of this site, you can blame
me. I wrote them all, specifically as a feature of the site that
might be useful to someone who had never seen the particular film
before, or to provide an incentive to watch the film again for those who have,
if for no other reason than to convince yourself that I'm totally wrong. =)
I am not (and I am sure this is painfully obvious) a professional
film critic, although I do occassionally play one on Usenet. I'm
not a professional journalist of any sort. I am, however,
a life-long fan of good movies (and perhaps a few bad ones). The
reviews I have written here are my opinions and I don't pretend
they are anything more. I don't think I have any particularly
special insight into films or the filmmaking process, although I
might pay a little more attention to technical details than your
average casual movie-goer but that's just because I'm a fan, not
because of any specialized knowledge. (Oh dear, did I just call
myself a 'fan'? I think I'm supposed to be an 'aficianado' or
something, but it sure feels like being a 'fan'.)
Every fan has his or her soapbox and I'm certainly no exception.
There are, however, a few soapboxes which I have left in the warehouse
to be used for the timely dispensing of soap: the triple crown of
American society, racism, sexism and homophobia. You will find a
lack of those terms in my reviews. There is a reason for that -
mainly because the films reviewed here (with the exception of
The Replacement Killers at present) were not made for
Americans or their particular sensitivities or politics. As a
woman I am sensitive to misogyny, but that is a completely
different concept and societal force. I can find an alarming amount of misogyny
in a film such as A Hearty Response (the one in which Joey
Wong is depicted being kidnapped, assaulted, unwillingly tattooed
and then raped) but it is not only the acts depicted which are
nauseating, but the willingness of the writers to later have that
character judged by her very victimhood (though Our Hero tells her
that even though she is marked for life, he will accept her anyway
and thereby shows his great magnamity). That's not sexism. It's
a whole other kettle of fish.
And that's why I don't use terms like 'sexism' for such things - or
racism for comments about ethnicity, or jokes about gay men as
homophobia. Whether I might like it or not, those terms are not
universally applicable due to cultural variances. As far as
movies go, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Or the Chinese.
Or Japanese. Or the French, for that matter. When viewing films
made outside the scope of Hollywood, I try to set aside my own
cultural prejudices (although it's not often easy, and sometimes I
am admittedly unsuccessful). While I may not find the idea
of a man slapping a woman "lovingly" to be personally acceptable,
I also know that simply because it is an ingrained distaste for me
as a child of the West, it does not mean it is illegal, immoral or
fattening in the country from which the film originates. There
are farting contests on Japanese television which would be unthinkable
for an American broadcast, but I have yet to see Jerry Springer-type
showcases of crassness and misbehavior pop up in Japan.
It makes as little sense to rail about the social roles of
women or jokes at the expensive of a random minority group in
Chinese films as it would for a non-Western person to find major
fault in an American film (and dismiss the film on this one
standpoint alone) simply because all characters in that film are
assumed to be Christian. Each country's filmmakers use their own set of
symbols and assumptions about the viewing audience. They have to.
Audiences would not tolerate being told over and over what they
already "know". Some of these givens are pleasant... and some are not.
There are some elements in films which I find unacceptable, not
as an American or a Westerner or a woman, but as a human being,
Chinese films not excluded. Again, using the example of A Hearty
Response, I object to the way the camera lingers lovingly on
the onscreen rape... but I can not truthfully say that it is any
worse than an American film such as Born Innocent which
actually airs on American television at times, there for all and
sundry to see.
Simply put, I assume that anyone who has enough interest to watch a film with
subtitles will also be able to recognize both Chinese
cultural and social prejudices as well as their own, and to
make decisions about the film using those realizations.
- Leigh, September 14, 1999
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