Not about a woman called Dispeller but about a legitimate practice in China where wives, who find out their husbands are cheating on them, employee someone to dispel the mistress – a mistress dispeller.
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There is nothing really to criticise about the quality of this film. It is a delicate and tender portrait of a lesbian couple in Hong Kong, made tragic by the death of one that then cuts the other adrift with no rights in a heterosexual and patriarchal society.
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I was expecting a sentimental man dog road movie and thank goodness it was so much more than that.
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Pema Tseden’s gorgeous and enigmatic Tibetan road movie has the bleached understatement of Sergio Leone and the lush intimacy of (producer) Wong Kar Wai.
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Ten minutes into this sophomore feature by Kaili Blues (2015) director Gan Bi, I remembered how much I struggled to engage with his first film. Continue reading
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This quirky fable about modern day China charmed me with its surreal drollness and allowed a few quiet moments for a catnap. Continue reading
What a beautiful and sad film. Set in Tibet, we first meet Tharlo (pronounced tarlo), or Ponytail as he is used to being called, as he recites the words of Mao Tse-tung that he learned by heart when he was nine. He speaks of death being inevitable but not all deaths being the same significance; death after serving the people is ‘heavier than Mount Tai’ but death after serving the fascists is ‘as light as a feather’. He is reciting this to the local police chief who remarks that, with such a memory, he had great promise as a child and his forty years as shepherd, building up a small living, is a waste. Continue reading
It’s never a good sign when you are hoping a film is about to end, that this scene will be the final one. Not that Kaili Blues is terrible, there is a lot to recommend about it, it just seemed to get lost halfway through and then keep going. And going. Continue reading
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