Summer Palace

Most helpful review Summer Palace

• The curious case of Summer Palace

   

  By BaileyBRIS (5 reviews) from Bristol , 11 May 2009

  [Highly rated reviewer]

  To people who know (or care), this is another typical piece by a sixth generation Chinese director. To be honest I didn't really understand this one. I agree with the Total Film critic that the film surrounds the 1989 Tianmen square incident, but having watched the film several times I did not get the thesis of the film, assuming there was one. I guess director Lou Ye just did not want to be too politically judgmental. At least this one made more sense than his other film ‘Purple Butterfly’. The film centers on Yu Hong an ethnic Korean Chinese girl who got accepted into a top Beijing university in the late 80’s. The film involves a pretty long time frame, which stretches all the way to the early 2000s. ‘Summer Palace’ does well in giving you an inside look into the life of youth of China in the changing times of late 80's and beyond. The parallel events the former Eastern Block is also an clever addition. One classic line was (a student quoting another student from East Germany) “Chinese people should understand the Berlin wall better that anyone. You built the Great Wall haven’t you?” To cap it all ‘Summer Palace’ is an intriguing and at times sexy film with a pretty good soundtrack, but the political ambiguity and the lengthy time frame of the film make it quite confusing what the makers is trying to tell us. So make up your own mind! p.s. Since I last reviewed (2006) someone has taken the name Bailey so I have a different nickname now, but the Chinese movies I reviewed in 06 are still under the nickname Bailey.

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