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E D I T O R I A L
Dreaming in Cantonese
Wednesday, May 16 -- Some people want to know, "Do you dream in color?" As for me, I want to dream in Cantonese.That would mean I could speak and understand the dialect. That I would turn off those infernal English subtitles, so often riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, not to mention the missed words and outright mistranslations.
I could keep my eyes glued to the kinetic, dynamic action in films as varied as Drunken Master II, Swordsman II, and Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mountain.
My heart could break with the emotion of the words spoken by Sandra Ng and Francis Ng in Juliet in Love, or Anita Yuen and Lau Ching-Wan in C'est La Vie, Mon Cheri.
Stephen Chiau's nonsense would start making sense and I would understand why he is the God of Comedy.
To what degree might my opinion of the films be changed? Would different shortcomings become apparent?
But if I lived where the language was spoken . . .
I would see the majority of new releases in a cinema, and be enveloped in the film, and possibly be revolted by the big-screen violence, but also (perhaps) be completely enthralled and/or entirely mystified or be tempted to walk out solely on the strength of the filmmaker's vision (or lack thereof) rather than the DVD manufacturer's abilities (or lack thereof).
In explaining their DVD rating system, one mainstream site (DVD File) wrote: "We feel most readers who are considering purchasing a movie have already seen it." It's just the opposite for many HK film fans (myself included).
Would I really move to another part of the country, or to another part of the world, just so I could better enjoy watching Hong Kong movies?
It's just a dream.
Site news: Big-traffic mainstream DVD sites (like DVD File, DVD Journal, DVD Review, etc.) receive free advance copies of DVDs for review. If dreams were reality, I'd have a constant stream of new HK releases flowing into my DVD player. But I have little traffic and no contacts at studios to send me free copies. Instead I have to buy every new release I want to see (no nearby HK video stores to rent from), and that adds up fast. (Of course, this way I avoid becoming jaded.) Periodically I max out my credit cards, and that's my current situation (OK, it wasn't all because of buying HK DVDs). So I won't be able to review any new releases for a couple of months **sigh** . (When I look at a shelf stuffed full of HK films, however, I have no cause for complaint.) In the meantime, I'll keep reviewing rentals of less-current titles (Netflix is my current on-line rental source).Upcoming reviews: I still have Hit Team sitting on my shelf. I watched it a few weeks ago, but never got around to writing the review, but I will try (once again) to do so. (In general it was disappointing, but it's still worth at least a low-priority rental.) Also finished watching C'est La Vie, Mon Cheri last night, and have plans to see Bullets Over Summer, Full Throttle, and a batch of Ringo Lam releases.
As a reminder, if you disagree with any of my reviews, I will be glad to post your comments (with expletives deleted) on the forthcoming "What Other People Are Saying" page of this site.
Please feel free to e-mail me your comments, whether positive or negative.
peter
Editor / Reviewer / Webmaster
Current Editorial | Current Index
Previous Editorials
The Echo of Small Children (5/3/01)
Hong Kong Film Awards: Who Won? (4/26/01)
A Tale of Three Directors (4/19/01)
Supermodels of the HK Film World (4/12/01)
What are you prepared to do? (4/6/01)
Academy Awards Special (3/26/01)
The Price of Success (3/19/01)
Is Jackie Chan Still the Man? part 1 (3/12/01)
Great Expectations (3/7/01)
In the Mood for Change (2/26/01)
Bronchitis on the Brain (2/12/01)
Hong Kong Sequel Blues (2/5/01)
Better or Best? (1/29/01)
To Dub or Not to Dub (1/22/01)
Scenes From a Fractured Skull (1/15/01)
Year-End Round-Up (1/7/01)
Briefly noted (12/31/00)
Wuxia Fantasies and the Black-and-White Western (12/24/00)
Raiders of the lost heart (12/17/00)
The movie week in review (12/10/00)
Redesigning A Better Tomorrow (12/3/00)
The fantasy begins again (11/26/00)
A return and a shortened work week, hurrah! (11/20/00)
That blasted job! (11/12/00)
Hollywood, Jet, Jackie, Fred, and Gene (11/6/00)
Did you want blood with that? (10/30/00)
Do you like cold pizza? (10/24/00)
Preparing for the Legend (10/16/00)
The pauper must pay (10/10/00)
A visit to Five Star Laser (10/05/00)
A brief vacation (9/25/00)
The editor's plea (8/20/00)
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