Feng Xiaogang’s sprawling drama lays on the Spielbergian syrup and covers swaths of China’s history in broad brushstrokes – but it carries a potent message
There is perhaps a spoonful of sugar too many in this bittersweet Chinese drama from blockbusting director Feng Xiaogang. It’s an an ambitious, sprawling, novelistic beast of a movie that opens amid the tantrums and broken hearts of young dancers in a cultural division of the army in the mid 70s. Xiaoping (Miao Miao) is the troupe’s new girl, determined to make fresh start after a difficult childhood. But her colleagues, sensing she is vulnerable, mercilessly mock Xiaoping for crimes against sophistication (she pads her bra out with sponges). Xiaoping’s sole defender is saintly Liu Feng (Huang Xuan), a young man possessed with such superhuman goodness that he chivalrously lances the puss from one dancer’s blisters. Years pass, and the movie takes in political upheaval,...
There is perhaps a spoonful of sugar too many in this bittersweet Chinese drama from blockbusting director Feng Xiaogang. It’s an an ambitious, sprawling, novelistic beast of a movie that opens amid the tantrums and broken hearts of young dancers in a cultural division of the army in the mid 70s. Xiaoping (Miao Miao) is the troupe’s new girl, determined to make fresh start after a difficult childhood. But her colleagues, sensing she is vulnerable, mercilessly mock Xiaoping for crimes against sophistication (she pads her bra out with sponges). Xiaoping’s sole defender is saintly Liu Feng (Huang Xuan), a young man possessed with such superhuman goodness that he chivalrously lances the puss from one dancer’s blisters. Years pass, and the movie takes in political upheaval,...
- 12/15/2017
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
Will Ferrell has become quite the spokesman for Old Milwaukee beer in recent years. He filmed a spot for them on the banks of the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa. He also filmed a Super Bowl spot in 2012 that aired only in North Platte, Neb.
Now the funnyman is back with what is possibly a send-up on the GoDaddy ad that featured model Bar Refaeli making out with a nerd. Only this time, it's Will Ferrell making out with a middle-aged Asian woman as a Chinese song (identified on Reddit as "Mother, where are you?" by Liu Feng Bing).
Ferrell's ad only aired in small towns in Texas, Oklahoma and Montana, though it is sure to go viral on the internet. Whereas GoDaddy's make-out ad got voted worst Super Bowl ad of 2013 by the Zap2it readers.
Reportedly, Ferrell is not paid for the ads. He says he does them...
Now the funnyman is back with what is possibly a send-up on the GoDaddy ad that featured model Bar Refaeli making out with a nerd. Only this time, it's Will Ferrell making out with a middle-aged Asian woman as a Chinese song (identified on Reddit as "Mother, where are you?" by Liu Feng Bing).
Ferrell's ad only aired in small towns in Texas, Oklahoma and Montana, though it is sure to go viral on the internet. Whereas GoDaddy's make-out ad got voted worst Super Bowl ad of 2013 by the Zap2it readers.
Reportedly, Ferrell is not paid for the ads. He says he does them...
- 2/4/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
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