the postmodern life of my aunt
the high - profile hong kong film the postmodern life of my aunt enjoyed its beijing premiere on monday .
the postmodern life of my aunt (yi ma de hou xian dai sheng huo) is not showing in any theaters in the area .
the postmodern life of my aunt (yi ma de hou xian dai sheng huo) | st. louis news and events | riverfront times
those helmers also will compete for director, along with ann hui for
the postmodern life of my aunt .
awards are set to take place sept. 1 .
the postmodern life of my a ...
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zhang jingchu' s best actress rivals are teresa mo (mr cinema), siqin gaowa (postmodern life of my aunt), rene liu (kidnap) and charlene choi (simply actors) .
andy lau, who is also featured in protégé, is in competition for best supporting actor. his rivals include fellow protégé actor louis koo and postmodern life of my aunt' s chow yun - fat .
zhang jingchu' s best actress rivals are teresa mo (mr. cinema), siqin gaowa (postmodern life of my aunt), rene liu (kidnap) and charlene choi (simply actors) .
andy lau, who is also featured in protégé, is in competition for best supporting actor. his rivals include fellow protégé actor louis koo and postmodern life of my aunt' s chow yun - fat .
this film is about normal life, but we also can how aunt' s life is being bended. most people in my grandparents generation is like aunt, they gave away their young but did not get what they deserve .
based on a popular novel, ann hui' s
the postmodern life of my aunt
turns its affectionate gaze on a woman of humble origins from the provinces struggling to carve out a dignified life in the unaccommodating urban tangle of shanghai, where seemingly everyone is focused on personal profit .
the awkward intersection of traditional values with a modernized world has informed countless chinese films of the past decade. based on a popular novel, ann hui’s “the postmodern life of my aunt” turns its affectionate gaze on a woman of humble origins from the provinces struggling to carve out a dignified life in the unaccommodating [ … ]
chow yun - fat pointed out the differences between his usual roles and his part as a swindler in the postmodern life of my aunt as a swindler in the film. in preparing for the role, he invested himself fully in learning peking opera .
tang wei plays xiao hong, whose short and tragic life is portrayed through her writings and the perspectives of her friends and contemporaries, including fellow writers xiao jun (feng shaofeng) and duanmu hongliang (zhu yawen). hui directed from a script by li qiang, who also wrote hui’s the postmodern life of my aunt .
i also believe that the aunt ye’s life is normal live like everyone who are living in shanghai. it is so true to show the details of daily life for a normal single lady in shanghai .
similar to the way she subverted horror films with the secret, appropriated mobster - drama tropes in zodiac killer and reworked the cliches of may - december romances in the postmodern life of my aunt, hui has delivered a mellow, slow - burning piece filled with reflections on her favorite topics of cultural dislocation, identity politics and maternal bonds .
similar to the way she subverted horror films with the secret, appropriated mobster - drama tropes in zodiac killer and reworked the clichés of may - december romances in the postmodern life of my aunt, hui has delivered a mellow, slow - burning piece filled with reflections on her favorite topics of cultural dislocation, identity politics and maternal bonds .
linking the themes of the film to the word postmodern, it could basically boil down to our older character not wanting to be in tune with the new times of shanghai or simply not having the strength anymore. watching ye, it' s probably a little of both but main issue still concerns relationships torn prior and the question of whether they can be mended. pretty basic templates, ones hui used to complex effect in her autobiographical drama song of the exile so don' t necessarily relax with the postmodern life of my aunt .
chronicles the life of a man whose skills in physiognomy are so great that he earns the attention of the king .
like what i mentioned in my passage, the post modern life is ironic. aunt have a hard time living in the present and she cannot get the future she wanted. i thought this contradiction stand lots of people' s statue in this country
“protégé” and “the warlords” dominated the nominations, announced saturday, for the annual hong kong film awards. with ang lee’s “lust, caution” ruled out as not having enough hong kong elements, the derek yee - helmed “protégé” collected 15 nominations against peter chan’s “warlords” with 13. both pics, plus ann hui’s “the postmodern life of my aunt, ” [ … ]
other front - runners on the list are peter chan' s brotherhood war epic the warlords, with 13 nominations, ann hui' s comedy postmodern life of my aunt, with nine, yau nai - hoi' s police thriller eye in the sky and johnnie to - wai ka - fai cooperation, godly detective, each with eight nominations .
perhaps i am not well verse in what the director and writer was trying to say but as a layman watching the postmodern life of my aunt, the story wasn’t engaging enough, nor was it comedic enough. in fact, it felt so monotonous realistic that it’s like following the exploits of that kapoh (overly inquisitive) self righteous aunty from wet supermarket. pending what interest you, this definitely didn’t do it for me .
the movie the postmodern life of my aunt told us a story of aunt. she was living in shanghai, and she went to a unviersity when she was young. there are some people important for her, such as kuan and pan. the aunt liked pan at the first time, but at the end he went away. and the aunt helped a girl, but the girl was not a good person. the aunt felt unhappy, and she decided to leave shanghai. in fact, at the end of this movie that we knew this film include comedy and sad event. i like this movie. when i heard the aunt said
there is one university student in this building is me, and others are not good .
i thought there are many people thinking like this way today. i think the story of this movie is common and real. on page 428, showed us another movie boat people. i thought people in boat people also had some bad things around them, and people choose to leave as aunt .
people often feel at loss to deal with the problems of everyday life. even i don' t want to face up to the bitter reality of life. in truth, real life is close to what is shown in the movie, filled with both laughter and tears .
the awkward intersection of traditional values with a modernized world has informed countless chinese films of the past decade. based on a popular novel, ann hui ’s “the postmodern life of my aunt” turns its affectionate gaze on a woman of humble origins from the provinces struggling to carve out a dignified life in the unaccommodating urban tangle of shanghai, where seemingly everyone is focused on personal profit. better when it acquires a melancholy strain than in the early, more comic action, the film’s warm humanism and hui’s standing as a director should secure festival play, but its most receptive audience will be at home .
it is quite interesting for you discussion of
postmodern
in the film. everyone wants to purse new things in the daily life. but for seniors, it is also hard for them to keep pace with time .
one of hong kong’s representative directors. she started feature - making from the late seventies as a prominent member of the new wave movement in hong kong noted for revising the whole style and purport of local filmmaking with films like “the secret” (1979), “the story of wooviet” (1980), and “boat people” (1982). she went on to make altogether nineteen feature films including “summer snow” (1995) which had garnered a best actress award at the berlin film festival. “the postmodern life of my aunt” is her latest work .
is that really a reason to knock postmodern life of my aunt? that its happy colors may fool the unsuspecting customer? possibly. expectations play a large part in how one views a film, and if a person can' t get what they expect then it' s understandable if they' re a little nonplused. postmodern life of my aunt simply may not be meant for an audience with expectations, as viewing the film as a narrative can lead to disappointment. there' s no real arc and no real ending. all we get is a slow realization that life, for all intents and purposes, is always better in the rearview mirror, and that sometimes virtue really isn' t its own reward. that' s hardly the stuff of feel - good moviegoing, but there' s a humanity and a keen intelligence in ann hui' s work that makes the film worthwhile. despite the sometimes exaggerated irony, the film radiates humanity, and life, be it joyous and melancholy, is easily seen in the characters and their lives they lead. hui seems to have brought a great deal of personal attention to the film, and it shines through in the affectionate, if not always flattering way in which she presents her characters. postmodern life of my aunt may not be an easy film to enjoy, as the path it leads audiences down is not very friendly. however, appreciating the film is possible, and even deserved. (kozo 2007 )
with ang lee’s “lust, caution” ruled out as not having enough hong kong elements, the derek yee - helmed “protégé” collected 15 nominations against peter chan’s “warlords” with 13. both pics, plus ann hui’s “the postmodern life of my aunt, ” which was recently named the hong kong critics fave (variety, jan 24 ,) “johnnie to’s “mad detective” and yau na hoi’s “eye in the sky” all compete for best film kudos .
when describing her role, siqin gaowa said the aunt' s journey and struggles were reflections of both the film director and herself .
he once collaborated with ann hui in “story of woo viet” and love in a fallen city”. he acted in some well - known hong kong movies like “a better tomorrow”, “once a thief” and “the peace hotel”. in recent years, he worked in hollywood, performing in movies like “crouching tiger, hidden dragon”, “pirates of the caribbean: at worlds end”, etc. “the postmodern life of my aunt” is his first chinese - language movie in ten yeas .
the term “postmodern life “in this film is so ironic。 aunt in this film represent class of intellectuals. they are educated and have high expected on their own. like aunt, she like beijing opera, and she can speak a fluently english. but in the real world, she married a labor work. aunt is not satisfied with her life, but she has no chance to change her life. her opponent from lu to zhao wei, zhou ruinfa. they all play an important role in aunt life. they look cunning, cruel, rude. but still they combine the low bottom of society. these episodes are just the dark side of social reality. zhao wei role leave a deep impression on me. she resent the aunt' s old life. aunt think she is different form her but actually we can easy find zhao also expect a new life in big city. she criticizes aunt abandon her daughter and husband, while still complaining her husband can bring her to a big city. the environment they stay force being hypocritical and ignorance. this film also remind me another group of people
ant
蚁族。they are group of young people around 20 - 30 years old, and lives in big city like beijing or shanghai. they can’t bear the peace of small city but they still cannot adopt in the big city. they chase their dream but no one can tell where their future is .
in an interview, ann hui is quoted as saying, “i think those works that are generally considered to be my best films are dramas about people” (ann hui: living through film, p. 433). i could not agree more with this statement. from eat drink man woman to the postmodern life of my aunt, these films always struck me as the most deep and meaningful. perhaps this is due to the role that emotions play in these types of film – that of themes. the theme that stuck out most to me in the postmodern life of my aunt would have to be loneliness. towards the beginning of the film, when the aunt’s apartment building is shown, it is clear that everyone is lonely. from the lady that loves her cat more than anything, and uses what the cat is doing and looking at as a means of finding others to talk to, to the lady who is cramped up in her room with all of the fish tanks; these people embody the word loneliness. every person in this film reminded me of the ‘crazy - “insert animal name here” lady’. however, the crazy - bird lady, or the aunt, is perhaps the loneliest of them all. from allowing her grandson to live with her for a while, to offering rent to the girl from the restaurant, to sharing meals with the man from the park; she just wants someone to spend time with. and even though these people simply take advantage of her, she continues to keep them in her life, for no other purpose than to keep her company – this is truly a very sad story in my opinion .
the postmodern life of my aunt
told the aunt' s daily life in shanghai. she thought herself as a upright person because she is a college graduate. there are several important people appeared in aunt' s life, kuan - kuan, her neighbors, the nanny, a middle - aged handsome man - pan zhichang. but they all leave her and some of them even cheat her for her money. finally she realized that it is time to go back home and see her ex - husband and daughter far away from shanghai, which is also pretty different from the mordern city. northeast china followed behind shanghai far away in iconomical fields. after sending kuan - kuan abroad, aunt backed home and began to sell shoes. it is a interesting movie to me. unlike the films we saw before, it is the film talking about normal characters, without the exactly history background. but it looks like someone like aunt living at the corner of every city. they tried to be positive, live happily, but failed at last. the huge gap between generations made them confusing. like the author marchetti said, it is like a mirror reflected the society .
the texture of the postmodern life of my aunt mirrors the fragmented, disoriented lives of characters and the cities depicts. the film vertiginously crosses genres, and narrative moves from light comedy to farce to satire and on to melodrama and even tragedy vacillates between pop art excess and social realism .
( marchetti, p. 125) also i want to talk about the generation gap. the film just focus on the aunt' s life, but in some scenes, we can see teenagers who looks fashion and enjoy in some cool stuff. but for aunt, her entertainment is peking opera. it is a huge difference and impressed me. some of the traditions, like peking opera are dying out. young people are pursuing new things every minute. the society is walking so fast to catch up for people like aunt .
i have mixed feelings about the postmodern life of my aunt. i liked the subtle humor and the aunt’s practical approach to daily life; but overall it felt somewhat plain. i didn’t think much of chow yun fat as an actor until i watched this film, as he is usually typecasted as an action hero. his chinese opera singing skills are also impressive. my favorite scene has to be the one where the aunt and the con - man (chow) walk up around 10 flights of stairs instead of taking the one elevator in order to avoid unwanted rumors among the neighbors. the con - man accidentally drops a watermelon down the stairs, which shatters into pieces, and the aunt insists they eat what they can salvage of the watermelon so as to not be wasting perfectly good food. that was a very “human” scene that made the characters relatable. story of woo viet is one of ann hui’s first films. according to the interview with ann hui (pg. 428), the story of woo viet was released in taiwan with an alternate ending that sees the main character locked up (using still photos) supposedly because what he was doing was illegal. the director herself did not know about this until after the re - release, which i think is ridiculous. someone at some point had to have thought ,
this fictional character must to be arrested for committing a crime in a fictional universe .
another interesting tidbit is that ann hui intentionally avoids developing her own cinematic style, but rather adapt to the film she works on (pg. 436). this explains why the postmodern life of my aunt seems somewhat plain to me - - there is a lack of distinctive style .
then in 2004, when i first met li qiang, he said he wanted to do a story about two women and we were both interested in xiao hong and another female writer, ding ling, who is in the film as well. we did a lot of research, but when i met li qiang again, he said this subject won’t pass censorship because ding ling had some trouble with the communist authorities in the ‘50s and her status is still suspect. then in 2007, after finishing the postmodern life of my aunt, the producers of that film, cheerland, suggested we do the life of xiao hong. so we went back to her .
the aunt is an intellectual in the film, she was pompous and lofty. in additional she can speak perfect british english, but she was dissmed by the employer. thus it can be seen, the aunt is person of is a cannot keep up with the trend of the times, so it determine the outcome is tragic .
i think that you name the main struggle that this film deals with and that would be that aunt is not happy with her life. although this is not ideal for anyone to not like their life, she knows that she cannot do anything about it. interestingly enough, she only hangs out with people like her and never tries to find more happiness in her life .
i’m told by a film professional who follows things closely that critics feel that 12 - 15 local films from 2007 are worth seeing and about 5 are actually good. those five are ann hui’s the postmodern life of my aunt, derek yee’s protégé, johnnie to’s mad detective, yau na - hoi’s eye in the sky, and peter chan’s the warlords. it’s significant, my friend indicates, that almost never before has the same clutch of films been nominated for best picture, best screenplay, and best director at the hong kong film awards. (the awards will be given on 13 april .) “the falling industry has reached a plateau, ” she remarks .
the biggest draw for this film (personally) would be the involvement of chow yun fatt and the direction of ann hui, one of the noted directors in hong kong. it also collected a number of awards such as the best actress (siqin gaowa) and best original film score (joe hisaishi) at the 27th annual hong kong film awards. this film was also nominated for best picture and best director at the same award. understandably the expectation of this film was quite high; specially chow yun fatt stuck with this film and left red cliff because of creative differences (reads disapproval with the scripts or monetary disrupts as rumours had it which made it even more intriguing as one wonder how much does the postmodern life of my aunt had to retain the service of mr. chow) .
ann hui have always been an exceptional talent and the pact of realism in her films like july rhapsody pin points her distinct style of direction. in hui' s pursue for realism, there is always a message that reflects and affects the life of any part of the audience. whether it is the rebellious teenager years, the struggles of middle age or perhaps the need to adapt into the ever changing world of today, hui' s films have someone for everyone. in the postmodern life of my aunt, hui ventures into the issue of older people and their struggles to keep up with the rapid growth of modernise cities such as shanghai. it is a struggle that is relevant to everyone of us and with a brink of the eye, neo cannot imagine what it will be like for him in 50 years time – whether he will be grasping on the comfort of the old or adapting into the ever changing society of the future. the film reminds the audience of our parents, grandparents and realising that ultimately change is inevitable and the struggles that they face are seemingly real and tangible. there is a quote from the aunt, siqin gaowin that seems frighteningly realistic –
it doesn' t matter if you cheat me when i am still 17, but if you cheat all my money now, it is like a dead end for me, as i cannot earn it back .
it is all the more shameful and disgusting when the audience think back to all those headlines of fail companies and within those companies there are millions of pensioners who have their entire life saving within .
“the postmodern life of my aunt” tells the modern urban life in shanghai as the background about a knowledge woman dramatic story full of joy and sorrow fate after retirement. i think this film is different from other films we watched. this one put the female as the first choice. it should be the director ann hui’s own style, i also look for her other films, and those films were also similar. screenwriter qiang li is the same, he thinks women are always the most emotional animals; they have a strong emotional upheaval. siqingaowa did a really good job in this film; she acted in a really different way. in my mind, she should be more serious, stricter and more powerful. however, in this film, she is like does not make sense, always in the state of being hurt but refused to accept to be a single old woman. i was surprised when she jumped into the pool wearing her sweater that really changes my thought about her. director and screenwriter’s talent and arrangements for this movie surprised me too. when i watched this film, especially the first half, i thought this should be a comedy but slowly, all the suspense about the aunt and conjecture - her family? she had what kind of experience? she exactly what worries? i felt the stressful and involuntary of the life. the film' s cast luxury, siqingaowa throughout the whole movie as the clue of aunt, chow yun fat and vicki became supporting roles but it does not matter, as long as he showed the essence of their role, and that was enough .
the postmodern life of my aunt, at the beginning of this film, i thought it was a comedy. but after the story between aunt ye and nephew kuankuan, aunt ye and neighbor shui, aunt ye and mr. pan, aunt ye and the sad mon, and aunt ye and her daughter, i found it was a tragedy and made me feel sad in the end. aunt, women as the leading role in this film show us the status of women in chinese society. aunt ye has high education but outdates. she cannot follow the steps in the modern developing society. she was enthusiastic, warmhearted and virtuous, but cannot live conformable in the big city – shanghai. after watching the film, the moon in the film leaves me a memory, and i want to figure out what the moon represent in the film, in different people’s mind. i think the moon is the hope in aunt ye’s mind. she saw the hope after she lost all her money, lost her neighbor, saw the mother she helped is a liar, and mr. pan disappeared. she needs hope, so she saw the moon when she was injured and lied on the bed. reading the ann hui interview, i know, ann hui made the successful transition from television to the big screen from 1979 with the secret, a complex psychological thriller about madness, murder, and ghosts starring sylvia chang. and ann hui as a directress feels more and thinks more than men director about women in society. even she does not feel that she really have a distinctive cinematic style, and she think her style changes for different movies, depending on the subject matter and the crew that she was working with. but she has exquisite feelings, and she put those feelings in her movie, especially on the women roles in her films. she play more attentions on the role of women in our society, no matter mainland or hong kong
the most successful combination of scripting and acting belongs to ye' s antagonistic daughter, dafan (vicki zhao wei). although she initially comes across as little more than a caricature of an ultra - modern member of china' s generation x, the director allows the humanity and truthfulness beneath the glitzy surface to eventually emerge. in the end, one leaves the theatre with a more profound understanding of dafan than of the mother whose postmodern life was so ostentatiously on display for almost two hours .
it was only during shooting that the form of the book and the narrator’s identity suggested themselves. “the real revelation in the film was tom bennett’s performance as sir james. it gave me the idea of this parallel­ism – jane austen’s stuffy and rather dim literary nephew [ james edward austen - leigh ] had done a memoir of his aunt, so i invented a stuffy and rather dim nephew for sir james who would write a memoir of his aunt. ”
this film is light comedy but i don' t think the director want to satire something. it just reflectes a part of life in the city. a city likes a small society. it is full of comedies and tragedies. the film describes aunt ye' s disoriented city lives. so she gave up her city lives in the end .
all in all, the postmodern life of my aunt is by no means accessible to everyone, but it is ultimately an art flick about the seemingly reality of old age and life. it ponders the audience to question about their future and the fears of old age. the parallel struggles of gaowa are as close as grandchildren will understand the struggles that our grandparents are going through, until the audience experience it themselves. it is a frightening process to imagine about what was once cool is now totally out of date, but then again who knows what will happen in 50 years time. perhaps, cars will be flying across the universe, people can walk across the ocean or everything may remain pretty much the same. ann hui is to be applauded for creating something so real and so affecting. it is by no means hui' s strongest work, but it is a film that allows us to explore and journey into the unknown
, the graduation thesis by students of the hong kong academy of performing arts' film school .
, woody allen calls that sub - literary phenomenon “truly moronic” .) one bonus of the novelisation was that it provided underage viewers with tangential access to contraband movies: too young to see the films, i cherished my paperback copies of
this film' s director is the best example of the aunt. her devotion and serious attitude reflect ye' s character as well as her rejection of trivial matters in life. as for me, i sometimes feel out - of - touch and passed by events. i think middle - aged and older people will feel familiar touches when watching this film .
ann hui' s the postmodern life of my aunt is a bittersweet look at growing old in shanghai. the titular character, ye (siqin gaowa), is a divorcee living by herself, with her only companion being shui (lisa lu), a gossipy neighbor that she really doesn' t like, but keeps a relationship with in order to save face. so when ye' s sister asks her to take care of her troubled nephew, kuan (guan wen - shou), ye readily accepts. ye tries to make kuan comfortable, but he soon runs away, and then goes so far as to hatch a kidnapping scheme. distraught, ye sends kuan back to his mom, and, in her vulnerable state, is made into a mark by several con people, most notably the suave pan (chow yun - fat). after she is bled dry both financially and mentally by the con artists, ye soon finds herself in the care of her daughter, liu (vicky zhao), but their long - ongoing rocky relationship doesn' t make an easy time of things. the postmodern life of my aunt is a bit of a strange picture. the above plot synopsis would lead you to think that this is a very depressing movie, and at many points it is. but there is also a extremely cheerful energy running throughout the film, brought to life mostly via siqin gaowa and chow yun - fat' s wonderful performances. usually, when movies try to mix comedy and tragedy, the results are like the proverbial oil and water and come off as overwrought twaddle, but ann hui' s smart direction lets both of the worlds co - exist off of each other in a solidly made symbiotic mix. if there is fault to be leveled at the postmodern life of my aunt, it would be the utter lack of any resolution by the end of the film. of course, hong kong and chinese movies are well - known for often not tying up everything and presenting an ending wrapped in a pretty package. but it did come off as more than a bit disappointing here, since the characters were so interesting - - it seemed a shame to leave the audience hanging. true, that sort of
lost
feeling was probably one of hui' s intents, and the ending (or lack thereof) doesn' t ruin the film, but it would have been nice to see what eventually happened to ye and her family. rating: 7
starts at the end of the story, with the brutal murder by a man of his wife and daughters. hui gradually unmasks the idyll of the peaceful family and that of hong kong as the promised land for gold seekers .
the first local summer blockbuster of 2018 represented over 77% of the total box office last week .
this film though it had its funny moments was rather tragic in my opinion. the aunt goes to the quick paced modern city life of shanghai. though she is fairly smart and had some college education, she was tricked out of her money by some bad people. in the end, she moves out of shanghai. i thought that in a way, this film is somewhat similar to previous films such as beijing bicycle in the way that someone is moving into a new city and is having a hard time adapting to the new environment and its people. in the interview with anne, she mentions that her preferred genre is drama (433). this is clearly seen in the film as the story is about the aunt and her survival in her new life in shanghai and dealing with different human encounters. i also thought that she did a good job showing the main characters feelings and transferring those feelings to the audience .
however the bitter pills pretty much kick in by chow exiting the picture but the wackiness and flirts with questionable focus finally start to pay off. the dark comedy turning into somber drama means we get a complete circle. being postmodern, for whatever reason as explained above, comes with the territory of being old according to our storytellers here and aside from some abstract behaviour from director hui, her throughline that concerns family relations more than anything manifests itself in a basic, affecting manner. because using simplicity as her tool doesn' t turn the film into something truly transcending into class cinema but being sufficient is damn good coming from hui and the cinema output overall in the territory. not that hui has forgotten to be mean and angry as evident by her work on goddess of mercy, the postmodern life of my aunt is still only a fairly somber but also warm experience for the moment. and those moments are perhaps what siqin gaowa' s very vulnerable ye counts as worth going through. it is for us on the other side anyway .
your film also has a non - traditional structure. why did you choose to tell her life story in this way ?
and we hear his opinion of the casting choices, the reviews it received and the extent to which it deviated from real life. he begins his account before the action shown in the film, then incorporates the events of the movie, adding new interpretations, before filling us in on what happened to the characters after the end credits rolled. it’s a technique redolent both of tom stoppard’s
in this film, i have noticed what a hard time aunt ye has. she seems to try hard to succeed, but she also seems to put others before her. we see this as she gives money to pan to' get his medicine.' she also helps out jin, the woman with the large cut on her face. and yet, money is a huge part of her life. she doesn' t have much, but she' s frugal, seems to be jealous of her rich neighbor, and gets excited when she thinks she' ll make some money from her and pan' s investment in burial sites. i liked this film at first. but the ending completely ruined it for me. once she' s in the hospital, we never hear from pan. i still wonder if he ripped her off with the burial site investment. her daughter doesn' t treat her well (has something to do with aunt ye leaving them, which we don' t get much information on). the film ends with her looking sad and depressed. i was hoping something good would finally happen to her. sure, being reunited with her family could have been good, but it wasn' t filmed that way. if so, she wouldn' t have looked so depressed in the end. in the interview, we find out that the director directed the film ,
my american grandson .
the director says that the story of this film
dwells on issues of identity .
i feel as if
the postmodern life of my aunt ,
deals with issues of identity. even though aunt ye is old, she seems to still be finding herself: finding somebody to talk to, finding a way to make money and become successful .
the postmodern life of my aunt features a remarkable cast of chinese stars, old and new. mrs ye is played by the great mongolian actress siqin gaowa, star of such films as stanley kwan' s full moon in new york and yim ho' s the homecoming. her neighbour mrs shui is played by the legendary lisa lu, star of cecilia tang' s seminal hong kong art film the arch and subsequently famous for playing the empress dowager cixi in several films by li hanxiang. the role of the charming con - man pan marks a return to chinese movies for the inimitable chow yun - fat, who last acted in chinese in ang lee' s crouching tiger, hidden dragon. he has previously worked with ann hui on the story of woo viet and love in a fallen city. and mrs ye' s worldly - wise daughter dafan is played by vicky zhao wei, one of china' s brightest new stars, internationally known for her roles in stephen chow' s shaolin soccer and jeff lau' s a chinese odyssey 2002 .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
i have the same thought about this film talks about the people who got high education but they still need to suffer from lives because they are really far away from the modern life .
i agree with your opinion. we should you treasure the things and the people that you are having right now. in the film, aunt ye decided to go back to her family. in fact, her life is worse than in shanghai but she doesn' t complain this. she knows she should treasure the lives that she is having right now .
, out of competition. also screening out of competition are benny chan' s
it first met with national praise following its original premiere in hong kong and recent preview in beijing. yu dan, a professor at beijing normal university, welcomed it as providing a vivid portrayal of the hardships of life and of people' s indomitable nature. ye rutang' s experiences show off the persistence, disappointments and compromises one must undergo to live a normal life. the film is all the more noteworthy for having such an impact on a small budget .
to accurately portray the world of ballet, renowned japanese ballet dancer kumakawa tetsuya and his k ballet company will be in charge of the choreography, stage design and the wardrobe of the ballet scenes .
although chow yun - fat has somewhat mixed his uneven hollywood career (high point being the sadly neglected anna and the king) with stints in asian cinema since 2000' s often mentioned crouching tiger, hidden dragon, 2006 became more of a celebration for those wishing for the immortal charisma and actual talent of yun - fat to appear more closer to his actual home. starring in zhang yimou' s curse of the golden flower, personally actual excitement entered when the postmodern life of my aunt was announced, chow' s re - teaming with director ann hui. tracking back to 1981, hui directed chow to wide acclaim (but superstardom was yet to come) in her tragic the story of woo viet and while this mainland lensed production doesn' t contain the compelling harshness of said social commentary, many bitter pills can be find in hui' s comedy - drama. many of which are about progressing naturally anyway. following through till the last frame is therefore vital because this mish - mash of moods, characters and storylines only cohere towards the end where we realize we also have an acceptable (but not exceptional) ann hui movie on our hands .
i also found this movie to be somewhat relateable for the audience with the feelings and actions of the aunt. her struggles especially as a college grad seem to be common thoughts in the way she is lost afterwards and never really seems to find where she is meant to be .
. but the form fell into the category of marketing rather than literature. so
) that spill over the sides of the films in which they first appeared .
the migrant worker is also impressed me. shanghai is quite a special city. the city contained people from anywhere, but for the local people, migrants did not do well in their city. aunt is one of the migrants, she got well educated but finally lost in shanghai .
this film complements the migrant worker films in a way. although the aunt is educated, and socially - savvy, unafraid to speak her mind, she too is beaten by aspects of the city. with her life - savings wasted, she must return to her old home with a family she chose to desert in hopes of finding a new, better life in shanghai. i think the most impactful moment for me was the first scene of dongbei (1: 33: 20), and how different it was from shanghai. my first thought was :
no wonder she left .
( which is exactly the goal of the film) another (of the many) relevant scenes was the one where she is denied the tutoring position because her english wasn' t
american
enough. she' s another one of the people dropped by the wayside in the relentless momentum of the nation. i was most struck by ann hui' s attitude towards her categorization as part of the' hong kong new wave' .
i don' t really know, and actually i don' t care .
( 434) this is similar to the attitude expressed by li yang as well. in the steven teo interview on sensesofcinema. com, he says ,
as for the sixth generation or the fifth generation, my own thought is that there isn’t a sixth generation…
however, li yang does express a certain degree of concern about where he belongs generation - wise. i think it' s interesting that the filmmakers with what feel like the most fleshed out characters from the selections this semester both seem shy of defining themselves as part of a movement or generation .
after viewing this film, pondering for 30 minutes what it was about, i have finally come to the conclusion that i enjoyed the film, and that it is a fairly accurate portrayal of modern china (and the world in general) and its growing urbanization. it' s difficult to pick out a single overarching theme, but if i had to choose, i would say this is ann hui' s attempt to comment on fast paced 21st century life for a chinese woman that seems to be stuck in a bygone era, isolated and confused by everything that surrounds her. there was one scene in the beginning around the 15 minute mark where kuan - kuan was wearing the exact same soccer jersey i own, and then he arrives at his friend' s house where they were listening to a popular eminem song. no wonder aunt ye feel' s out of touch, she' s frugal in a world of consumerism, trusting in a world of anonymity, and old in a young city. it' s little wonder she eventually left (only after being conned). one quote in ann hui' s interview that stuck with me is on page 425, she states ,
i was sent to an english primary school to study, which caused great concern at home on the part of my father and grandfather about the state of my chinese language ability .
she then goes on to explain that she never felt comfortable using english either. maybe this uncertainty and feeling of loneliness is manifested in aunt ye' s character in the movie. it certainly feels that way. the movie exhibits the plain reality of everyday life, and in contrast with the little chinese philosophy i know, that life doesn' t preordain winners and losers, and that life isn' t partial, but it can sometimes be overwhelming .
isn’t a novelisation, but nor is it a screenplay, despite containing much of the dialogue from the film. instead, it retells the action of the picture from the vantage point of a character who isn’t even in it .
i found myself more and more frustrated as i watched the aunt' s' post - modern life' unfold. not just new developments but her background. the aunt left her family in a poor town in northeast china to go to shanghai and make it big. she did well for herself until, perhaps seeking to fill the emotional void left by moving so far away from home, she was scammed out of her life savings by a big - city con artist. it seemed like shanghai didn' t really care for her that much anyway: her neighbor was less than a true friend, and she failed to get a job tutoring english because hers wasn' t' american' enough. she seems like she would' ve been better equipped for life in one of the major cities in the northeast rather than going so far away from home to get it. the main characters from' blind shaft' and the migrant worker in' beijing bicycle' come to mind. it seems that people migrating in order to work and then running into unexpected problems and hardship is kind of a theme in a few pieces of modern chinese cinema. ann hui mentions that she doesn' t want to experiment with much new since hong kong' s film industry has been doing poorly (433). i feel like ann hui reflects this outlook in' the post - modern life
by portraying the aunt' s time there as a failure.
the postmodern life of my aunt ( simplified chinese : 姨妈的后现代生活 ; traditional chinese : 姨媽的後現代生活 ; pinyin : yimā de hòuxiàndài shēnghúo ) is a 2006 hong kong serio-comedy film , directed by ann hui , starring siqin gaowa and chow yun-fat . the film also guest-stars chinese actresses zhao wei and lisa lu . its executive producer was yuan mei ; another producer was er yong . the film was based on a novel of the same title written by yan yan ( 燕燕 ) , while the film 's screenplay was by li qiang , a chinese scriptwriter , who had written the script of the 2005 film peacock , directed by gu changwei . 
the postmodern life of my aunt (simplified chinese: 姨妈的后现代生活; traditional chinese: 姨媽的後現代生活; pinyin: yimā de hòuxiàndài shēnghúo) is a 2006 hong kong serio-comedy film, directed by ann hui, starring siqin gaowa and chow yun-fat. the film also guest-stars chinese actresses zhao wei and lisa lu. its executive producer was yuan mei; another producer was er yong. the film was based on a novel of the same title written by yan yan (燕燕), while the film's screenplay was by li qiang, a chinese scriptwriter, who had written the script of the 2005 film peacock, directed by gu changwei.
the postmodern life of my aunt (simplified chinese: 姨妈的后现代生活; traditional chinese: 姨媽的後現代生活; pinyin: yimā de hòuxiàndài shēnghúo) is a 2006 hong kong serio-comedy film, directed by ann hui, starring siqin gaowa and chow yun-fat. the film also guest-stars chinese actresses zhao wei and lisa lu. its executive producer was yuan mei; another producer was er yong. the film was based on a novel of the same title written by yan yan (燕燕), while the film's screenplay was by li qiang, a chinese scriptwriter, who had written the script of the 2005 film peacock, directed by gu changwei.