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Hard as I tried not to believe all the comments in IMDb, I ended up agreeing with them. But as they say, "Two out of three ain't bad."
I agree with the comment that "The Hand" could be considered Wong Kai-wai's best. The length (or absence of which) of only 35 minutes works to his advantage, forcing him to focus on the story instead of taking the audience on a befuddled ride of the surreal. Aesthetic value in films does not come any better than what the trio of Wong, Chang Suk-ping and Christopher Doyle can offer. GONG Li is still the best - her charm and poise will take the current bunch of young actresses a long time to come close to, if ever at all. CHANG Chen demonstrated his versatility in portraying the introvert, timid and passionate tailor, polar opposite to the dashing young bandit leader the world first knew him by in Crouching Tiger.
"Equilibrium" lets us get a further peek at the lighter side of Soderbergh beyond the "Ocean's". The black-and-white filming is very appealing, particularly when I've recently been reminded of how good it can be when I watched The Manchurian Candidate (1962). "Equilibrium", which is less than half-an-hour long, can easily be a one-act play. The camera angles add to the fun, though. The most hilarious part, however, comes close to a mime that work just as well on stage as on screen. Both Robert Downing Jr. and Alan Arkin are fantastic.
"Il filo pericoloso delle cose" does not appear to have been made by the same Antonioni that made "Blow Up". I just love the assortment of enchanting scenery beautifully framed and shot, but then I could get them at tourist boards. The fact that these lovely National Geographic sketches are interspersed with what looks like soft porn does not exactly fill me with elation.
So that's the three segments. Erotic? I don't think so. In "The hand", the only erotic element is at the beginning and it only serves to underscore the more subtle and sublimated feelings that develop later. In "Equilibrium", the purportedly "erotic" dream is not really. And even if you replace it with a completely un-erotic dream, the segment will be just as funny. "Any dream will do" as they say in For "Il filo pericoloso delle cose", I find the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat purportedly "erotic" elements rather hypnotising. Must be something wrong with me.
score /10
harry_tk_yung 12 May 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1079198/ |
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11-3-2021 00:07:05