Springtime In a Small
Town (Chinese)
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: B- Films: B-
The director of the acclaimed The Blue Kite (1993)
Tian Zhuangzhuang is finally back with a new film. Springtime In A Small Town (2002) is a remake of an older famous
1940s Chinese film about a marriage where the couple has much emotional
distance between them, despite being such a couple for eight years. A well-groomed doctor shows up and what has
been long suppressed slowly comes forward in what turns out to be somewhat of a
character study.
The film starts out like the endless and usually overrated
Chinese imports set in the past, but already, the camerawork suggests more
depth, then the screenplay adaptation by Ah Chung backs up this assertion. The actors are solid and consistent
throughout, making this one of the best Chinese feature film productions we
have seen to date, if sometimes a bit predictable in spots.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is problematic
in spots, but ultimately comes through well enough and the camerawork by
cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bing is more interesting than what he came up
with on Millennium Mambo and certainly more interesting and memorable
than the overrated In The Mood For Love (both reviewed elsewhere on this
site). I liked that it pushed the
camera more than many such films, which are complacent and just satisfied with
taking what amounts to pretty still shots.
That became tired years ago. The
Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 has Pro Logic surrounds and they are not bad, while
the film was a Dolby 5.1 theatrical release.
Too bad this is not in DTS, as the sound is not bad. Extras include a radio interview (with
Zhuangzhuang’s segments translated into English) from WNYC Radio’s Leonard
Lopate radio show from May 2003, lasting just over 16 minutes, trailers to this
and three other foreign releases from Palm, weblinks and a making of
program. That puts it above the basic
release category and is worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
