Balzac & The Little Chinese Seamstress (2002 aka Xiao cai feng/First Run)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: B
So little
has been said or shown of the period of terror in China known as the Maoist era
that it is disturbing. It was a terrible
time of witchhunts, government-sponsored terrorism, hatred of culture of any
kind and one of the great scourges in the known history of civilization. Dai Sijie’s Balzac & The Little Chinese Seamstress (2002) is a pleasant,
subtly powerful, touching and sometimes profound look at the era, the ignorance
of a people and the brief sanctuary a pair of young men have when Maoist
“retraining” leads to forbidden books and both of them falling in love with the
title character.
Based on
Sijie’s book and screenplay, it is unflinching in its detail and portrayal of
how ugly things got beyond just being chased by crowds fired up by idiotic
agit-prop. It reminds us of how the hate
and anti-intellectualism devours everything in its way, making the authentic
connections between the characters and their books that much more
precious. It is also a warning about
censorship, dictatorship, ethnic cleansing and genocide, though it is still a
love story away from any such firing lines.
Acting is impressive all around and Suie has made what will be an
increasingly important film. This cut is
111 vs. 116 at its Cannes premiere, but is highly recommended in this cut
because it has more than enough impact.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was shot in Super 35mm by Jean-Marie
Drelujou, A.F.C., and looks like a fine shoot, but this DVD is just too soft,
detail, depth and sometimes even color limited for its own good. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has limited
surrounds, though we do not consider this the epitome of the theatrical release
sound since it was issued theatrically in Dolby and DTS. The combination is adequate at best, but
could have been better. Extras include
stills, the original theatrical trailer and text bio of the director.
- Nicholas Sheffo
