Reviews
Shiqi sui de dan che (2001)
Extremely affective tale about being seventeen
Browsing through some of the previous comments, it seems many viewers take the movie primarily as an allegory of class clash in Beijing. While the movie does state the contrast with emphasis, it's much more interesting as a story about teens. The title translates literally to "seventeen years' bicycle."
The story is just that. Guo is a young man who earned a bicycle and promptly has it stolen. Through luck and perseverance, he finds it in the possession of Jian, a high school student. Trouble ensues.
I grew up in Taiwan, and I remember kids doing incredibly cruel things to each other. Not so much gunning down classmates but there were plenty of physical and emotional violence. This movie is a powerhouse of insight into the psyche of teenagers. Contemporary Hollywood pumps out teenage movies by the dozen each year, and most simply gloss over the amount of pain and awkwardness adolescence can bring. Beijing Bicycle, on the other hand, can serve as an instructional manual for any high-school bully wannabes on how to reduce the stammering geek next door to a shell of a man.
It's therefore understandable that the movie can be very difficult to watch at moments. Guo suffers humiliation after humiliation, and at times I wondered in frustration what it would take to get him to swing back (the ending provides some answer to that, I think). There is some humor in the movie, and Guo does have the resources to prevail occasionally. If you can stand two main characters respectively passive and oblivious, the story is an incredibly touching one about being young.
Dogville (2003)
Raw, ambitious, and extremely over the top
Those who are predisposed to the film's political indictment may find Dogville brilliant; I, on the other hand, felt pushed and pushed by von Trier until I became completely detached from the movie about 2/3 through.
*Minor spoilers below*
Kidman plays Grace, a mysterious woman who fled into the clutches of the residents of Dogville. All went well at first, but gradually the townsfolk began exploiting her vulnerability. One by one they bare their teeth and prey on her dignity. How much can Grace take? How much can I take before things get so ridiculously extreme that I don't care anymore? The answer to the second question lies around the time the good folk of Dogville decided to wrap a chain around her neck.
There is no question that the film was skillfully made. The chalked set is not a problem; it in fact becomes an effective technique von Trier wrings to shock and appall the audience. The performance was superb, especially by Kidman. American English is not my native tongue, but I think Paul Bettany spoke it fine. All that craftsmanship and art, however, went into a questionable allegory. I don't think there is any doubt that von Trier targeted USA. I'm sure cruelty worse than what Grace suffered is inflicted to immigrants and people in general everyday. Hell, NYTimes just ran an article about sex slaves in New York. But the script of Dogville shows so little restraint in its vitriol that it loses credibility. The first time Grace was raped was horrifying. By the time the engineer-wannabe joined the act it was comical.
In fact I'm not sure if it wasn't meant to be an attempt of black humor through absurdity. There are a number of winks and nudges by the director suggesting that, after all, in a town where a dog is represented by a chalked outline, one shouldn't take it too seriously. I didn't laugh, though. In fact I felt manipulated and betrayed by the cruelty Grace had to go through and her seemingly infinite patience. By the time chapter 9 came around, I really didn't care enough to take any pleasure from the payoff.
The director's heavy hand tried to tug me along every scene, and it had the opposite effect. I won't lose any sleep over this film tonight.