Review:
When I went to see this film, I knew nothing about it-not even its country of origin-except the title. I amused myself with the notion that it might be a sequel to The Wicker Man (I'm easily amused), and as it turns out that wouldn't have been too far off. Despite some slow patches, this is as moody and eerie a film as any I've seen this year.
In the past decade, as Zhang Yimou ("Raise the Red Lantern") and Chen Kaige ("Farewell My Concubine") emerged as prominent auteurs on the international scene, Chinese cinema has captured the world's attention in much the same way that European cinema did in the '50s and '60s.
"THE WOODEN MAN'S Bride" is a haunting folk tale in which the stifling puritanism of a wealthy family in 1920s rural China creates catastrophe for, and rebellion in, two young lovers. Visually arresting and rich in ironic observations about a time and place of rigid social hierarchy, the picture stands with the best that have emerged from the Chinese film renaissance of recent years.
Huang Jianxin's "The Wooden Man's Bride" may be set in the Far East, but it's the most visually stunning, emotionally powerful western since Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven."
Set during the '20s,"The Wooden Man's Bride" tells an ancient mythical story that begins in a village on the harsh, rocky plains of northwestern China.
The Wooden Man's Bride.; Farewell My
Concubine.; The Blue Kite.; To Live.
by Zhiwei Xiao
Excerpt: "International attention has been brought to Chinese cinema primarily through the films of a group of elite directors referred to in China as "The Fifth Generation." Directors such as Chen Kaige, Huang Jianxin, Tian Zhuangzhuang, and Zhang Yimou have been called, variously, "xianfeng daoyan" (vanguard director), "zheli daoyan" (philosophical director), or "yishu dianying daoyan" (art film director). These terms of designation suggest the distance and difference between their works and those of mainstream popular film production in China."
Actor/Actress Info: