Partly inspired by the new sound system and partly because of the
recent public holidays, recently I watched the movies La La Land,
Arrival and Moonlight. I thought I would spend a little bit of time
here parsing my thoughts, because the critics' reviews of the first two
were so different from my overall impressions. I won't give anything
away, but if you can't bear to know any detail about a movie you're
about to watch, I suggest you stop reading now!
First of all, I had read and also heard so much hype about La La Land - words like "stellar performances," "innovative," "greatness," "magical love letter," coupled with the fact that the movie garnered 14 Oscar nominations, were enough to intrigue. It all seemed too good to be true, though, and after viewing the trailer, I was pretty certain that the movie had to disappoint - everything about the overwrought reviews and lofty expectations had set it up to fail. However, it does serve up a satisfying dollop of good charm- the musical numbers, while campy, transport you to a golden, feel good era of movies, and Ryan Gosling (le sigh) is his usual enigmatic, charismatic, sulky golden boy self.
However, everything else about this movie is somewhat lackluster! Save for one dance scene that you can forgive because they seem so happy and delighted while performing it, the lead actor and actress are not song and dance performers, and it shows. And sometimes the movie is just so goshdarn campy! Since when is our standard for 14 Oscar nominations the acknowledgment and acceptance by critics that "the film is not a masterpiece, however..."?
Don't get me wrong, it's a good movie and certainly worth a feel-good immersion on a relaxing Sunday night, but it does not, I repeat does not, deserve to stand on the stage of notable greats. My theory is that 2016 was such a dark, terrible year for so many (especially of the political persuasion that tend to work as film critics) that the movie tapped into a collective (albeit echo chambered) consciousness, providing a much-needed escape.
Arrival similarly received furious and huge critical acclaim, pulling in top marks from critics from the Guardian to the New York Times to Telegraph to Rolling Stone, with lines full of praise like "mesmerizing mindbender," "ambitious in conception and extraordinary in execution," and "dazzling science fiction." Perhaps as a result I again had unreasonably high expectations.
Unlike with La La Land, I do agree with some of these reviews. I think the movie takes risks, some completely unrealistic, but ultimately does what any good film ought to: challenge the viewer to consider reality, our lives and choices, and also the meaning of something greater beyond ourselves.
However, and I take great issue with Arrival for these two things: (1) its utterly unrealistic portrayal of Amy Adams' skills as a linguistic expert, and (2) the anti-Chinese sentiment of the film.
Sure, the lead actress can be brilliant and study languages and know how best to communicate with aliens (hope I'm not giving away too much here). But unless she is a Chinese language linguistic expert, it is an absolute disservice and insult to every Mandarin speaker in this world to portray a white woman who supposedly speaks and comprehends this language fluently. Do you know how difficult this language is? In the movie they show foreign translators whose sole job is to translate and communicate with every other country, except China. You expect me to believe that the best translator they would find to interpret and decode a top secret audio recording would be Amy Adams? Ugh. I can't even. Plus, if you're going to pretend that she is fluent, at least have the decency to dub her voice with a truly fluent person in real life. The one sentence that she has to utter in Chinese is laughable for how it is completely, but for two words, incomprehensible.
First of all, I had read and also heard so much hype about La La Land - words like "stellar performances," "innovative," "greatness," "magical love letter," coupled with the fact that the movie garnered 14 Oscar nominations, were enough to intrigue. It all seemed too good to be true, though, and after viewing the trailer, I was pretty certain that the movie had to disappoint - everything about the overwrought reviews and lofty expectations had set it up to fail. However, it does serve up a satisfying dollop of good charm- the musical numbers, while campy, transport you to a golden, feel good era of movies, and Ryan Gosling (le sigh) is his usual enigmatic, charismatic, sulky golden boy self.
However, everything else about this movie is somewhat lackluster! Save for one dance scene that you can forgive because they seem so happy and delighted while performing it, the lead actor and actress are not song and dance performers, and it shows. And sometimes the movie is just so goshdarn campy! Since when is our standard for 14 Oscar nominations the acknowledgment and acceptance by critics that "the film is not a masterpiece, however..."?
Don't get me wrong, it's a good movie and certainly worth a feel-good immersion on a relaxing Sunday night, but it does not, I repeat does not, deserve to stand on the stage of notable greats. My theory is that 2016 was such a dark, terrible year for so many (especially of the political persuasion that tend to work as film critics) that the movie tapped into a collective (albeit echo chambered) consciousness, providing a much-needed escape.
Arrival similarly received furious and huge critical acclaim, pulling in top marks from critics from the Guardian to the New York Times to Telegraph to Rolling Stone, with lines full of praise like "mesmerizing mindbender," "ambitious in conception and extraordinary in execution," and "dazzling science fiction." Perhaps as a result I again had unreasonably high expectations.
Unlike with La La Land, I do agree with some of these reviews. I think the movie takes risks, some completely unrealistic, but ultimately does what any good film ought to: challenge the viewer to consider reality, our lives and choices, and also the meaning of something greater beyond ourselves.
However, and I take great issue with Arrival for these two things: (1) its utterly unrealistic portrayal of Amy Adams' skills as a linguistic expert, and (2) the anti-Chinese sentiment of the film.
Sure, the lead actress can be brilliant and study languages and know how best to communicate with aliens (hope I'm not giving away too much here). But unless she is a Chinese language linguistic expert, it is an absolute disservice and insult to every Mandarin speaker in this world to portray a white woman who supposedly speaks and comprehends this language fluently. Do you know how difficult this language is? In the movie they show foreign translators whose sole job is to translate and communicate with every other country, except China. You expect me to believe that the best translator they would find to interpret and decode a top secret audio recording would be Amy Adams? Ugh. I can't even. Plus, if you're going to pretend that she is fluent, at least have the decency to dub her voice with a truly fluent person in real life. The one sentence that she has to utter in Chinese is laughable for how it is completely, but for two words, incomprehensible.
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