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Stay Puft
02-28-2016, 08:19 AM
ME REIN YU (MERMAID)
Dir. Stephen Chow

http://i.imgur.com/DvlKEqT.jpg

IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4701660/)

Stay Puft
02-28-2016, 08:36 AM
If you haven't heard, Stephen Chow is now responsible for the biggest box office smash in Chinese history.

The film swerves pretty hard towards the end, in a rather violent direction, and while I can appreciate Chow wanting to make a point, and drive it home, I'm not sure it all hangs together as well as it should. It gets pretty rough and heavy handed.

But up until that point?

Well, it's easily my favorite comedy in years. I haven't laughed this hard since, no kidding, Shaolin Soccer. This is a return to form. There are sequences here that had me crying tears and gasping for air. I'm just disappointed that Chow himself doesn't appear in the film (I love him as a filmmaker, but I do miss him as a performer). There are some fun cameos, though, such as Tsui Hark (who is working with Chow on a sequel to Conquering the Demons, which I'm not sure anyone asked for but anyways). Overall, it's endearing and riotous in all the best, classic Chow ways.

Now to be fair, I saw it in a packed theatre near Toronto's Chinatown, opening weekend, and the crowd proved hugely receptive (many seemed to be big Chow fans already), so I had pretty much the perfect experience. I can't imagine a rewatch in any context ever matching the energy in that theatre. It was a blast, but also a little weird because it really drove home how much I miss as an English speaker (some scenes have subtitle translations that read like basic exposition, clearly not even attempting to grapple with Chow's wordplay, as I would sit there going "okay" while a bunch of people scattered throughout the crowd would start dying of laughter).

Dukefrukem
02-28-2016, 12:45 PM
I had no idea this was coming. I need to see this asap.

Sven
03-06-2016, 11:54 PM
A very good movie! I disagree that the tone was jarring. As with all Chow films, darkness and pain and sorrow are always a whimsical beat away. I also disagree that it was a return to form, as I'm convinced that Journey to the West is a culminating masterpiece in the same loony vein in which he's always reigned, and Kung Fu Hustle improves on everything he layed out in Shaolin Soccer.

But that's word mincing. This is not a throwdown. I love Chow's unabashed characterizations, where 100% cads can convert absolutely. This is a special movie, for sure.

Sycophant
03-12-2016, 09:59 PM
I also disagree that it was a return to form, as I'm convinced that Journey to the West is a culminating masterpiece in the same loony vein in which he's always reigned

Amen!

If anything's missing from his last two productions, it'd be Chow's presence in front of the camera.

This was a thrill to see in the theater.

KK2.0
03-15-2016, 05:04 PM
Journey to the West was my least favorite Chow movie (from the few I've watched of course), it was still entertaining enough though.

the trailer for Mermaid is brilliant


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsHnc7PVRXI

Stay Puft
03-18-2016, 11:22 PM
Journey to the West was my least favorite Chow movie (from the few I've watched of course)

I didn't like it much at all. I'd currently rank it at the very bottom (of the ones he has directed, anyways). But I suppose I owe it another viewing.

I might agree with Sven that Kung Fu Hustle is better than Shaolin Soccer, overall, but the latter has a special place in my heart. It is the only film that made me laugh so hard during one sequence that I fell out of my chair and spent five minutes on the floor gasping for air. You remember and cherish moments like that.

transmogrifier
03-19-2016, 03:26 AM
I didn't like either SS or KFH. Not my style at all.