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DRAGON EYE CONGEE

 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Drama
Starring: Fann Wong, Shaun Tam
Director: Allen Chang
Rating: PG
Year Made: 2005

 


SPECIAL FEATURES

- NIL

 


TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: Mandarin
Subtitles: English & Chinese
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen
Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: Sc
orpio East Entertainment

 

 

SYNOPSIS:

Dragon Eye Congee is a touching story of love that transcends time and space, based on a short story of the same name written by the Taiwanese democracy activist Bo Yang. Since childhood, Chen Shih-Ming (Shaun Tam) has been dreaming about a woman, Ho Shin-Yuen (Fann Wong), beckoning him to enjoy a fragrant bowl of congee. Intrigued, he follows the haunting erhu melody and stumbles upon an old house and the woman in his dreams...

MOVIE REVIEW :

The perks of a film reviewer are the abundant free movies to watch and of course, the chicks. The downside of the job is stay through a horrible two-hour long abomination, persevere with a thin strand of professional ethic. My first ten minutes into this suspense ridden Taiwanese production of romance was frustrating enough for me to start whining. Before you question my faith towards Taiwanese films or my patience, bear in mind that one of my favorite movies of all time is Tsai Ming-Liang’s ‘Wayward Cloud’ (2005), and that film alone can verify my patience. Casting silly idol serial drama asides, I always deemed Taiwan and Korea as countries capable of intelligent art-house producers, paralleled with the Europeans. Unlike the major players like America or Hong Kong film industry, their films are not motivated commercially and strive to make movies with substance and depth. Because they are not monetary motivated, the success of their productions are not tied to the box office. The integrity of their films often requires a potent mix of patience and rationalization to appreciate, and that often deters people from trying. In short, like the Europeans, Taiwan film-makers are a branch of selfish artists shooting a film entirely for themselves, ignoring the masses’ appeal. How charming!

Back to Dragon Eye Congee. After this review, I will pen my letter to its director Mr Allen Chang, demanding him to return a hundred minutes of my time. I’m serious. I’m also serious about the part of bailing this trash and request a stand-in for this review. But then I realized that I’m a man with mission, and that in M. Night Shyamalan’s tradition, coincidences are invalid. I must warn the good people out there of this congee of boredom!

The plot was thinner than a tissue paper, the dialogues were lame and it’s base acting nailed what was necessary to sink the boat completely. Shuan Tam did assimilate his good looks from his father Ti Lung, the veteran action hero. But if only he knows how to act. Fann Wong was not that bad; in fact she was the only one holding the show together. But requiring the thirty-something her to play coy as a teenager student can be unbearable to watch, regardless of how youthful she looked. The film stretched with flashbacks and dreams with beautiful illustrations of scenery and soothing background music, then I realized that I’m in fact, is watching a hundred-minute MTV.

Dragon Eye Congee is what you get by stirring the concept of idol romance (complete with bad actors maybe excluding Fann Wong) while trying to stew an artsy taste. Enough said.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES :

This Code 3 DVD does not contain any special features.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Breathtaking scenery between the contrast of the blue cloudy skies and the green grass. And that was all there is to look out for in the film. Some parts of the picture when reacting with certain colors give a grainy image. Subtitles include both Chinese and English.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Ang Wei Kiat

 

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. A Chinese Tall Story

. Perhaps Love

. SPL

. Election


. The Myth


. Wait 'Til You're Older


. The Maid

 

 


This review is made possible with the kind support from Scorpio East

 


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