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Review: Goodbye South, Goodbye (南國再見,南國) (1996)
This was a rather slow movie and it took me a while to get the gist of it. It wasn’t my favourite because the plot played out a in a way that was too low key for me.
Spoilers?
Story
The movie was focused around Gao who was hustling through life, trying to save money to propose to his girlfriend by working scams and slightly illegal operations. In the end, the crime got to him and he was captured and dumped in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.
I think the point of the movie was to show the aimlessness of Gao’s life, where he risks everything but for what? He’s surrounded by people who get in trouble, and those who don’t are getting ready to leave. He’d go around trying to help those around him like Flatty but there were limits to what he could do. He wanted to open a business in Shanghai but that wouldn’t be the easiest. He wanted to propose to Ying so also needed more money or else she wouldn’t want to go with him, but it turned out she didn’t want to go with him either, because her sister in the USA was ill and asked Ying to go over to help her. It was just a lot of aimlessness and only temporary highs for Gao.
Production
I think the way the movie was shot made it a bit hard to follow at times. Dialogue overlapped so it was hard to keep track. This movie had that old type of sound mixing where loud sounds would get muffled. Characters would talk over each other which was fine, but the main conversation would sometimes get lost. The characters speaking a combination of Mandarin and Taiwanese wasn’t bad, I actually like multilingual movies like that, but it added to not being able to follow the conversation as well.
Characters
Gao was the main character trying to get businesses started here and there. But he was stretched so thin with the various operations, helping his friends, and his own personal goals. The risks were high and the returns were low. He was trying to keep it together.
Themes
I guess the general theme was how tough it was to get oneself out of the underworld. Gao was trying to get out by setting up business, which was not easy because he was surrounded by other troubles. Ying was only getting out because she had a sister who already had a decent real estate business in the USA. For people like Flatty and Pretzel, that was out of the question. They definitely weren’t as smart and capable as Gao was, and even Gao struggled.
Overall
Overall I felt this movie was a bit too aimless for me to truly enjoy. Plus, the direction style made it hard for me to stay focused. That being said, I’m not totally turned off from the director yet. I’m willing to look into Hou’s other movies to see if there’s anything else I like more.
Spoilers?
Story
The movie was focused around Gao who was hustling through life, trying to save money to propose to his girlfriend by working scams and slightly illegal operations. In the end, the crime got to him and he was captured and dumped in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.
I think the point of the movie was to show the aimlessness of Gao’s life, where he risks everything but for what? He’s surrounded by people who get in trouble, and those who don’t are getting ready to leave. He’d go around trying to help those around him like Flatty but there were limits to what he could do. He wanted to open a business in Shanghai but that wouldn’t be the easiest. He wanted to propose to Ying so also needed more money or else she wouldn’t want to go with him, but it turned out she didn’t want to go with him either, because her sister in the USA was ill and asked Ying to go over to help her. It was just a lot of aimlessness and only temporary highs for Gao.
Production
I think the way the movie was shot made it a bit hard to follow at times. Dialogue overlapped so it was hard to keep track. This movie had that old type of sound mixing where loud sounds would get muffled. Characters would talk over each other which was fine, but the main conversation would sometimes get lost. The characters speaking a combination of Mandarin and Taiwanese wasn’t bad, I actually like multilingual movies like that, but it added to not being able to follow the conversation as well.
Characters
Gao was the main character trying to get businesses started here and there. But he was stretched so thin with the various operations, helping his friends, and his own personal goals. The risks were high and the returns were low. He was trying to keep it together.
Themes
I guess the general theme was how tough it was to get oneself out of the underworld. Gao was trying to get out by setting up business, which was not easy because he was surrounded by other troubles. Ying was only getting out because she had a sister who already had a decent real estate business in the USA. For people like Flatty and Pretzel, that was out of the question. They definitely weren’t as smart and capable as Gao was, and even Gao struggled.
Overall
Overall I felt this movie was a bit too aimless for me to truly enjoy. Plus, the direction style made it hard for me to stay focused. That being said, I’m not totally turned off from the director yet. I’m willing to look into Hou’s other movies to see if there’s anything else I like more.