Xiao cheng zhi chun / Spring In A Small Town (1948) :
Brief Review -
A Cult Chinese Romance which certifies post-marriage relationship against pre-marriage love affair. Fei Mu's Spring In A Small Town is considered as a controversial classic in Chinese cinema. The film was rejected upon release for showing love-triangle set in countryside and because these things were shown after marriage in the film. The film is a love-triangle basically but it happens co-incidentally and keeps the fidelity intact. There are no kisses, sex scenes or intimate scenes which almost every Hollywood romance used that time and uses even today. That purity and legitimateness bounds together to make it looks very nice. A lonely housewife of sick and inadequate husband finds her monotonous life altered when her childhood sweetheart returns to town. Old memories flowers and hints towards an awakening of lost romance only to find all three of them in lots of queries. Unlike Hollywood romance, this one is immensely faithful while covering those feelings and it doesn't fail to express the emotions despite less dialogue. While most of the romance-drama films end up being predictable before last 2 or 3 minutes, this one has things to tell even in the last 10 seconds. Only when 'The End' appears on screen, you know what was it actually. The performance of leading three actors are superb. Wei Wei, Shi Yu and Li Wei have less dialogues compared to other feature films of Hollywood or any other film industry but still they talk so much in those silent moments with their expressions, eyes and movements. Maybe that's why this short 90 minutes runtime film looks slow but one has to understand what they are trying to say without speaking much. I don't know why this saw those controversies, i just loved whatever director Fei Mu had to show. Considering the local culture it's a Timeless Romance.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
A Cult Chinese Romance which certifies post-marriage relationship against pre-marriage love affair. Fei Mu's Spring In A Small Town is considered as a controversial classic in Chinese cinema. The film was rejected upon release for showing love-triangle set in countryside and because these things were shown after marriage in the film. The film is a love-triangle basically but it happens co-incidentally and keeps the fidelity intact. There are no kisses, sex scenes or intimate scenes which almost every Hollywood romance used that time and uses even today. That purity and legitimateness bounds together to make it looks very nice. A lonely housewife of sick and inadequate husband finds her monotonous life altered when her childhood sweetheart returns to town. Old memories flowers and hints towards an awakening of lost romance only to find all three of them in lots of queries. Unlike Hollywood romance, this one is immensely faithful while covering those feelings and it doesn't fail to express the emotions despite less dialogue. While most of the romance-drama films end up being predictable before last 2 or 3 minutes, this one has things to tell even in the last 10 seconds. Only when 'The End' appears on screen, you know what was it actually. The performance of leading three actors are superb. Wei Wei, Shi Yu and Li Wei have less dialogues compared to other feature films of Hollywood or any other film industry but still they talk so much in those silent moments with their expressions, eyes and movements. Maybe that's why this short 90 minutes runtime film looks slow but one has to understand what they are trying to say without speaking much. I don't know why this saw those controversies, i just loved whatever director Fei Mu had to show. Considering the local culture it's a Timeless Romance.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.