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Hsiao-hsien Hou, "The Flight of the Red Balloon:" how many directors of seven

Posted by tinear on May 11, 2010 at 09:50:46:
or eight films continue to improve?
This film is a remarkable exploration modern society through the eyes of the Chinese director responsible for Millenium Mambo, Cafe Lumiere, Three Times, and now the best film of his to date. In Paris--- as lovingly and poetically filmed as ever has been done--- a middle-aged mom copes with the mysterious and long-term absence of her husband and struggles to raise her young son while juggling her successful artistic career. Juliet Binoche gives a performance so natural, so silently powerful that it detonates later in the unsuspecting viewer: this is consummate artistry which formerly she never has shown, even in potential. This is all the more unexpected because of the radical transformation the actress has undergone: her hair is simply outrageous, dyed a bleached-silver which would be at home on a punk goddess, and her formerly feline figure is now muscular, thick, and powerful. That radiant face, that classical perfection of face, however, remains intact and one of the singularly most beautiful features in modern film.
Like in all very good art, this film has an almost magical quality: it is difficult to say why the film has such an emotional impact, i.e. there are no great dramatic scenes, no screaming exchanges, no histrionics of any sort. Rather, all of it is accomplished through shadows, through suggestion.
I don't know why members of this forum aren't more receptive to Asian films: they arguably are the finest, as a group, being made today. Along with the very different, "Mother," I'd highly recommend these films for a very different take on what being a parent means, though the films hardly are so restrictive.
This is superb, intelligent filmmaking.