FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

Young Mo wants to be a movie star. Well, actually, she just wants more out of life than helping her mother run the portrait studio in Shanghai. It just so happens that the opportunity to become a movie star presents itself. Her mother of course is heavily resistant. As Mo gets older she finds that her daughter wants to break free as well. Li aspires to be the wife of a popular communist boy at school. Following her ideal man, she soon discovers that perfection may not be obtainable. Then there’s Li’s daughter Hua. Hua is simply looking for honest true love. Can any of these women find what they’re looking for?

The film is divided into three chapters that are at the same time extremely distinct, while also melding together to form a fluid and cohesive whole. Chapter 1: Grandma takes place in 1937. The various green hues that permeate the mise-en-scene not only aid the estranged relationship between Mo and her mother, but also lend itself towards myriad metaphorical interpretations about the era and the character’s journey. It’s like a new spring is blooming in her life, but the vibrant yet dark shades of green let us know just how tumultuous it is. Chapter 2: Mother is set in 1958. Mo is all grown up and the color palette has changed with her attitude. Now the world is a sea of warm red tones. Not only does this convey the obvious Communist idealism of Mo’s daughter and her new husband but also the burning desire within Mo for so many things. Chapter 3: Daughter brings us to 1981. This dawning technological age contains more blue, but it’s the emotional states of the characters that really make it this way. The desire is overwrought with frost while somehow still shimmering a lasting beacon of hope.

All I can say is the cinematography better be good. Director/first-time writer (along with Xian Zhang) Yong Hou made his name behind the camera in films like “The Road Home” and “Not One Less.” Lucky for him (and cinematographer Xiao feng Yao) it’s quite painterly and picturesque. Hou displays good ability in general, but occasionally lacks in the pacing department. As far as the writing goes, the story, based on the novel by Su Tong, and the dialogue are extremely engaging although at times overly basic. The big problem I had with it, however, is that I really wanted to see more interaction between the mom and the daughter in every chapter. The first chapter I feel especially suffers from a lack of time spent with the mother. But most of the shortcomings are more than made up for with the outstanding acting by Zhang Ziyi and Joan Chen.

In each chapter Ziyi plays the daughter and Chen plays the mother/grandmother, meaning that in Chapter 2 Chen plays the grown-up version of Ziyi’s character from Chapter 1 and so on. Like in “Palindromes,” once this pattern is established, it’s extremely easy to accept. I’m curious as to why they don’t use the same male actor for each of the three parts. It certainly seems like a simple enough extension and would help to drive home the underlying concept that these women are essentially stuck in that house and forever reliving this rut – each of the stories is in some way about thinking you know what you want when you really don’t – albeit in their own unique ways. I also didn’t understand why the third daughter is played by Ziyi when she’s adopted. That’s even easy to get used to once you see the heartfelt, gripping performance Zhang Ziyi delivers. Both her and Joan Chen display amazing range and create incredibly interesting flawed, lovable characters that you genuinely care for while watching the film. I could watch them for days (or should I say lifetimes).

The movie may not be perfect, but not too many are. I could have done without a lot of the musical cues. The 50s melodrama score was a bit much as were the low piano moments. And there’s a lot of symbolism at the end, which usually hurts a film. This time it’s done so well and on such subtle, multi-layered levels (as is the case throughout the entire picture) that it helps make the ending great. Right now, “Jasmine Women” is a tough find, but I highly recommend it, and it’s certainly worth watching a couple times once it’s found.

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