To answer this question: “Can a film truly be great if only a small number of people are affected by it?”

Yes it sure can! A lot of people aren’t affected by this movie because it hasn’t been seen by a lot of people!! Truly a gem of a movie. I think this is the only movie so far on Netflix that I have given a 5/5 to.

I was thinking that The Road Home is too culturally based, so there would be no way for it to be remade by Hollywood. I’m guessing that most of the regular Film Junk readers and even Jay, Sean and Greg would not appreciate this film because it doesn’t fit into the genres that they like. That’s a shame.

This raises a question in my mind. Can a film truly be great if only a small number of people are affected by it?

Just drama. Hollywood relies too heavily on flash and special effects. The Chinese, especially Zhang Yi Mou, use basic techniques like color, symbolism…. etc

The only review I’ve read of “Sophie’s Revenge” has me waiting (other films are ahead of that in immediate importance), though the reviewer admits during the review that he hate’s Ziyi to begin with. I’ll see it eventually, but so far have only seen it as VCD locally; and release with English subtitles isn’t quite available yet. Currently I’m looking into films about Mulan, and Rape of Nanking, and other documentaries about China — primarily Great Hall, Forbidden City, and current events. And in relation to the Rape of Nanking, “The Founding of a Republic” (quite good — and Ziyi gets almost a whole paragraph), and “The Soong Sisters”.

But it’s coming time to watch “The Road Home” again to cleanse my pallet of all the corruption — Kai-Shek was a peice of work — I’ve been seeing.

Ziyi plays a dumped woman (mirroring real-life, I speculate) in the romantic comedy, “Sophie’s Revenge,” which I watched recently without English sub-titles. Her facial expressions and body language are enough for me to understand her.

Vulnerable, fragile dignity. Heartbreaking. Lead character Chow is a fool!

As for “Princess Raccoon,” I didn’t enjoy it. It’s a highly stylized, theatrical Japanese production. The director is revered, but he’s too arty for my tastes.

I exchanged the DVD that skipped and got one that doesn’t. Go to chapter 5, where Ziyi first comes in (I think) and watch through chapter 7. My first reaction to the singing (by Lanfang) was as described in my Amazon review. But when he sang with Meng Xiaodong (Ziyi), her singing changed my reaction — I quite enjoyed it. It is also a humorous episode, in which she delights, as she often does. (Apparently in real life — unlike the film — he and she married, had children, and divorced.)

One result is that I’ll for certain be looking more at Chinese opera. And will have to get “Princess Racoon” soon, as apparently Ziyi sings several songs in that. Another is that I’ll be modifying my Amazon review a bit: without the skipping the film is much better than I thought.

It helps that Ziyi sings in it (my Amazon review gives the details): in the first instance it’s a humorous context — quite funny; and she sings the “male” part (see my Amazon review) of the dialogic song. Shortly thereafter you see her (and the main character) perform the same song (only a fragment) on stage in full makeup. See my review for the particulars.

She looks more “mature” than I’m used to because she has short hair. Anyway, give the DVD a chance — and I hope it doesn’t skip as my first did.

As for “Forever Enthralled,” I don’t have an English sub-titled version of it. I’m having a hard time working up the enthusiasm to finish watching the movie. I have some interest in the subject matter of Chinese opera, but I have other movies and TV shows to watch that are of more interest to me right now.

It was the cahracter — not Ziyi — that was submissive. And that was the storyline — a child who was beaten down. Note when she first gets togethre with Mameha (Michelle Yeoh): she had learned not to dare to look others in the eye. But Mameha was kind to her, and she blossomed from there.

Submissive? In the teahouse scene in which Hatsumomo insults her — “Today even a common chambermaid can be a geisha” — Sayuri shows a sharp and assertive wit. Hatsumomo says, “Sometimes the best remark is silence,” to which Sayuri responds, “What better advice to follow than your own.” Not at all submissive by then.

It was also cultural: the awful scene with the baron was a trap in part because of the social limitations imposed upon women; it would have been even worse for her had she more forcefully defended herself.

I’ve seen a few knocks against the film itself, but not that many, and none of them convincing; they seem mostly to be based upon envy, jealousy. Some were about it being “inaccurate” in this or that way; so I got and watched (a number of times now) the documentary, “The Secret World of Geisha” — and was surprised at how accurate “Memoirs” actually is.

Otherwise, I’ll watch for your review of “Forever Enthralled” (is the “assassination” only in the trailer? my disk skips), in which Ziyi sings!