Customer Reviews

Big Shot's Funeral [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

To all of you with an interest in good movies and the Mandarin dialect, checking your local Blockbuster to see if they have a copy of the recently released "Big Shot's Funeral" would be well worth your time and dime (but since you're already on this website... why not just buy one). With Donald Sutherland as the American "name" actor and Ge You as the big Chinese name, it's a really well-executed movie that plays out in about 1/4 English and the rest Mandarin.

The very up-to-the-minute story, set in Beijing, is beautifully filmed and puts a premium on satire that takes jabs at the American movie industry and burgeoning Chinese market economies alike. For those working on their language, there is more than enough vocab and a range of accents to make this a semester's worth of lessons ... some of it literally so, as an ABC character has to occasionally check with the locals on some current slang. It's scary how inpenetrable the "Beijingr" accent can be at times. Written and delivered with a humor and timing that should appeal to Western audiences and filmed in a somewhat Altman-esque fashion, it's a really refreshing departure from the historical costume melodramas that leave you wiped out and wondering if the mainland is capable of productions as contemporary and uplifting as they often are well-crafted and dour. This would show the answer to be - most definitely!
JPQ

Donald Sutherland plays Tyler, a world-famous director (or has he only convinced the Chinese that he is?) shooting a film about the Last Emperor in the Imperial Palace in Beijing. As he ponders his auteurish genius, and disappears into deep reflection while hundreds of costumed extras wait in the sun, his American and Japanese backers bite nails as they watch the dollars slip away.

His beautiful and devoted assistant, Rosamund Kwan as the ABC (American Born Chinese) Lucy, hires a local cameraman YoYo (Ge You) to shoot a making-of documentary, following Tyler about as a silent fly-on-the-wall. Despite YoYo's lack of English and Tyler's lack of Chinese, they bond and Tyler becomes enthused with YoYo's description of the funeral of an old person, happiness that he has lived a long and full life, what Tyler dubs a "comedy funeral".

Afraid that Tyler has lost the ability to complete the project, the backers send studio boss Tony (Paul Mazursky) to fire Tyler, and when Tyler has YoYo set the camera on a tripod to film the two of them together he has (or only seems to have?) a stroke or heart attack, managing to squeeze out to YoYo as he collapses (on camera, of course) "Comedy funeral, you must give me comedy funeral".

As Tyler lies near death in the hospital, Lucy fights with the studio to honor his last wishes, and have YoYo produce the funeral. Out of his league .. how could he possibly suitably honor such a Big Shot .. YoYo seeks an old friend, Ying Da as a bleach-blond concert promoter. Their schemes become more and more grandiose, and will take place in the Imperial Palace itself. YoYo hesitantly brings up the subject of money with Lucy, and finds out that Tyler was flat broke. The concert .. excuse me, funeral .. will have to fund itself.

This begins the most sidesplitting moments of the film, when the producers sell product placement and sponsorship rights to just about every centimeter of the Palace, the procession and even the corpse. My favorite moment is when an unknown Chinese starlet tries to buy an appearance as Tyler's distraught mistress to jump start her career.

I won't spoil the ending(s), but this is a hilarious film full of satire of the capitalist world and China's enthusiastic embrace of it. It is enhanced by the genuine relationship between YoYo and Tyler and YoYo's budding romance with Lucy.

Highly recommended for light entertainment with both bite and depth.

Donald Sutherland is Tailor, the "Big Shot" of this film, a world-famous director who came to shoot a remake of "Last Emperor" in China, among other thing. But no longer is he enthusiastic about this job, quite understandably, so he decides to bail out after the heated arguement with the producer Tommy (Paul Mazursky).

At the same time, unemployed cameraman Yoyo (Ge You, award-winniing actor in Canne with "To Live") is hired by Tailor's assistant Lucy (Rosamund Kwan). He is required to make a documentary about the film Tailor is making, but as Yoyo becomes a friend to this great director whose health seems deteriorated, this "Big Shot" asks Yoyo to do one thing for him -- after he is dead, to give a funeral for him ... in the "Chinese" way.

The film directed by mainland China's hitmaker Feng Xiaogang (who also wrote the script) may seem strange to Western aduiences. But he is clearly making his point, and when Tailor falls seriously ill, and the funeral (but he is not dead!) is planned, sponsored, and promoted by money-grubbing people, the film shows it in most outrageous way, with production placement (all around the coffin, and the body too) and the showy stage plan that might easily equal the rock band concert. These satires reflect today's China, and if you think the film lacks Westen-style sophisticated development of story, never mind. Aceept it as it is, because, as it is reported, the film was the big hit in China, and clearly they saw something immediate in the film. I for one, a Japanese, find it pretty amusing.

As a sub-plot, there is a romance between Yoyo and Lucy, one speaks only Chinese, and the other fluent English. It seems Lucy's character is set as American-born, and but probably you should not see this film as culture-clashing comedy/drama. The film doesn't use English so much (maybe about one third or more) and there are much talk than average Hong-Kong actioners. So, don't be mistaken. This is meant for art-house release.

Donald Sutherland's screen time is comparatively short even though he is very good (and much, much better than his usual turns in such dreadful messy films like, say, "virus"). If you're his fan, and remember his amusing, likable character in "Space Cowboys," then you may try this film.

But to me, Rosamund Kwan is the one to see. Those who know Jet Li's "Once Upon a Time in China" series would fondly remember her lovely face, and she is fantastic as a strong-willed assistant who tries to stop, or at least slow down, the crazy fever over the funeral. There is no action, but Ms. Kwan is better than ever.

I was amused fairly, but am afraid that many things have been lost during the translation process from original language. Those who can understand it, I hope, would fill in the gap someday on this site or elsewhere.

Big Shot's Funeral - Yes the story line is unbelievable - And no it is not the type of film that would win awards - But yes it entertaining and that is what it should be. Of course if you are of Chinese culture you may would pick-up more of the inside jokes, but if you have seen many other Chinese language films you know when the names Li Gong and Ziyi Zhang are dropped for fun. When you want to take a break from the great Chinese films of directors Wong-kar-wai, Yimou Zhang, Ang Lee than this is a fun film to see. Another good/fun film from this director (Xiaogang Feng) is "A World Without Thieves". If you are not used to film with subtitles than this may be a good film to start with as there is some spoken English (the Amazon listing of Chinese and French is in error by not including English). Buy it cheap -you won't regret it.

What begins as a questionable film becomes an amusing story with hilarious notions. Auteur filmmaker Tyler of the USA lays dying in China while his new best friend YoYo, a cameraman with auteur tendencies becomes determined to fulfill Tyler's final wish of a grand comedy funeral. If you've ever made a film on a shoestring budget, you get "it" while watching this DVD and if you've illegally burned the DVD you're watching, you must destroy it after viewing or suffer the guilt of stealing from the filmmakers. As a viewer who is constantly aware of product placement, this film is like a smorgasbord of products thrown on the screen in a most absurd fashion. As a student of philosophy, I enjoyed hearing beliefs which were thrown on the screen in a most absurd fashion. As a devotee of romance, a budding love was thrown on the screen in an even more absurd fashion with no apparent chemistry between the two parties. Nevertheless, this film provided a laminate which actually works and provided laughs along the way, and I mean robust roars, not the more common little giggles. Paul Mazursky, in his documentary, YIPPEE, says, "I am a famous movie director." Mazursky's role in BIG SHOT'S FUNERAL is perfectly cast and worth the price of admission. Donald Sutherland as Tyler is perfectly played, a man of few words, grand ideas, and a receptive but forceful personality. I think only Peter Sellers could have been cast as successfully in the role, had he lived beyond 1980. Actually, an aside is that Sellers had, "In the Mood," played at his own funeral. BIG SHOT'S FUNERAL was like jumping from 1970 to 2001 and skipping all the years between. It's a film that makes you think and reflect upon the auteurs who have come and gone, leaving behind celluloid that's been the foundation for today's film students. It helps us remember that reality television was not born of an immaculate conception.

Yoyo (Ge You), a Chinese cameramen, is hired to shoot footage of an internationally renowned director (Donald Sutherland) who is filming a remake of "The Last Emperor" on location. The director takes such a liking to the cameraman that, when he has a stroke shortly after being fired from the project, his final words are to charge the hapless documentarian with staging a "comedy funeral" for him. (I confess that I never quite understood what a comedy funeral was, but no matter.) Yoyo enlists the aid of a friend (Da Ying) who promotes concerts and they attempt to fund the project with product placements. The situation gets out of control with very amusing results.

This is a very interesting Mandarin-English hybrid, in which various characters use both languages with subtitles applied where needed. Sutherland seems to be having a great time and Ge You, who is a comedic star in China, shines with his deadpan delivery. Rosamund Kwan, playing the director's assistant, gives a terrific performance as a woman caught in the middle between two men she cares for deeply. This movie was a real surprise for me and I recommend it whole-heartedly.

I've been watching a lot of foreign movies lately -- I'm now unemployed so I've started dreaming of living in many different far-away places -- and, frankly, this is the first one in over a month of fast-renting from Netflix that I actually liked -- and actually watched the whole in one sitting.

No need to regurgitate the plot. What makes this movie work and makes it funny is the frank manner in which the director exposes the ludicrousness of the deformation the Chinese society has undergone after capitalism was re-introduced. The government calls it "capitalism with Chinese characteristics," and this movie in its own way shows how this ideological bastard of some utterly crazy minds has poisoned almost everyone living in that country.

Ok, enough about the political backdrop. You really gotta watch this movie to see how funny it is. From Louis's senseless insisting on a grand, state-like meeting and using a translator for Lucy, to an electronics company's selling ads about how great its DVD players can work with pirated DVDs, to the final joke, this film keeps you entertained. At the same time, you'll probably feel sorry, some kind of pathos, for these people.

5 stars for originality and as a dark comedy. There wasn't much beautiful scene, but this is a movie, not a picture book. My 5 stars go to this movie.

to dream up such a ridiculous nonsense really needed some talent. but to accept such ridiculous nonsense and to claim that you like it or love it was even amazing. nonetheless, ge you had proved himself again that he could play any role throw in his way no matter how stupid the screenplay might be. guan who played the special asst to the famous director taylor was again proved herself a lousy and even worst actress. donald sutherland played the director dutifully but he obviously not too keen about this role and the screenply, he just rode along to play out and to collect the acting fee.

one thing you must be understand, nobody would ever give such a big damn about a foreign director, no matter how famous he could be. creating a foreign director's funeral held in china and auctioning off to advertisers had only made this film as a scam too.

this is a very annoying joke.

masterpeace!!!
a dark comedy about one of the common fantasies
who heaven't dream about your own funeral?
well donald sutherland is a movie director,
he directs his own funeral
i found the movie really funny