| Where Everything Is Just Out of Reach |
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| written by talltale |
February 19, 2007 - 8:13 AM PST |
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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FLEEING BY NIGHT is a treasure: visually opulent and emotionally stirring. This man-woman-man love story spans some 60 years, moves from Manhattan to China and back, and gives each character resonance and depth. Comparisons with "Farewell My Concubine" are in order, although I found this movie even richer. After viewing it, I can at last begin to appreciate Chinese Opera (never thought I would) because the film combines the reticence and ceremony of the East with a high degree of Western sensibility. There are so many memorable scenes and moments here that a second viewing is definitely in order.
Having just made that second viewing, nearly five years down the road, I find this film stands up very well. If anything, it seems even sadder now, as age and time have taken their toll, bringing this viewer more closely in synch with the fate of the characters. The quiet care lavished by the co-directors and co-writers, coupled with their refusal rush events or scant on meaning and emotion, offers the kind of journey films rarely achieve--with a destination that is oddly welcome. And the final shot--ironic yet somehow appropriate--gives Times Square a whole new meaning.
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