介绍:
The last time I got angry in a cinema was when Wong Kai Wai released his incomplete martial arts drama film "The Grandmaster". He showed no respect for cinema-goers and the movie business as he peddled an unfinished product.
But that sentiment was nothing compared to what I felt while watching Tiny Times 3. The latest outing by novelist and businessman Guo Jingming witnessed a catastrophic downgrade from the previous installment, which itself barely breached the level of mediocracy in the first place. The narratives in both films are practical jokes just the same, but at least the cinematography in Tiny Times 2 almost reached an average standard. In comparison the third installment is just a circus freak show suffering from the incurable disease of overblown slow motion.
The symptoms start showing right from the beginning, when the four female friends go on a business trip to Rome. Nothing of real business significance happens in the Italian capital, but that doesn't stop the girls from dressing up in elaborate outfits as they invade the ancient city with their posing and flaunting. I think the director's message is: look, I can afford to shoot this film in Rome, at least some part of it.
The good for nothing opening is followed by a make-believe business espionage story. It seems as though the director is trying to make this part funny, but he only achieves silliness. Like I said, the narrative is a joke, what can you expect, except for plenty of slow motion shots to highlight the not-so-intense action?
After that, the director decides to drown his beloved audience in shots after shots of slow motion. When the girls get mad at each other for various unreasonable reasons, just as happened in previous installments, only endless slow motion shots can explain the magnitude of their heartbreak, and hopefully distract the audience from the scant story.
As someone who certainly haven't been converted to Guo Jingming's style, I began to look around in the cinema. On a Monday afternoon, the screening room was surprisingly full. The audience largely consists of young girls, who were most likely students on their summer holiday, and apparently they were having a good time. Some could even predict what was going to happen on screen because they've read the original novel.
For a moment, I was unsettled by the fact that our youth is being manipulated by such nonsense, but then again, each generation has their own dragons to slay, perhaps battling the bad influence in the sub culture is their way of becoming responsible adults. And we have to live with the fact that some, like our dear director, never make it through.
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