觀音山 Buddha Mountain

Kenji Chan: Buddha Mountain is a gripping drama with a gritty description of the bleak lower-class city life, lifelike characters the audience cares about and convincing performances from the ensemble cast (Sylvia Chang, Fan Bingbing, Bolin Chen and Fei Long). The film talks about the bewilderment of youth, family breakdown, generational conflict, respect for teachers, bereavement, loneliness, the unpredictability of life, etc. The developing city and the mountainous terrain of post-earthquake sizzling Sichuan are rawly shot, which provides a perfect backdrop for this coming-of-age story. The documentary-like style and the insertion of real footage also add to realism. I highly recommend it to movie lovers. 3.9 / 5




Extract of Penny Zhou's Review: Through a series of delicately handled scenes and conversations, we pick up bits and pieces about the characters' troubles. Each of the teenagers comes from an unhappy family; their conflicts with parents still haunt their newly independent lives. On the other hand, having lost her son more than a year ago to a car accident, Chang refuses to move on and still hides in the garage, sitting in the wrecked car and reliving the pain. Taiwanese veteran actress Chang delivers a textbook performance as the opera singer with incredible intensity and nuance, despite her very different background from that of her character's; while her female costar Fan's portrayal of the tough yet sensitive Nan Feng sparkles with great aplomb, and is probably her best effort to date. The chemistry between the four actors makes their interactions, from the initial conflicts to the later bond, amazingly authentic and believable. The film's title comes from a Buddha temple on the mountain that collapsed during the devastating earthquake in 2008. The trio likes to ride on cargo trains that take them through the mountains, a metaphor that's captured by sophisticated and energized cinematography, juxtaposing the darkness of the tunnels with overexposure of sunlight, as if they are traveling through life and death. The Michael Jackson-worshipping Fatso loses his idol; Nan Feng and Ding Bo's romance can't seem to blossom; and Chang is bedazzled by the unpredictability of life and what happiness truly means. The two tangled tracks gradually converge and shake each other, while the temple is being reconstructed. A Buddhist undertone pervades the last part of the film, a necessary step to elevate the story, but dealt with slightly insufficient subtlety. Nevertheless, "Buddha Mountain" is a thought-provoking film with solid humanist touches on the ultimate questions of our existence and happiness. It is worth seeing, and will leave you thinking.