Review of Summer Palace (2006) by Jodie G — 14 Sep 2008

"Humans yearn to be alone and they long for death. Why else do we fight with those we love most?".

Hauntingly beautiful movie by Lou Ye and his most refined work to date. A reminder that the Chinese student revolt in the late eighties not only was a political revolution, but also a sexual one, very much like the one in Europe twenty years earlier. For obvious reasons Lou Ye tones down the political content of the movie and focuses instead on the passionate love story between it's two main characters, even though it's possible to view their relationship as a mirror of the changes in Chinese society as a whole. The film boasts some of the most memorable acting performances and scenes in Chinese cinema today, like the terrifying beauty of Li Tis suicide or the inevitably sad last encounter between Yu Hong and Zhou Wei.