Reviews
DVD
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Directed by Mel Stuart, starring Gene Wilder, Peter Ostrum
It starts with a great book. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was always ripe for adaptation to the big screen, although only the truly ambitious would be able to really make the kind of movie that embraced author Roald Dahl's feverish imagination. Thankfully, high production values and a first rate cast do the text justice, so much so, that the recent remake faced a water mark far too high for it to reach. Johnny Depp may make a wonderfully rapscallion pirate but as Willy Wonka, he cannot compare to Gene Wilder.
Wilder embodies the eccentric candyman. He is equal parts dark and charming, unafraid to teach spoiled children a much-deserved lesson and willing to share everything he has with the right candidate. The inside of his factory is like a tour through the mind of a gifted storyteller; with every footstep forward lies the possibility of extraordinary delights and danger.
Even the scenes that should appear dated (particularly the psychedelic boat ride) still look fresh. The film features old special effects but they work because it takes such great care to pace its story and develop its characters. Moreover, the now kitsch production design seems far more in keeping with Wonka's character than in Tim Burton's retelling. Part Dickensian chic, part Grimm Brothers fairytale, this is a family movie that will actually appeal to more than one family member.
Ben Davey
Dong
Directed by Jia Zhangke
In 2005, Jia Zhangke accompanied painter Liu Xiaodong on a tour of the Three Gorges area, which was to be vacated, and filmed the latter painting a dozen workers. These workers were tearing down an old town ready to be flooded when the new dam was completed.
Suffice it to say, this is an unconventional documentary. It captures some of the most human moments in the drastic change of the landscape, yet without providing a whole picture. The scenes where Liu uses his brush to depict the bare-chested workers and where he delivers the news of the tragic death of one of them are the highlights of emotional intensity.
Titled Hot Bed, the painting has a second part, a portrait of a dozen Thai girls who seem to be from the service industry. Sadly, it reveals the painter's lack of understanding of the Thai culture and only serves as a window of voyeurism and exotica. Jia's award-winning Still Life is a companion piece and a much better work of art.
Raymond Zhou
Auction
Ruins of a $2-million painting
Jiaohe is the only city in the world that is made up of caves dug into the earth.
Located on top of a 30-meter-tall cliff and carved out by two dried up rivers, the Jiaohe Ruins lie 10 kilometers west of Turpan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
More than 2,000 years ago, Jiaohe was the powerful and important capital of Cheshi but its ruins has been buried in sand.
Jiaohe Ruins, a giant colored ink painting by Wu Guanzhong, arguably China's best-selling living artist, has attracted public attention to the ruins. The work shows the dusty structures of the city - the impressive city walls and the huts, temples, watchtowers, courtyards, streets and wells - in a magnificence and also isolation.
The painting is to go under the hammer at the Poly International Art Auction Co Ltd, one of the largest art auctioneers in the mainland, during its "night sales" on May 31. Its bottom price is 15 million yuan ($1.92 million).
The "night sales" also include works by famous artists such as Zhang Xiaogang and Fang Lijun, who are being pursued at the New York and London markets.
Wang Shanshan
(China Daily 05/16/2007 page20)
