Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Electric Shadows (China, 2004)

This is topic Electric Shadows (China, 2004) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ron Keillor (Member # 1790) on 10-04-2004, 08:33 PM:

The title is a direct translation of the Chinese characters for "motion pictures". The film opens around 1968 and moves to the present, with a constant background of film presentation in a small town - all open air. 35mm equipment is used, but the actor playing the "manager-operator" (finding a proper term for this position in Mao's time is difficult) does not attempt a change-over, and I think the second projector may not have been powered, easing the location set-up. I couldn't identify the make, probably a Chinese product, and I think not carbon arc - I don't remember seeing any lamphouse exhaust.
Several clips from Chinese films of the period: "Shining Red Star", "Street Angel", "The Back Alley", and "Railway Guerillas"; and the Albanian film "Victory over Death" are shown and play a prominent part in motivating character development and paralleling the plot. The location appears to be in the North-West, near the desert, with a couple of good train sequences for rail fans to admire. The language is Mandarin with good English sub-titles. Plot-wise, it seemed to be a bit predictable, but quite rich in detail. Narratives-within-narratives felt like an hommage to Has' "The Saragossa Manuscript" but were always kept in control. I liked it very much.
Seen at the Vancouver International Film Festival.