Kong que

When accomplished cinematographers take to direction, they often make superb films (William Fraker's "Monte Walsh", Nicholas Roeg's "Don't Look Now" and Govind Nihalani's "Aakrosh") that are often accepted as great movies much later. In the case of cinematographer-turned-director Changwei Gu, to be awarded a Silver Bear for his debut as director must have been nothing short of a dream start into a new career.

Interestingly director Gu, opted to entrust the camera to Shu Yang and not do the job the world knew him to be accomplished at. Director Gu, however, opts to act as a lonely, blind accordion player who commits suicide.

I am not Chinese but this film had me enraptured from start to finish. The film had superb music by Peng Dou (courtesy Chinese National Symphony Orchestra), enchanting photography, incredible performances and a multi-layered story of a close-knit five member family with family values best appreciated in Asian communities. Though the film is set in the late Seventies in the years following the Cultural Revolution, the film is almost devoid of direct political comments.

The film is a common man's epic. The film is a 144 minute film (originally 4 hours) that was easily the most rewarding film at the just concluded Dubai Film Festival. It is a tale of a 5 member family told in three segments by the three children: a daughter who causes trouble for the family but emerges from an ugly duckling into a mature and cynical swan; an elder son who is mentally challenged, physically bloated, but pure in heart; and a younger son, loving, sensitive and occasionally worldly wise. The three perspectives of the family are punctuated by a cardinal shot of the family eating a simple meal. Like Kurosawa's "Rashomon," the three versions offering different perspectives of the family provide cinematic entertainment that is demanding of the viewer.

The first segment of the story from the view of the girl is richer than the other two, primarily due to the rich musical subplot of her interactions with the blind musician (played by the director). The segment offers fodder for the impressionable dreamer in all of us: the power and the glory associated with a parachutist soldier, the importance of getting married to a loving husband, and the importance of playing music very well as an escape route from the daily social drudgery of washing bottles.

The second segment told from the perspective of the mentally challenged brother looks at society and predictable collective reactions to simple incidents that are not based on reason or analysis.

The third segment told from the practical younger brother's view takes another perspective--the best way to survive in an evolving society that is neither one of a dreamer or one of submission to mass reaction.

The film ends with three families of the sister and two brothers passing a peacock in a zoo. They state the peacock never dances in the winter. As they move on, the peacock does dance. The beauty of life is best perceived as you move away from the incidents and look at it from a distance, dispassionately. Melodrama takes a back seat. In the forefront, the director presents a philosophical, positive view of life--not in the least limited to the geographical boundaries of China.

I wish more people get to see this gorgeous family epic from China. It is one of the finest films of the decade.

Before I went to see this movie in Lithuanian non-Hollywood film festival Kino Pavasaris, I was warned by friends, that I must prepare to watch a very depressive film from China. And I'm wondering why it didn't seem depressive to me at all. Not a comedy, I must admit, but a masterpiece about life. Maybe some people think so because of it's ending, I don't know. Kong Que or peacock is a must see Chinese drama for those, who still love cinema. And for those who still wants to be surprised by it. The only weak side of Kong Que is a story about the youngest son in a family, which isn't so impressive as the stories of his siblings. Anyway, acting, directing & cinematography is great. I hope you'll have great time watching it, as I did. But be prepared this movie is longer than 2 hours.

I am 21 year old now, although I don't belong to the time in which the story of Peacock happened, I am a Chinese anyway and I know it would take place in those years and I feel glad and of course proud that someone has put it on screen at last.

We are living in this world, sometimes without a clear purpose: study,work,date and love, not realizing that what we are doing now is called living because life has a magic to obsess its victims with trifles so that they seldom notice that hours,days or months has passed by. Only when we occidentally see a picture taken years ago or view a video starred by our young images,do we find out the trick of life and begin to recall the passing time. Reminiscing is pleasant both for the young and the elder. Memories,no matter sweet or bitter,are like old songs, which will never fail to touch you the moment you catch the familiar tunes.

For me,Peacock is a reminder to my own childhood. Although I live in a different time, the movie does have some traces of the unchanged childhood of every Chinese. We have our dreams but we dare not talk about it with our parents, because in 9 out of 10 cases, our parents will not be impressed by our 'naive' dream and in their eyes, studying is the only way for us. In our adolescence, we boys were very curious about girls but we never had the education about sex and the only thing we were thought was that 'don't do stupid things with girls' and that was the comment about sex or about love.

To some extent, Peacock remains a story which also has some truth. I don't believe in the parachute, but now I think it is only a symbol of dream.It seems a little unreal when a realism contains something romantic.However, it is a 100 percent masterpiece and I'd like to watch it again in spite of the length.

Every single character in this movie is either mean or plain stupid, and utterly pathetic. If you just want cruel reality to see how miserable life can be, how life can suck EVERY MOMENT IN EVERY WAY, then Peacock is your best bet, even better than jail..

There seems to be some strong 'subtle' emotions that the director wanted to deliver, I didn't get it and I doubt people who haven't really been through the years in the movie can. Many details were painfully true to the old days (which might still be a good thing) but all things were made to go extreme pretentiously. Was the film intended only for viewers who no longer wants to taste real joy from life?? Gu may be an outstanding cinematographer, but he should stay just it.

The story is set in the 1970s in a small town in China. A middle aged couple has three children. The eldest son is obese and mentally challenged, therefore he is teased and outcasted by others. The second child is an outgoing and energetic daughter, who is not afraid of doing anything to pursue her dreams or to survive. The youngest child is a shy and quiet boy who is ashamed by his older brother and tries to break away from the misery in his family. Breaking into three sections focusing on each of these siblings, the film allows us to look into the lives of ordinary Chinese people the 70s.

With poetic cinematography, this film reveals fascinating stories and characters to the audience. After watching this film, I doubt that anybody would forget the image of an old lady slowly passing the dinning table in the hall way where the family has supper together everyday. We witness how the three siblings dreamed, how they fought to make their dreams come true, and how they succeeded or failed, and how powerless and hopeless they were to accept their fate.

This is a must see, not to be missed.