Millennium Mambo

Starring:Qi Shu, Jack Kao, Chun-hao Tuan, Yi-Hsuan Chen, Jun Takeuchi, Doze Niu, Pauline Chan
Director: Hsiao-hsien Hou
Studio: Lions Gate
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Lost Souls in Taipei: Visually Stunning, But Emotionally Too Detached
Not a movie for everyone...
Look out, something fermented this way comes!
Ho-Hum
Good Acting But The Story Is So Dry

Millennium Mambo
Starring: Qi Shu , Jack Kao , Chun-hao Tuan , Yi-Hsuan Chen , and Jun Takeuchi
Director: Hsiao-hsien Hou
Manufacturer: Palm Pictures / Umvd
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Three Times
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ASIN: B0004Z3274
Release Date: 2004-10-19

Description

A neon-saturated story about female entrapment in an urban setting populated by hedonistic, angst-ridden characters. Vicky, engrossed by the narcissistic lifestyle of nightclubs and Ecstasy pills is torn between two men: her neurotic and jealous live-in boyfriend she resolves to break-up with as soon as she can drain $500K from their bank account and an enterprising gangster whose presence becomes both a source of trouble and a beacon of salvation

Customer Reviews:

Lost Souls in Taipei: Visually Stunning, But Emotionally Too Detached.......2007-06-16

In the neon-saturated city of Taipei lives a young woman named Vicky. She is living with her boyfriend Hao, but he isn't working now and moreover, is a very jealous guy. Vicky is also attracted to Jack, a man living in underworld and running a night club.

Acclaimed Taiwanese director Hsiao-hsien Hou's film is all about Vicky played by Qi Shu, but "Millennium Mambo" is nothing like eventful "Transporter." In short, nothing "big" happens here. So if you happen to read Vicky's story and expect something dramatic and romantic in "Millennium Mambo," probably you will be disappointed.

Not that the film is total failure. On the contrary, this quiet film, which employs such techniques as long, continuous shots or non-linear timeline, is what exactly we should expect from the director of "A City of Sadness." The difference is "Millennium Mambo" does not deal with Taiwanese history, but modern life of young people of the land represented by Vicky. Whereas in "A City of Sadness" one historical incident plays a key role, in "Mambo" the life of Vicky has nothing to say, or suggest, except ... Vicky, who is not particularly interesting presence per se as she embodies what the young generation of Taiwan is all about, according to the director.

Some would think naturally that the film is tedious and boring. After all, the director is not interested in Vicky's story itself. Curiously Vicky herself tells the story of herself, looking back from ten years after the events described in the film. The strange voiceover makes Vicky all the more detached from us, making herself part of the scenes of everyday life in Taipei.

And probably this is what Hsiao-hsien Hou intended. He is always good at capturing the atmosphere, or air of the places where the characters are living, and in this he does not disappoint. He also successfully makes a great contrast between the stifling rooms in Taipei and the chilling, snowy landscapes in Yubari, Japan, where Vicky looks most cheerful and lively. (This film was really shot during the film festival in Yubari City, in February, 2001, and the old lady working at the Japanese bar was really running the place.)

For all these merits, I couldn't bring myself to like this film because, in spite of the visually stunning cinematography, it is hard to keep watching the life of someone depicted in an emotionally detached fashion. Hsiao-hsien Hou's touch is not cold, rather compassionate in his own way when showing Vicky and Hao, but once we realize what he is trying to, we are to keep watching him making the same point over and over again for the rest of film.

Not a movie for everyone..........2007-06-05

"Millennium Mambo", directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, is not a movie for everyone. The reason why I say that is pretty simple, as not much happens, and the story is somehow slow, unless you get caught up in what is happening to the main character. I did, and that is the reason why I enjoyed this dvd...

The main character of this film is Vicky (Shu Qi), and "Millennium Mambo" is just a way to allow her to tell her story, in her words, from a very subjective point of view. Vicky is an extremely beautiful young woman that lives in Taiwan and doesn't have a clue regarding what to do with her life. But is that her fault, or is that loss of direction something that has to do with the spirit of our time? And why does she make us care?

I should point out that this movie doesn't end neatly, so those who only like that kind of ending won't find it here. "Millennium Mambo" is open-ended, in more or less the same way that Vicky's own story is in the process of changing and doesn't have real fixed limits. I find that fitting, at least for this movie, and I think that you will deem it appropriate too. Recommended!

- Belen Alcat, June 2007 -

PS: I give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5 :)

Look out, something fermented this way comes!.......2007-03-03

Shu Qi looks dear and is fortunately in nearly every scene. I would say that this character must have been written for her. There are many girls attractive and desirable but with no power in the economic tiger that is Taiwan. I sense no culture where girls carry a sense of their innate worth. Anywhere else, she would have developed into a chic but colder type but on Taiwan island, she is sweet and somehow dowdy in cheapened trendy attire despite her gamine skeleton. It's not that women in Taiwan are weak but they seem to be undervalued. That's the only reason I can see for the posturing and presumptuousness of her immature BF. Her tolerance and accommodation have nothing to do with any superiority of the male or the benefits of his chivalry and protection. I found myself boggled by the behavior of the deadweight in this movie and the defeated corrupted version of machismo of his competitor. Kick them to the curb and get a job at a Club Med.

This world seems shallow in a cultural way that predates consumerism. It's like something got erased perhaps by choice and this creeping disaster is the result. These small problems created for themselves ufortunately equal heart break but there's no way these people can explain that about themselves because they don't believe in their own honesty. They don't have the ability to communicate sincerity to themselves nevermind seek help outside of their situation. These people are in trouble but they can't say so. It's not just the Taiwanese accent but the Taiwanese phrasing and vocabulary choices that seems to be about affectation but also denial of any meaning. There's no truth telling in the words used for injury. All these arguments and struggles that aren't really expressing the problem. I think this is big trouble if this is not uncommon.

This movie gave me the shivers several times.

Ho-Hum.......2006-06-23

Interesting come to mind. Beautiful comes to mind. Great acting comes to mind. Artful comes to mind. Great plot does not come to mind, nor does meaningful. That is the major problem with this film about a girl who basically does nothing but smoke and drink. I would say Shu Qi is a truly great actress and amazing beauty. Too bad her talent is wasted on a film with literally no plot. This film, like many other films of its kind, tries to fool you with pretty packaging and serious problems to devert your attenchion away from the fact that their is zero meaning in the movie. no lession, no feelings, no reflection. Nothing. Its a little like a painting i suppose. its beautiful, but it stands still and motionless. You can only stare at a beautful painting for so long before you want to stare at something else, and you can only watch this movie for so long before you want to watch something just as pretty but emotional.

Good Acting But The Story Is So Dry.......2006-04-22

It's hard to review Millennium Mambo and explain the disappointment it gave you. It truly feels like your watching a surveillance tape of some girl and her troubles that don't appear to be that bad due to the lack emotion and feeling that the story is full of . It's so slow and like another reviewer said it does takes you days to force yourself to watch it. The first ten minutes of partying and pacing from the characters make you want to find something else to do. There's no real plot or conflict in the film to make it a story and by the end of it you just wasted your time. There literally is no excitement or any emotion to make you feel it so all that stuff on the DVD case like the words Deeply Moving is a lie. I don't think it was the acting but more the directing and story were too dry, trust me when say it's not worth watching even once.

Average customer rating:

Lost Souls in Taipei: Visually Stunning, But Emotionally Too Detached
Not a movie for everyone...
Look out, something fermented this way comes!
Ho-Hum
Good Acting But The Story Is So Dry

Millennium Mambo
Starring: Qi Shu , Jack Kao , Chun-hao Tuan , Yi-Hsuan Chen , and Jun Takeuchi
Director: Hsiao-hsien Hou
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Three Times
Flowers of Shanghai
Cafe Lumiere
Goodbye South, Goodbye
The Puppetmaster

ASIN: B0002DB5MC
Release Date: 2004-08-17

Customer Reviews:

Lost Souls in Taipei: Visually Stunning, But Emotionally Too Detached.......2007-06-16

Not a movie for everyone..........2007-06-05

Look out, something fermented this way comes!.......2007-03-03

Ho-Hum.......2006-06-23

Good Acting But The Story Is So Dry.......2006-04-22

Average customer rating:

Mambo/Salsa
Starring: Francois & Fong
Director: Michel Jacques
Manufacturer: New Millennium Ballroom
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Educational | Genres | DVD | Video

Product Description

One of the most explicit Mambo/Salsa Dance instructional DVd...Giving you the understanding of salsa Music for Beginners, Social , amateur and Professional Competion Dancers...