The Promise, failed to deliver its promise

The movie "Promise" directed by Chen Kaige, nominated by Golden Globe for best drama, is a disappointment. Despite the nice photography, exotic costumes and impressive display of war scenes, the movie as a whole, failed to delivery a story that would touch its audience. I watched it on DVD last night, to be honest, halfway through the movie, I felt it was so boring and I switched to some TV channels to check out what is on TV.

It is more or less the same type of movie as "Hero" by Zhang Yimou, which was made five years ago. It is almost a shame to realize that the Chinese movie directors (at least those well-known ones) have been using same tricks, techniques and same package of visually rich but yet mentally poor content. I always to make a successful movie, you have to be able to tell a good story in which your characters speak for themselves, and the audience feel there is something they can relate to. It is Ok to tell a folkstory, something a bit surreal compared with real life, but you still have to put them in a context of circumstances that audience can relate to.

I think it is not wise to think the western audience will just fall for a Chinese movie because it is someting exotic. This wishful thinking might succeed once in a while, when the west want to just see something different and new, but it seems some Chinese directors have been trying to imitate the success of "crouching tiger, hidden dragon", and this should not be encouraged. And the truth is, even in China, without the heavy promotion and marketing campaign on this movie, I doubt there will be many people going to the theotre for this movie. Word of mouth on this movie, as far as I know, hasn't been positive. There will be a day even Chinese audience will not buy into this type of movies anymore, and that would be truly sad.

Time for these directors to think about making movies that truly reflect the history, culture, social and ecomonic circumstance, life style, the ongoing struggle, and the complex relationships
in life. And after all, we human beings, whether in China or else where, have more similarities that differences, the question is whether the movie makers in China can really present them and resonate in the west.