Chang An

This Li Bai is too crazy. It's not the Li Bai I know in my heart!

He should be a knight (xia ke), just like the one described in "Xia Ke Xing", holding a sword, wondering in the Rivers and Lakes (Jiang Hu). He is eager to become a great hero, not just longing to become a bureaucrat. If you know what I am talking about, read his poem "Xia Ke Xing".

He should also be very romantic, having wild dreams. But, importantly, he is not crazy. He dealt with all sorts of people, however, he always has a dream.

The film also has inconsistent styles. A few shots are just comics, not sure why the producer/director thought this is a better way. The animation is good, and could be better.

Chang'an's glow once illuminated the Silk Road, its poetry crystallizing the Tang dynasty's golden age in every brushstroke. The moonlit verses of Li Bai still ripple in scholars' wine cups, while palace dances survive as ink traces on moth-eaten silk.

These echoes persist-not in the phoenix-painted lanterns nor jade hairpins' chime but in the human pulse beneath dynastic dust. Each generation rebuilds Chang'an: Song scholars layered it with philosophical chrysanthemums, and Ming architects crowned it with crimson gates, yet the original melody lingers like a half-remembered tune.

We who parse these fragments-are we restorers of glory, or mere scribes chronicling our displacement? Perhaps to comprehend this longing, one must taste plum wine where nightingales sing Tang quatrains or feel autumn wind slip through a ruined moon gate, carrying Du Fu's sigh across eight centuries.

Here are some things that adults should be able to see from this film: 1. Artistic creation requires full freedom; 2. Top artists may be more or less insane or in a drunken state to inspire them; In feudal autocratic society, artists and anyone can be deprived of their freedom at any time by those with higher status and power than you; 4. Youth is short and beautiful.

I don't know to what extent this movie can reproduce the real Tang Dynasty, at least the demeanor of Tang Dynasty artists has been portrayed with sincerity by the film creators. Including the creator and singer of the ending song, Luo Dayou, whose singing style resembles that of Li Bai after getting drunk. Perhaps ancient and modern times are interconnected.

This movie tells the story of Gao Shi's life.

One of my favorite part is when Gao Shi and Li Bai help Guo Zi Yi. While Gao Shi was sleeping in a small house. Li Bai suddenly get in. He said that he had found out that An Lu Shan is going to rebel. At this time a strong man come out of another room, he is Guo Zi Yi. Some bad men came to arrest Li Bai, they rushed in the room, but they are stopped by Guo Zi Yi, they failed and run away.

Guo Zi Yi said that some others will come here to arrest me. Li Bai disagreed. Just as Guo Zi Yi and Li Bai are arguing, Gao Shi said, "I had some business with Ge Shu Han before, I will go to ask him for help." In the end Li Bai and Guo She helped Guo Zi Yi.

This story tells a lot about Li Bai and Gao Shi. It also tells about some of the history and literature. I lost myself when watching this movie, and makes me feel excited!

Sofia, 9 years old, Jan. 23. 2024.

There should definably be more historical movies like this where the overall culture and the mentality and the struggles of a people are portrayed without the gloom and gore where the plot gets lost in sometimes.

I honestly was mesmerized by how involving and meaningful and well rounded the story was. It introduced Chinese culture to me as it was never presented to me before, how poetry is well rooted in Chinese collective lives and the logic set people in that era put together to make decisions, and the hierarchy between the people.

Light chaser animation has been doing great work with keeping a balance between culture, story and character over the past few movies. I just hope they don't sabotage this reputation with adding nudity & adultery, ruining the great Chinese animation vibe they have built.