cdsdeforest
Joined Mar 2022
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cdsdeforest's rating
This is a difficult film to watch, but it offers hope, unlike many of this genre (sexual themes with a message). There is ambiguity, like a trip to the beach by two of the more troubled characters. But in a nutshell, this movie can be watched twice. I was almost to the end before I finally sorted out all the characters and their stories, but the choppy, random scenes did lead to a somewhat saccharine message.
I won't reveal the idea, but it's plain throughout and challenging to see and hear (the city's underbelly gets in the way). Another reviewer complained about the handheld camera and the black and white scenes suddenly switching to color, but I liked it. The city came alive and reminded me of another metropolitan city with grit and wonder, San Francisco. Although, I still can't figure out who was telling the story. The Shanghai Belle, mostly, I guess. But it seemed everyone got to play with the handheld camera and focus on the telling as if they were the protagonist.
Without a doubt, this movie could be rated NC-17, although it will probably come in at an R. But who knows? There is practically everything in there, other than male-on-male sex, although I do seem to remember a smacker some guy planted on another guy. But then, we were off to another camera angle and the black and white Paris skyline with naked ladies in the foreground.
Serious viewers and even some writers should check it out more than once (just close your eyes occasionally). This is creative nonfiction, and if it were a book, it would be a braided essay (which a second viewing should sort out). Still, this is a serious look, if not somewhat voyeuristic, at how 20-somethings (and older women and men) play out their lives in Paris, despite their lot in life. There is violence here, domestic and otherwise, and I nearly got up and walked out during one hateful scene. But despite that, and other examples of sex-gone-wrong, drug addiction, and sadism, there's beauty in "Shanghai Belle." And happy endings, too. I think director Jean-Louis Daniel got it right for the most part.
I won't reveal the idea, but it's plain throughout and challenging to see and hear (the city's underbelly gets in the way). Another reviewer complained about the handheld camera and the black and white scenes suddenly switching to color, but I liked it. The city came alive and reminded me of another metropolitan city with grit and wonder, San Francisco. Although, I still can't figure out who was telling the story. The Shanghai Belle, mostly, I guess. But it seemed everyone got to play with the handheld camera and focus on the telling as if they were the protagonist.
Without a doubt, this movie could be rated NC-17, although it will probably come in at an R. But who knows? There is practically everything in there, other than male-on-male sex, although I do seem to remember a smacker some guy planted on another guy. But then, we were off to another camera angle and the black and white Paris skyline with naked ladies in the foreground.
Serious viewers and even some writers should check it out more than once (just close your eyes occasionally). This is creative nonfiction, and if it were a book, it would be a braided essay (which a second viewing should sort out). Still, this is a serious look, if not somewhat voyeuristic, at how 20-somethings (and older women and men) play out their lives in Paris, despite their lot in life. There is violence here, domestic and otherwise, and I nearly got up and walked out during one hateful scene. But despite that, and other examples of sex-gone-wrong, drug addiction, and sadism, there's beauty in "Shanghai Belle." And happy endings, too. I think director Jean-Louis Daniel got it right for the most part.
Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating to 7000 BC. That having been said, I would have liked to have seen more of why the movie ended as it did. This is not a movie with naked bodies and sex. Rather, it looks at life and our decisions. The protagonist, a woman, makes up her own mind, as it should be. Just because someone does not like her decision does not make it a bad movie. To me, it was true to life. The protagonist's husband's temper was stupid but not abusive. And for a traditional Iranian man, he was on the radical left, as many in Iran are to this day.
But more than that, sexual harassment in the workplace is real: How refreshing to see a different take on the problem. I had a sexually frisky boss once, and like the protagonist, I believe employees should have the right to express their feelings and still keep their job. If the boss won't take no for an answer, what better place to tell him or her about it than in the John?
Yes, the ending was cheesy, and the writing could have been much better. But I liked it. It was an adult movie for thinkers. Watch it until the end. That's when it's okay to go yuck or whatever. I just hope there was room for the protagonist to grow. She earned it.
But more than that, sexual harassment in the workplace is real: How refreshing to see a different take on the problem. I had a sexually frisky boss once, and like the protagonist, I believe employees should have the right to express their feelings and still keep their job. If the boss won't take no for an answer, what better place to tell him or her about it than in the John?
Yes, the ending was cheesy, and the writing could have been much better. But I liked it. It was an adult movie for thinkers. Watch it until the end. That's when it's okay to go yuck or whatever. I just hope there was room for the protagonist to grow. She earned it.