return to top

by Frank Wilkins

If you've ever wanted to get interested in foreign films but didn't know where to start, Ju Dou is a great film to cut your teeth on. Ju Dou does indeed have subtitles but unlike most foreign language films, it doesn't have much dialogue, and what little there is can be read without missing too much of what is happening in the top part of the screen.

Yang Jin-shan (Wei Li) owns a dye mill in China in the 1920s, a time when wives were paid for and were enslaved to their husbands. Jin-shan's two previous wives eventually succumbed to the daily torture inflicted upon them after failing to bear him a son, and he has just recently purchased his third wife, Ju Dou (Li Gong). Jin-shan's nephew, Yang Tian-Qing (Baotian Li) lives and works in the mill and hears the torturous screams of his aunt, as he lies awake in bed each night. We eventually discover that Jin-shan is impotent, yet his wife has become pregnant with Tian-qing's child. In a culture that is heavily centered on the family, his friends and neighbors would ostracize them upon the discovery of the adulterous behavior.

While the plot is very engaging, it is in no way an original idea that we haven't seen in hundreds of movies before. But Ju Dou is not about the plot. It is about the wonderful imagery that floods almost every scene with vibrant colors and contrasting textures. Director Yang Fingliang has a very well explored sense of lighting, structure and framing and what better setting to display these assets than in a silk dyeing mill. At almost any given moment there are long sheets of beautifully colored silk fabrics hanging from the rafters. In one stunning scene Ju Dou and Tian-Qing make love on the floor of the mill with these colorful fabrics streaming down from the ceiling falling onto Ju Dou's face as she is in the grips of her passion. The mill itself with its old weathered wood and hard packed floors give us a wonderful contrast to the beautifully smooth and delicate silks that are processed daily.

Ju Dou is constructed of a delightful and mesmerizing stimulation of all the senses, yet manages to leave you with a dull ache as its ending credits begin to roll. It's plot moves along at smooth and steady pace and the characters are always interesting. The directing is top notch as it is clearly obvious that Zhang Yi-Mou was able to inspire the actors to immerse themselves in their roles.

This movie was banned in China after its release yet was able to make the foreign film circuit and was even nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign film in 1991. Much in the same way that Animal Farm was an anti-establishment piece of literature, Ju Dou subliminally jabs at the oppressive lifestyle and governmental controls of a secretive Chinese government giving us a bit of a glance into a country that is still to this day accused of human rights violations.

Ju Dou gets a high mark in the Julia Roberts factor due the touching of all the human emotions but is far from having a macho factor. The story is quite tragic and the ending very disturbing, giving it a high score in the Of mice and Men factor and the Se7en factor.

Frank Wilkins

return to top

Screen formats: 1.33:1 pan and scan

Subtitles: English

Sound: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)

Other Features: Color; region 1 encoding; scene access.



return to top