Ah what better way to deal with a nasty bout of sleep-deprivation, than by watching a Chinese-slapstick-hopping-vampire movie without knowing exactly what’s going on. I guess my logic was that, since I was feeling disorientated anyway, it might be a well-timed viewing.
I was correct.
I thought I’d make this little exercise be the first in a sub-series of posts, featuring me watching foreign-language movies without either an English dub or subtitles to help my understanding. For reasons that a mental health professional has yet to explain to me, I find hearing humans speaking, but not actually knowing what they’re saying, incredibly therapeutic. Perhaps, since I struggle to understand people even when I know the words, that I find hearing a voice that I can’t literally understand genuinely calming. Also, being visually impaired, reading subtitles has become both stressful and time-consuming, to the point where a 90 minute foreign-language film might take me all day to get through. Which is not an exaggeration. While I can only see about a third of the television screen that my face is pressed up against, trying to guess what’s going on is still more effective than pressing pause every second to read the translation.
I’ll try to shorten this explanation in subsequent posts.
So, yes, I discovered Mr Vampire through the Blurry Photos podcast episode on jiangshi, which the two presenters explained very well. Unfortunately, I forgot to listen back to said episode before watching the film, which would have helped enormously. I think I just wanted to get things going, as my mind was hungry for something new.
Also, my sleep-deprivation appears to have slowed-down my perception of time, so events around me seem to be occurring at a faster rate, which is new. So I was feeling a little fidgety, basically.
Anyway, back to Mr Vampire!
The Chinese “vampire” is really more of a zombie, as they’re not particularly sentient and there’s no blood-sucking afoot. To be honest, you really can’t comfortably fit the jiangshi into either “vampire” or “zombie” categories, so it’s best just to approach the subject with an open-mind. The important thing is that the means in which to defend oneself against a jiangshi are numerous and entertaining, which gives Mr Vampire plenty to do.
Before reading a proper synopsis of the film, I shall attempt to relate here what I believed happened, which is all part of the “fun” of doing this.
Jim says: a young man, the servant of a wealthy family, is strong-armed by his employer into raising people from the dead for nefarious rich-person reasons. However, things start to get out of control, and the police or military (I wasn’t too sure which) start to poke their noses around. Our primary hero is turned into a jiangshi himself, so it’s up to our secondary hero to sort the mess out and get the girl. Cue hopping-mad (get it?) finale.
Right, let’s see what really happened…
…hang on…
Golly, I actually got it mostly right! The only major difference being that the master didn’t task our heroes to raise the dead, it just kinda happens by accident. And it was the police, not the military (although they do get a military-style musical leitmotif, which is what confused me). I’m also glad I’ve had explained that there were seductive female spirits, or what Westerners would call “succubi”, in the film, which was another thing that confused me (as they seemed villainous and fantastical, but didn’t behave anything like the jiangshi). Not bad going, considering how chaotic the film is. And I was glad the synopsis I read used the word “chaos” at one point.
It’s a good overall description of events.
Well, I had a great deal of fun watching Mr Vampire, which is a good thing, as I have four sequels to get through. The first film is sold separately in the UK, so be wary of that when you buy the sequel boxset. To give them some credit, they do state very clearly that the set only features the sequels, but I’m a bit daft, you see. I would have reviewed the first film sooner, had I realised my mistake at the time.
Oh well.
Mr Vampire 1 is beautifully shot, with the cinematography, sets, and period costumes all vibrant and colourful. The direction and editing also feel ahead of their time, with the seemingly gravity-defying finale surely an inspiration to the Wachowski sisters and their The Matrix films. Like, I think you could literally do shot-for-shot comparisons here and there.
The energy of the film is playful and fast, with the actors charming and totally able to sell the oddball goings on. It’s also not particularly violent or gory for a horror movie, so you could actually watch this as a family quite easily. It’s almost a horror movie for people who don’t like horror movies. You know, when your stipulation is more than just a few minutes of blood and some awkward boobs.
So, basically, viewers who appreciate overall good quality.
Goodness, I’m a snob today, aren’t I?!
I also felt that there was an unspoken, or perhaps it was spoken outright, theme of generational clash within the plot, as the younger characters generally wear more Western clothing, while the older characters wear, at least what I perceive to be, traditional Chinese dress. Let me know if this isn’t just my imagination.
Right, I think that’s it for now. I’m not sure when I’ll watch the next one, as I’ve got Friday the 13th sequels to be getting on with too.
We shall see…
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Toodles!
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