I saw it Wednesday at SilverDocs and really liked it. The film is so understated in a way, almost in a haiku like way, though I guess the analogy is off since haiku is a japanese form. What I liked was the way the documentary doesn't advocate, it just observes. While the title is "Losers and Winners," the movie doesn't tell you what to think -- doesn't hit you over the head with a Germany is the Losers/China the Winners. Sure, at one level it is obvious that these are the roles, but at the same time, for example, the Chinese are working long hard hours far from family and home, so they are losing some things too.
I was surprised at how hung up the Chinese seemed on Maoist shibboleths. (Though again I mixing my metaphors cross culturally. Actually that may be okay, since the culture clash/culture mix is a theme of the film!)
The filmmaker at "Still in Motion", who is apparently attending the serious-business-part-of-the-SilverDocs-festival and caught the Wednesday night showing that I attended, called it "a wonderful film about one of the strangest culture clashes I’ve seen." Also seeing the movie on Wednesday was this reviewer at Knowledge Problem, who appreciated the understated nature of the documentary: "The beauty of the film was in this very lack of any overarching organizational principle other than the story." (Italics in original.)
Viewing the film at hot Docs, Bob Turnbull at "Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind" wrote:
Although I ended up missing the interactions between the two cultures as the focus stayed with the workers, it's a film that works on several levels at once and remains entertaining and informative.The blog's subtitle gave me pause: "Random mostly film based scribblings - just like 20000 other people..." As of a few weeks ago, that number is 20001. Or, actually, given reports about how many blogs get started all of the time, 27598 blogs on film!
The movie was too understated for some. Moviepie Musings found it "mind-numbingly dull." I guess it is not for everyone.
1 comment:
Hi SCM,
Thanks very much for quoting my short review of "Losers And Winners". I had seen "Manufactured Landscapes" a month or so before and it tied in well with that film (track it down if you can - it's on DVD now). China's growth is astounding and somewhat concerning from an environmental point of view, but it's fascinating to see where it's going...
I like your blog as it seems you'll be bringing a new perspective on film. Looking forward to further posts.
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