ehamartens

I always try to find something positive while watching a movie, unfortunately for this movie I had a very strong feeling it should be better to walk out of the screening, this pop art animation style movie was shown in a sneak preview screening. The movie style with all sorts of green artsy effects was annoyingly distracting from the story of the Chinese family experiencing the Chinese Cultural Revolution. If you would like to see a movie about the Chinese Cultural Revolution I would suggest to see One Second (2020). This movie Ningdu would have better been shown in an art exhibition, it should never have gotten a movie release in my humble opinion.

Although this movie was not yet released in the Netherlands and Belgium for general release ( it will be in 2022 ) I saw this movie on a French Movie Festival Tapis Rouge 2021 and was impressed by the intense portrayal of the characters by the actors and overall the artistic stylised depiction of the story. The movie location Thermae Palace Hotel Ostend ( Belgium ) was also used in Daughters of Darkness (1971), another famous Belgian movie with an international cult following, which I also happened to see in a 4K restoration in the movie theater this year ( 2021 ). I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in a suspenseful story ( based on a true story ) and some beautiful movie shots. Especially I liked the beach scenes and the wide night shot of the Thermae Palace Hotel Ostend.