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  • They're all nuts! I bought the UK boxset (from Eureka) on the strength of Ian's reviews, and didn't regret it. They were funny, funny movies.

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    • They got through uncut in the UK? They're not that bad, really, but I could see the sexual violence pissing off the BBFC.
      Rock! Shock! Pop!

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      • Originally posted by Ian Jane View Post
        They got through uncut in the UK?
        Yep! :up: I guess the BBFC have a sense of humour afterall...

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        • The Matrimony (2007) -- I knew, I knew it...I knew it! With Mainland China's ban on ghosts in film (because, as we all know, ghosts don't exist) what appears as a haunting love story about two women (one a wife, the other the spirit of a former lover) vying for the attentions of one man gives way to an epilogue that is a complete and utter cheat. Just to appease the Mainland censors -- you can have ghosts in films in China, only so long as there is a rational explanation for their existence. Very good, very stately romance, let down by a rationalised wrap-up enforced by state censors. And "asia extreme"? Um, no...

          PS: Companies really shouldn't compress dual-layer DVD presentations onto a single-layer screener. The image looked like a VCD, and the audio was arse.
          Last edited by Mike T; 08-15-2011, 09:11 AM.

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          • Originally posted by Mike T View Post
            With Mainland China's ban on ghosts in film...
            Huh?
            Ŗǭƈḱ!Ꞩẖȫçꞣ!Ƥӧꝕ!

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            • Mike's right, they put that into place in 2008. And according to that wiki link, also cut 'hanging laundry' out of Mission Impossible 3. Chinese censorship laws are odd.
              Rock! Shock! Pop!

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              • Hanging laundry? I wish Huntsville was in China...
                Ŗǭƈḱ!Ꞩẖȫçꞣ!Ƥӧꝕ!

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                • They banned films containing the subject of time-travel recently too. But hey, it's their country and their rules; they can do what they want. I was almost certain that the ban on ghosts actually stemmed back further than '08, but it appears from that Wiki entry I am probably wrong (am sure it's been in place since about '02). However, you can have ghosts if their existence is given a rational explanation, like subjects in a radio-play or hallucinogenic drugs being used to deceive people and such. Hence why I usually prefer HK ghost films -- where ghosts are ghosts, men are men, and the sheep are nervous... ;)

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                  • Originally posted by Ian Jane View Post
                    And according to that wiki link, also cut 'hanging laundry' out of Mission Impossible 3.
                    It promotes a bad image of the country if people are shown to be airing out their laundry in public, y'know? Same in Malaysia, where censor laws are even more conservative towards the majority Islamic population. Can't make a critical comment about the gov't or ethnic Malays, no sex/nudity/sexual themes, men are not to be shown in traditional sarongs at home, unmarried members of the opposite sex can't be shown together alone, Muslims can't be shown drinking or mixing with Christians (and if a non-Malay is seen to marry a Malay they MUST be shown as coverting to Islam) and so on and so forth. Once again, their country - their rules.

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                    • Originally posted by Mike T View Post
                      It promotes a bad image of the country if people are shown to be airing out their laundry in public, y'know? Same in Malaysia, where censor laws are even more conservative towards the majority Islamic population. Can't make a critical comment about the gov't or ethnic Malays, no sex/nudity/sexual themes, men are not to be shown in traditional sarongs at home, unmarried members of the opposite sex can't be shown together alone, Muslims can't be shown drinking or mixing with Christians and so on and so forth. Once again, their country - their rules.
                      Of course, but in this day and age it seems ridiculous to me, having grown up in a western country where we (more or less) have free speech. For all the ranting and raging that the BBFC take from film fans, they've really got nothing on the censors in other countries. God forbid anyone think the Chinese dry their clothes!
                      Rock! Shock! Pop!

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                      • Well, as I said, their country, their rules. I grew up in a Western country too, but I guess a lot of travel through SE Asia has just helped me accept differences between our cultures and move on with my life. There's more of them than us, and Chinese culture is the oldest in the world (and I firmly believe it'll be the next Major global economy). But in the grander scheme of things...meh, we're just talking about movies on our turf and as long as we enjoy what we're seeing, who cares how people live? Two cents worth... :)

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                        • I'm not knocking Chinese culture, but I do take issue with government enforced draconian censorship. I can understand cutting things like animal violence and sexual violence and, China-specific, I can understand why they'd censor films that make digs at their government (even if I completely disagree with it) - but cutting clips that have to do with laundry or boycotting films that take on a supernatural context without a rational explanation seems excessive to me even by their already excessive standards.

                          For all their ancient culture, the government seems to want to whitewash aspects of it - given the importance of spirits and ghosts to the development of that culture (not to mention the importance of laundry! ;) ), the government, by doing away with that aspect of pop culture, is in effect sweeping an important part of that heritage under the rug, are they not?

                          Again, I don't expect anything to change simply because I disagree with it, but it seems backwards and hypocritical to me, even if they are the next financial super power. If this culture and heritage is so important, celebrate it, don't bulldoze it in the name of the state.
                          Rock! Shock! Pop!

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                          • I dont believe that you were knocking Chinese culture - just putting your spin on things. Nothing wrong that. ;)

                            Back to movies: I just consulted my own notes for a review I (half) wrote for 2003 HK-Mainland horror film The Death Curse (with my much beloved Twins), and part of the concession the HK-side of the production had to make, as a Mainland co-production for filming in China, was rewriting the script so that ghosts turned out to be the product of hallucinations from an otherwise unmentioned hallucinogenic drug. Being a remake of Shaw thriller The 5 Billion Dollar Legacy they could have just gone the original's route, which was that all the ghosts and phantoms were pranks to scare the heiresses out of their inheritance, but nothing like updating the story for contemporary audiences! Thus, that was eight years ago so the Wiki entry might be slightly incorrect...

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                            • PS: Do you remember the Cultural Revolution? Everything that occurred before Chairman Mao introduced that was considered unimportant and similarly whitewashed/swept under the carpet in favour of moving forward whilst denouncing the past. I guess with each set of radical changes that occur they perceive themselves making way for the new by dispensing with the old.

                              Anyway, back to Western civilisation and our love of movies!
                              Last edited by Mike T; 08-15-2011, 10:18 AM.

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                              • That could very well be true. Wikipedia isn't always 100% accurate.
                                Rock! Shock! Pop!

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