Crazy Stone

The popularity of this movie in China is quite logical: black comedies to the extent that this movie has gone are still a novelty and it is quite well done. If the movie makers have been inspired by only one "foreign" movie, it would probably be "Lock, stock and two smoking barrels", as someone has already mentioned. But of course they have seen a lot more, many of which have been reflected in this movie, as intentional parodies or otherwise.

"Crazy stone" has a somewhat convoluted plot, which is not necessarily hopelessly complicated. All it requires is a little attention. Filming technique and editing is not as avant-garde as some of the classic which have become familiar by now – Pulp Fiction, Memento, Amores perros, 21 Grams, just to name a few. There are just enough sleight-of-hand montages to keep it interesting. So does the proliferation of characters – a least a dozen, in four or five "interest groups". Dickens' type caricature or more flesh-and-blood, they are all well acted.

Together with my recommendation, I would like to mention one interesting thing that captured my attention – filmmakers shooting a movie in Chongqing seem to be fond of showcasing the cable car across Chang Jiang (Long River). Saw one recently in another quality Chinese movie, "Sheng huo xiu".

The whole film opens with a close-up of the face of the hero, bao shihong. The lens slowly changes from black and white to color. At the same time, bao shihong appears in the eyes of the audience with an indescribably facial expression.

Review. Not to mention, this film can really withstand the test, and it's not something that can be summarized simply by imitating Garridge or multi storytelling. In particular, the characters in several groups are not only functional entities that create laughter points as structural stories, but almost every character portrayed has a clear and distinct personality that closely follows the main storyline with prominent laughter. They are also close to life and reflect reality, which is rare. In this regard, stones are actually better than firearms. The most valuable thing is not treating the audience like fools. Domestic movies all point to shooting like this, okay.

With Memento style film structure, Pulp Fiction style story telling, and Snatch style plot and action, the first Chinese dark comedy, The Crazy Stone sets a milestone for Chinese films. The film title says all. It is a crazily hilarious film about three groups of people trying to steal a piece of emerald. The language is in Chinese local dialect from Sichuan. Even you don't understand the dialect, Chinese subtitle is available. All performers did a great job in their roles. The story is simple but very close to nowadays people's life, which brings proximity to different audiences. The film is currently a big hit in China, outruns all other foreign films. If you like to have a good laugh, or to know a little bit about nowadays Chinese plebeian life, you shouldn't miss this film.

Due to many reasons such as censorship, financial problems etc. Chinese movie industry has been at the bottom of food chain for decades. Only few people can make money from movie industry without the help of government. Later, many directors such as Zhang Yimou, Chen kaige turn to make all those blockbuster movies with high volume of investment. However, it does not seems to be a good way to keep Chinese movies alive. Empty plots, awkward performance of good-looking actors and actresses could not save movies. They are rip off money from people once, twice but never thrice.

Crazy Stone was born under the circumstance that Chinese people are so disappointed by those movies made by zhang Yimou and Chen kaige that they only spend few us dollars buying illegal DVD copies on streets rather than going to movie cinemas. The enriched plot, excellent performances of unknown actors and hilarious story save the last hope of this country's movies. The movie is produced by famous Hongkong actor Andy Lau's company with very little investment, however, it does not bother the quality at all. In fact, the quality is I believe as one of the best in Chinese movie history.

All those black humors in the movies deserve to be mentioned. However, people who have not lived in China for years could not understand why it's funny, or even worse, it kills interests of people who get used to the vision effects of Hollywood productions or the romance and depressions of European movies.

In a conclusion, this movie is highly recommended for people who are living in China and would like to learn about this country. Hopefully, you will enjoy and understand it.