By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Derek Kwok | Stephen Chow
Starring: Chen Bing Qiang | Huang Bo | Show Luo | Shu Qi | Wen Zhang
Original language title: Xi you: Xiang mo pian
Country: china
Year: 2014
Running time: 110
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017561/combined
Kyle says: “JOURNEY TO THE WEST is a wild comedic fantasy based on a 16th century Chinese text that occupies a significant place in Chinese culture and has been adapted many times for many different media. In the New Directors/New Films Festival of 2013, one of the most interesting features was a black-and-white digital contemporary version of a few chapters from this work entitled EMPEROR VISITS THE HELL, directed by Luo Li. This JOURNEY TO THE WEST is a colorful big-budget version with extravagant special effects in widescreen.
“Xuan Zang (Wen Zhang) is a young Buddhist who saves a village from being devoured by a sea monster bearing a strong resemblance to a giant coelacanth, which changes into a handsome teenage boy who is brought under control by Duan (Shu Qi) and a legendary book of nursery rhymes. The Buddhist is instructed on the means to awaken inner truth, goodness, and beauty by undertaking a journey to the West, a/k/a India. His adventures include encounters with the Pig Demon and the Monkey King; at the conclusion Xuan Zang, Duan, the Pig Demon and the Monkey King all march off together into the sunset, as if in stylistic tribute to the Spaghetti Western. Most of the philosophical niceties of the 16th century original flew right past me, but the gaudy pleasures of the Chow/Kwok version are undeniable. 3.5 cats
“Saturday, September 6, 2014, on Netflix, New York.”