Nanking: City of Life and Death

I didn't have any classes to teach yesterday so I went to catch 南京南京 (English title: City of Life and Death) with a friend. I wasn't very familiar with the details of the events of 1938 Nanking, but I was prepared for images of awful brutality. Thankfully, the movie spared audiences from that. Although I thought the acting was good and the cinematography, brilliant (Riveting scenes of mass executions, and one great funeral procession scene), I thought the movie was pretty listless as a whole. There seemed to be no central narrative trust to guide the audience through the terror, cruelty and banality of war. At certain portions of the film, I felt like I was watching various short films stitched together rather than a single unified film. This left me feeling confused at the end. Wowed by the filming prowess, horrified by the tragedies, but yet not, fully drawn to any of the characters and their motives, and ultimately, not pertinently clear about what the film's director, Lu Chuan, was trying to tell me. Overall, although I felt somewhat satisfied, I left with a nagging sense that against such a emotional and historical backdrop, 南京南京 missed the potential of being a truly great film. (B-)