Friday, January 29, 2010

COAL MONEY (2008, Wang Bing, A+++++)

Thanks to Matthew Flanagan for telling us about this film.

Very impressed with this documentary, especially the dramatic negotiations for the right price/pay. I think what makes COAL MONEY different from other recent Chinese films I saw is that it deals with a hard life which is not connected with illegal activities, unlike FEAST OF VILLAINS (2008, Pan Jianlin), LITTLE MOTH (2008, Tao Peng), or BLIND SHAFT (2003, Li Yang), though all of these films makes me feel sad about how money rules our lives nowadays.

HARD-WORKING LIFE FILM SET

1.COAL MONEY
2.COMEDIAN STORY (1999, Pawit Mongkonprasit, Thailand, 25 min)
3.EVOLUTION OF A FILIPINO FAMILY (2004, Lav Diaz, Philippines)
4.THE HOUSEWIFE'S FLOWER (1999, Dominik Wessely, Germany, documentary)
5. IMPORT/EXPORT (Ulrich Seidl, Austria)
6.IT'S WINTER (2006, Rafi Pitts, Iran)
7.A LIFE WITH SLATE (2006, Dipesh Kharel, Nepal, documentary)
8.LITTLE MEN (2003, Nariman Turebayev, Kazakhstan)
9. WILL IT SNOW FOR CHRISTMAS? (1996, Sandrine Veysset, France)

3 comments:

celinejulie said...

Another thing I like very much in COAL MONEY is the fact that in my first viewing of this film, I can't tell exactly who is the exploiter or who is the exploited, who is the victim or who is the villain, because I don't know what the fair price should be in each case presented in this film. Everyone seems to do the best he/she can to survive, but in order to survive in a system like this, you have to be strong and can't be too generous. The fact that I can't distinguish between the exploiter and the exploited in this film makes this film different from such films as FEAST OF VILLAINS or IT'S A FREE WORLD... (Ken Loach), in which we can tell easily who the villains are or who the victims are.

FILMSICK said...

what i love most in this film is they 're no main character .The main character is the proccedure from mine to street the every part of this process full of money negotiation .From government (fee for the ruin roads) to common people .In this film we're not prepared ourselves by filmmaker because most of documentary will provided us a scope or basic information but in this film we have to learned it by ourselves

the scene that i love including the scene that the cop try to stop the truck . The filmaker didn't tell it but we know that what 'PAY ' mean

the scene that shocked me so much is the scene that the workers delivering the huge coal from the truck without any tools only his thin body!

celinejulie said...

I'm very glad you like this film. :-)