![]() Ciao Ciao’s porcelain-white skin stands in stark contrast to the earthy colors of the village, her attire - flowing frocks, hot pants, high heels - completely at odds with her surroundings. The film doesn’t really spell out her line of work or how long she’s been away, but it’s certainly long enough to have completely alienated her physically and psychologically from her birthplace. All this marks the homecoming of Ciao Ciao (Liang Xueqin), returning to her Yunnan province village from the prosperous city of Guangzhou. Song’s film begins with a wide shot of a valley, through which a honking train rumbles next, a car is seen from afar, swerving through narrow, muddy roads and bypassing tractors, bicycles and herds of sheep. The festival circuit should greet Ciao Ciao warmly after its appearances in Berlin and Hong Kong. Song’s film offers a similar cultural clash, but in reverse, where prodigal sons and daughters struggle to readapt to small-town life after their exposure to cosmopolitan urbanity. ![]() The pic is an interesting corollary to a recent wave of Chinese-language films exploring the plight of young Chinese migrant workers in big cities, from Wang Bing’s observational Bitter Money to Midi Z’s Bangkok-set drama The Road to Mandalay. Charting the fallout of a young, glamorous woman’s return to her home village in southwestern China, Song Chuan’s second film sets festering rural lives against sweeping depictions of stunning beautiful landscapes - a juxtaposition which, perhaps, speaks volumes about how unmoored people have become from their morality and roots.Ĭiao Ciao could be seen as a more thematically streamlined and artistically refined take of Song’s 2011 debut Huan Huan. "Right Left Hand" is all about finding love after lots of false starts ("I cried a million tears, down through the years / Searching for that special one / And the vows I took before, were all for ever more / But no matter how I tried they came undone.Beauty and danger: two things which define not just Ciao Ciao‘s titular character, but the film as a whole. Justice Thomas goes on, "One of the songs contained the lyrics: 'I put a golden band on the right left hand this time and the right left hand put a golden band on mine.' As I said before, your music has captured so much of my own feelings." I believe it was entitled 'Wine Colored Roses.' I apologize in advance if that is wrong." He continues, "At that time, I had been listening repeatedly to one of your albums which unfortunately is packed away. (Note: Justice Thomas is referring to his 1987 wedding to his wife, Virginia.) Prior to our wedding, she expressed some concern about this being my second marriage. "You may be interested to know that I used one of your songs to allay the concerns of my bride's mother. Then, the famously reticent Justice Thomas reveals an intriguing personal anecdote: But, I have also been blessed with so much more happiness and good fortune." As you can imagine, I have had occasion to feel the blues. The lyrics so often captured just how I felt. ![]() "I have listened to your music for over a decade. "I can't begin to tell how good it made me feel to receive your letters," he writes. It turns out, Justice Thomas is a big Possum fan.
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