Spring Movie Night Featuring “Life on a String” “边走边唱” Directed by Chen Kaige 陈凯歌

Join us at the Webber Uniplex for a screening of Fifth Generation Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige’s “Life on a String”. This quiet and haunting philosophical exploration of life, devotion, enlightenment and music on will be shown on April the 5th, following a potluck dinner and conversation.

Chen Kaige, who joined the Beijing Film Academy after the Cultural Revolution along with classmates Zhang Yimou and Tian Zhuangzhuang, gained international fame with his first film “Yellow Earth” in 1984. In keeping with the lyrical visual qualities and dialogue scarcity that critics lauded in “Yellow Earth”, Chen’s second film release follows a blind musician searching for his sight and enlightenment with his pupil in the barren Mongolian landscape. 

The plot centers around the “Master”, a blind sanxian musician who has been promised a magic elixir to restore his sight once he breaks the 1000th string on his instrument. Master is joined by his apprentice, Shitou, as they wander through village and countryside. The blind travelers, searching for peace and enlightenment are witness to political upheaval and the interruptions that human emotion can cause in the philosophical seeker’s quest for mystical illumination. 

The film’s slow pace and sparseness of dialogue is mitigated by the stunning cinematography and careful use of music, supplied by the main characters. Lovers of the film style of the Fifth Generation and of Chen’s later works will enjoy this poetic fable of the search for the ultimate truth and meaning in life. 

Saturday, April 5, 2014 at 5:00 p.m.
Webber Uniplex 
1689 Chateau Drive Dunwoody, GA 30338-6047 

Directions to the Webber Uniplex (also known as the Webber family residence) can be found here. 

The usual potluck supper will precede the movie. Please call Pat Webber at 770-396-5690 by Wednesday, April 2nd to let her know what you’ll be bringing. 

For more information e-mail Sylvia Krebs.

March Movie Night

“Crazy Stone” 

A precious jade pendant found on the grounds of a floundering factory, inept thieves, an unscrupulous real estate developer, and a cynical former detective are among the ingredients in Ning Hao’s black comedy. Several reviewers laud “Crazy Stone” as an accurate take on contemporary Chinese life, no doubt a factor in its being the highest grossing local film in China in 2006. Resident film buffs Christa Ernst and Shawn Lucci describe it as a “laugh out loud” comedy.

One long review describes the movie as a “big poisonous weed,” the term used to describe any influence deemed inconsistent with or dangerous to a socialist society. Whether the review’s author is an anachronistic ideologue or a master of sarcasm, his take on “Crazy Stone” provides one more reason to come to the showing at the Webber Uniplex.

Saturday, March 3 at 5:00 p.m.

Webber Uniplex
1689 Chateau Drive
Dunwoody, GA 30338-6047

Directions to the Webber Uniplex (also known as the Webber family residence) can be found here.

The usual potluck supper will precede the movie. Please call Pat Webber at 770-396-5690 by Wednesday, February 29, to let her know what you’ll be bringing.

For more information e-mail Sylvia Krebs.

August Movie Night

"Blind Mountain"

A young woman who hopes to relieve her parents of their debts travels with two men to a mountain village. She thinks their purpose is to buy herbs to be sold elsewhere; “Blind Mountain” is the story of what really happens. The young woman is sold as a bride to a farm family, sold and bought as casually as if she were a pig. Her resistance to her fate is the driving force of the movie. A New York Times article describes “Blind Mountain” as “the kind of story that, for the most part, tends to be drowned out by upbeat reports about China’s economic growth.” The movie, says the Times, serves as “a reminder that art keeps the truth alive far better than the news.”

Saturday, August 27 at 5 p.m. (note time change) 

Webber Uniplex 

1689 Chateau Drive 

Dunwoody, GA 30338-6047 

Directions to the Webber Uniplex (also known as the

Webber family residence) can be found here.

The evening will begin with the usual potluck supper. 

Please call Pat Webber (770-396-5690) by Wednesday, August 24,
to let her know what you’ll be bringing.

A discussion will follow the film.

For more information e-mail Sylvia Krebs.

March Movie Night

“Women from the Lake of Scented Souls”
       Grand Prize, Berlin Film Festival

In rural China a woman makes excellent sesame oil. A Japanese
businesswoman wants to modernize the mill, and the Chinese woman
agrees, hoping to use the increased profits to arrange a marriage for her
epileptic son to the girl he loves. The mother succeeds with the
arrangements and settles her son into an uneasy marriage.

Saturday, March 26 at 5:30 p.m.

Webber Uniplex

1689 Château Drive

Dunwoody, GA 30338-6047

The usual potluck supper will precede the movie.
Bring a dish to share and invite your friends. Please call
Pat Webber (770)396-5690 by Tuesday, March 22,
to let her know what you’ll bring.

Directions to the Webber Uniplex (also known as the
Webber family residence) can be found here.

For more information e-mail Sylvia Krebs.