Film: Gangs of New York

[achtungbaby]

"Gangs of New York" , one of Leonardo DiCaprio's two Christmas blockbusters follows an Irish American man on his journey for vengeance against the man who killed his father. So what does it have to do with Asian/Asian Americans? The movie is set in the mid-1800s, gritty New York City, and because of this is suprisingly real in its treatment of not only the Irish (who, at the time, were experiencing a great deal of discrimination from the nativist Americans) but also the African American and Asian immigrants who also populated the city. Dotting the background are many (presumably) Chinese men, wearing traditional clothing and sporting queues. Some of the major events in the plot center around "The Chinese Pagoda", supposedly a popular NYC meeting place and concert hall. We are shown images of Chinese men with heavy accents, as well as Peking opera and music.

full review (http://yellowworld.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=16)

[AltimaGTR]

The story was cool and so was the historical stuff (dunno how much is accurate), but it was too long- 3 hours. They should have cut out the unnecessary stuff like the half-@ssed romance and some pointless scenes. There were some funny moments, but yeah...tooooo loooong!

[Hanuman]

Great review Kittygirl! I wanted to see this movie when I first saw the preview. I've heard a few people were disappointed with this movie, but I still want to see this in the theatre.

[mr. x]

Could you elaborate on where the chinese fit in the movie? Like what happens and stuff

[Elizabeth A.]

"Gangs of New York" was quite a movie. I would highly recommend it. Sure, there is plenty of teeth-gritting racial insensitivity, and the violence is more than gratuitous, but that's the way things were at that period of time. The 1860's Lower East Side was not a pleasant place to be, for anyone. I think this movie was a good treatment of an often forgotten period of history.

P.S.: The opening scene alone was worth the price of the ticket.

[mr. x]

Hmm i coulda sworn i responded to this...oh well

How do they portray the Chinese's treatment?

[achtungbaby]

Saw this the other night. It's an entertaining movie -- it'd probably be hard not to be entertained by a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz, all stars with a ton of screen prescence. I wasn't particularly impressed with DiCaprio or Diaz -- both of them seemed to be sort of sleep-walking through their roles. Day-Lewis' performance was easily the best as the thug Bill Poole, followed by Liam Neeson, in a very short appearance as Leonardo's father.

[purezero]

I just saw this movie yesterday. I thought it was good, but after having heard so many raving reviews about it, I had the whole Spiderman thing going on, where you get really high expectations, so much that the movie isn't as great as you thought it would be. I agree that some parts could have been cut out, some scenes just went by too slow for me.

I just want to know what that one Chinese guy was doing... man, I can't ask without giving SOMETHING away.

[pfc beansprout]

for real? you guys liked it? man, i thought it was too long...imagine when it comes out on DVD...the uncut version...that mug gonna be and epic.............

[purezero]

Yeah, it was pretty long. But hey, if you have the patience. I know many people who watched Titanic over 20 times. Ha! And that was another Leo movie.

[amor]

I'll have to hop on the "it was too long of a movie" train... I thought it was good, but it could've been a little shorter.

[kitty]

For the people asking, the Chinese were seen in the background, not really having a major part (except for one guy, but I can't really say who he is w/out spoiling the movie).... but you see them with big long queues and traditional clothing, and bad accents and stuff... and the word 'chink' is used to describe them a couple times. Annoying but very fitting with the era.

[purezero]

Did the music of the Chinese Opera sound a little low to you? I mean, listening to my grandparents' old stuff, the voices sounded higher...

[kasia]

Originally posted by ti12amisu@Feb 27 2003, 06:23 PM
Did the music of the Chinese Opera sound a little low to you? I mean, listening to my grandparents' old stuff, the voices sounded higher...
yep - and she was off-key. i know it sounds off-key normally anyway to most ppl...but it's really not. kinda annoyed me that they were so careless.