Underplayed Gems

The Goddess (1934)

The Goddess poster
Original title
神女
Directed by
Wu Yonggang
Genre
drama film, silent film
Country
Republic of China
Runtime
1h 25m
Rating
7.8 of 10 from 92 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

An unnamed woman works as a streetwalker to support her young son and pay for his education in 1930s Shanghai. The film shows her struggle against social judgment and poverty as she tries to give her child a better life.

melancholicrestrainedtendersocially conscioussubtleresilientquietly powerful

What happens

The Goddess (Chinese: 神女) is a 1934 Chinese silent film released by the Lianhua Film Company (United Photoplay). The film tells the story of an unnamed woman, who lives as a streetwalker by night and devoted mother by day in order to get her young son an education amid social injustice in the streets of Shanghai, China. It stars Ruan Lingyu in one of her final roles, and was directed by Wu Yonggang. Lo Ming Yau produced the film and Hong Weilie was the cinematographer. The public responded with enthusiasm, largely due to Ruan Lingyu's popularity in Shanghai in the early 1930s. Four years after the original release of Goddess, Yonggang Wu remade the film as Yanzhi Lei with changes made to the cast, the setting, and parts of the storyline. After Stanley Kwan's revival of Ruan Lingyu's story through the biopic Center Stage (1991) starring Maggie Cheung as Ruan, widespread public interest in the Chinese classic cinema was reinvigorated . Today, Goddess is one of the best-known films of China's cinematic golden age, and has been named as one of China's top 100 films by the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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