Instant Favorite.

hyped garbage

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Every single character in this movie is either mean or plain stupid, and utterly pathetic. If you just want cruel reality to see how miserable life can be, how life can suck EVERY MOMENT IN EVERY WAY, then Peacock is your best bet, even better than jail.. There seems to be some strong 'subtle' emotions that the director wanted to deliver, I didn't get it and I doubt people who haven't really been through the years in the movie can. Many details were painfully true to the old days (which might still be a good thing) but all things were made to go extreme pretentiously. Was the film intended only for viewers who no longer wants to taste real joy from life?? Gu may be an outstanding cinematographer, but he should stay just it.

A film that bears no intention to entertain but a second viewing or more.I was 17 and I rent it home and I began to experience it alone.Dreams achingly dreamed and dreams never fulfilled.I was 17 and only cherished a rather vague outline of China in the late 1970s;China,my motherland.An age during which mass insanity was gradually quenched with mores still overwhelmingly domineering throughout the country.Blue trousers and white blouses and neatly tied-up long hair.You might encounter various feminine visages,but surely you wouldn't ever meet more than one style of dressing.It just went that way,like what the world sees now in North Korea.But hey,let's not be silly as to apply terms like human rights,etc. to the movie.It repels me to have to put up with those who're for ever seeking to impose upon any piece of art unnecessary or even absurd messages which it itself isn't even aware of.It's pregnant only with messages bound for it to be pregnant with,and let's not go too far and interpret no more.

Before I went to see this movie in Lithuanian non-Hollywood film festival Kino Pavasaris, I was warned by friends, that I must prepare to watch a very depressive film from China. And I'm wondering why it didn't seem depressive to me at all. Not a comedy, I must admit, but a masterpiece about life. Maybe some people think so because of it's ending, I don't know. Kong Que or peacock is a must see Chinese drama for those, who still love cinema. And for those who still wants to be surprised by it. The only weak side of Kong Que is a story about the youngest son in a family, which isn't so impressive as the stories of his siblings. Anyway, acting, directing & cinematography is great. I hope you'll have great time watching it, as I did. But be prepared this movie is longer than 2 hours.

The director (or may be the screen writer, I don't know who to credit for) created an unusual film that is extremely real and plain yet full of drama and surprises. In the beginning of the movie, I thought it is just another typical art-house film. Slow-paced, good cinematography, weird characters, and other elements that aim to showcase the director's style. Yet as the film gradually reveals all of its wonders, I realized that the director intentionally stayed low-key to deliver a subtle message about our real daily life that otherwise would be overshadowed by anything less delicate.The story is about a family from the perspectives of its three children. It is one family yet every one of the children has a complete different experience and view of their childhood. From one person's perspective, you may believe something about the family. Yet you have to change your ideas when another perspective is shared. As you learn more and more about the family, you see that the people are just entrapped in their perspective and creating their own reality. They choose to see what they want to see and unknowingly get what they created for themselves.The director is extremely efficient. Every scene reveal much about the characters and naturally hold the story together wasting almost no time. Concurrently the movie presented both the heaviness of our daily grind and the possibility of liberation. (since we set the trap ourselves, we can liberate ourselves). So behind the masquerade of a slow-paced art-house film, the movie is really an "action-packed" or, better, "emotion-packed" discourse on human nature and our search for happiness. Only because of the refined realism in this movie, the subtle message is allowed to be expressed fully. Anything less delicate will not do.