User:Morgan695/sandbox7: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox film

| name = Beijing Watermelon

| image = File:test.png

| alt =

| caption =

| director = [[Nobuhiko Obayashi]]

| producer =

| screenplay = {{ill|Yoshihiro Ishimatsu|ja|石松愛弘}}

| based_on =

| starring = {{ubl|{{ill|Bengal (actor){{!}}Bengal|ja|ベンガル (俳優)}}|{{ill|Masako Motai|ja|もたいまさこ}}|[[Tōru Minegishi (actor)|Tōru Minegishi]]|[[Takashi Sasano]]|[[Akira Emoto]]|{{ill|Haruhiko Saitō|ja|斎藤晴彦}}}}

| cinematography =

| music =

| editing =

| studio =

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|1989|11|18}}

| runtime = 135 minutes

| country = Japan

| language = Japanese, Chinese

| budget =

| gross =

}}

{{nihongo|'''''Beijing Watermelon'''''|北京的西瓜|Pekin no Suika|lead=yes}} is a 1989 Japanese film directed by [[Nobuhiko Obayashi]].

==Synopsis==

In [[Funabashi]], [[greengrocer]] Shunzo offers a discount on produce to a Chinese [[Student exchange program|exchange student]] who cannot afford to purchase vegetables. The act begins a long relationship between Shunzo and a rotating group of Chinese exchange students living in the city.

==Cast==

* {{ill|Bengal (actor){{!}}Bengal|ja|ベンガル (俳優)}} as Shunzo Horikoshi

* {{ill|Masako Motai|ja|もたいまさこ}} as Michi Horikoshi

* [[Tōru Minegishi (actor)|Tōru Minegishi]] as Dr. Muraki

* [[Takashi Sasano]] as Yamada

* [[Akira Emoto]] as Teramoto

* {{ill|Haruhiko Saitō|ja|斎藤晴彦}} as Ioka<ref name="NYT"/>

==Production and release==

''Beijing Watermelon'' is directed and edited [[Nobuhiko Obayashi]] with a screenplay by {{ill|Yoshihiro Ishimatsu|ja|石松愛弘}}.<ref name="NYT"/> The plot is a partly based on true events, and was produced after Obayashi and his crew met the real-life grocer and students that the film is based on while shooting another film.<ref name="Metrograph"/><ref name="SS"/> Filmed from May to June 1989, the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre|Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]] occurred mid-production, forcing the cancellation of plans to shoot the Beijing-set portions of the film on-location.<ref name="CM"/>

In 2021, a [[Film preservation|restoration]] of the film was undertaken by [[Shochiku]].<ref name="Siskel"/>

==Reception==

Upon its original release, [[Kevin Thomas (film critic)|Kevin Thomas]] of ''[[The Los Angeles Times]]'' praised ''Beijing Watermelon'' as "an eloquent commentary on the magic of the cinema itself" that "bring[s] to mind the films of [[Frank Capra]]."<ref name="LAT"/> In an essay about the restoration of the film for [[Metrograph]], Matt Turner describes ''Beijing Watermelon'' as a film "about finding connections and commonalities despite differences of nationality, culture, and class" but where the "imaginative side of Obayashi is still much on display", comparing it to the works of [[Yasujirō Ozu]] and [[Robert Altman]].<ref name="Metrograph"/> The [[Gene Siskel Film Center]] similarly described the film as "Ôbayashi at his most modern, while his experimental flourishes invite viewers to fill in the blanks of history".<ref name="Siskel"/>

==References==

{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="LAT">{{cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=Kevin |author1-link=Kevin Thomas (film critic) |title=‘Beijing Watermelon’ a Slice of Real Life |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-05-ca-1530-story.html |website=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=June 13, 2024 |date=October 5, 1990}}</ref>

<ref name="Metrograph">{{cite web |last1=Turner |first1=Matt |title=Beijing Watermelon |url=https://metrograph.com/beijingwatermelon/ |website=[[Metrograph]] |access-date=June 13, 2024}}</ref>

<ref name="NYT">{{cite web |last1=Canby |first1=Vincent |title=Review/Film Festival; A Japanese Greengrocer Stricken by 'Chinese Fever' |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/24/movies/review-film-festival-a-japanese-greengrocer-stricken-by-chinese-fever.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=June 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525202513/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/24/movies/review-film-festival-a-japanese-greengrocer-stricken-by-chinese-fever.html |archive-date=May 25, 2015 |date=March 24, 1990}}</ref>

<ref name="Siskel">{{cite web |title=Beijing Watermelon (Pekin no Suika) |url=https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/beijing-watermelon |website=[[Gene Siskel Film Center]] |access-date=June 13, 2024}}</ref>

<ref name="SS">{{cite web |last1=Crawford |first1=Elizabeth |title=Beijing Watermelon |url=https://www.screenslate.com/articles/beijing-watermelon |website=[[Screen Slate]] |access-date=June 13, 2024}}</ref>

}}

==External links==

*{{IMDb title|tt0099116}}

*''[https://archive.org/details/beijing.-watermelon.-1989.x-264 Beijing Watermelon]'' at the [[Internet Archive]]