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Big Shot's Funeral (2001)

Director: Feng Xiaogang

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From Time Out Film Guide

It's an unusual pitch: Tyler, an ailing film director (Sutherland), hits a creative block while shooting in China, and, before falling into a coma, instructs Yo Yo, a documentary cameraman (Ge You), to arrange a 'comedy funeral'. Yo Yo obediently enlists a promoter friend to stage the ceremony and, having decided that sponsorship is the only way to fund it, finds himself unable to turn down any deals - to the extent of allowing a contact lens manufacturer product placement opportunities in the deceased's eye. But Tyler's not dead yet. While there are just enough moments of incidental charm and humour to entertain, the significance of the 'comedy funeral' is slowly buried as the film becomes as carried away with its subject as Yo Yo himself is - apparently losing the creative objectivity Tyler so desires.

Author: ASm 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


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