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Big Shot's Funeral (2001)
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Movie review
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
Cast & crew
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Producer: Yang Buting, Wang Zhongjun, Chen Kuo Fu
Cast: Ge You, Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Kwan, Ying Da, Paul Mazursky, Christopher Barden full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 101 mins
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