I have never had stronger evidence that the format you watch a film can have a significant impact on your experience than Song of the Exile. This entire review you're going to have to take with a massive grain of salt because the viewing experience was almost painful. The only copy I could find of the movie was a very poorly transferred DVD, which looked like it had just been recorded straight from a shoddy VHS tape. Then there's the fact that the captions were shown in 2 different languages on the screen so they took up the bottom 3rd of the frame, and they were always in white even though they were often printed over bright/white things so I couldn't make out some text. This also added to the "copied from VHS" appearance of the movie, because these captions were not something programmed into the DVD, they were always on the screen as if they were emblazoned on the original negative. If I didn't know better, I would have guessed this was shot in 1970, not 1990.
There's also the fact that part of the purpose of Song of the Exile is highlighting cultural differences, and how there can be a lack of communication between the Chinese and Japanese, but I don't understand either of those languages, so I can't tell when someone's speaking which dialect. It kind of spoils the depth of the story. I felt quite lost with Song of the Exile, and didn't even realize until I read some plot details on Wikipedia that there were flashbacks in the movie. Needless to say, this entire film sailed over my head. What little of the plot I did follow was not very compelling to me. I was underwhelmed by this divide between mother and daughter, and felt that the film lacked the kind of endearing moments I would expect to emotionally connect me to the characters. I'd probably try Song of the Exile again if someone asked nicely and had a decent print of the film, but this viewing experience was all-around bad.
There's also the fact that part of the purpose of Song of the Exile is highlighting cultural differences, and how there can be a lack of communication between the Chinese and Japanese, but I don't understand either of those languages, so I can't tell when someone's speaking which dialect. It kind of spoils the depth of the story. I felt quite lost with Song of the Exile, and didn't even realize until I read some plot details on Wikipedia that there were flashbacks in the movie. Needless to say, this entire film sailed over my head. What little of the plot I did follow was not very compelling to me. I was underwhelmed by this divide between mother and daughter, and felt that the film lacked the kind of endearing moments I would expect to emotionally connect me to the characters. I'd probably try Song of the Exile again if someone asked nicely and had a decent print of the film, but this viewing experience was all-around bad.