On Apr 7, 7:21 pm, "cha bing" wrote:
I actually saw a screening of this movie in DC some months ago and
while I thought it was interesting in many areas, it did seem to be
about the person Mr. Hoffman more than it was about tea in the generic
sense (which is not inconsistent with the description provided in the
link above, but which is different from what I expected when I saw the
movie). I wish they had more of a diversity of viewpoints in the
movie. Sometimes it seemed like the movie was meant to show how
Hoffman was going to save the tea industry in China, which kind of
bothered me for some reason. I am not sure why. It is not that I
thought the points in the movie about organic agriculture and so forth
lacked validity, but I'm not sure the movie explored the full scope of
why things are the way they are in China. Maybe the problem is that
neither Hoffman, despite his frequent travels to China, nor the
filmmakers, speak Chinese. That necessarily makes it really difficult
to portray a balanced view on the Chinese tea industry. Nonetheless,
the film provided some interesting footage of tea cultivation and gave
me something to ponder for a while. I saw an incomplete "director's
cut", so I'm not sure what has changed--notably, I think the filming
ended some time ago, meaning there is likely a lack of information on
the development of tea in the last several years.

I'd be curious to hear what others think of this movie. I saw it some
time ago and so don't remember it very clearly. I do remember that the
audience liked it.

cha bing

Thanks so much for this input. I am very happy to read your criticism
and since we'll be seeing the film on the 28th., I'll share my
viewpoint, as well.
Shen