Format: Internet video on laptop.
DMCA notices suck.
Three years ago, I posted a review of the 1932 movie The Goddess. As was my habit, I gave the review a goofy title. In this case, since this film was a sort of fable and took place in China, I called the review "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai."
As it happens, that's the name of another movie. It's worth noting, incidentally, that my review was published on September 20, 2013 and the movie of that name was released the following year. Regardless, the film company that owns the rights to that movie decided that I somehow was offering free downloads of their film and slapped me with a DMCA notice.
I'm not a film pirate. I support a film company's right to go after anyone stealing their product to the fullest. But this? This is stupid. Now, anyone who took more than six seconds to actually look at the original review and my site would see exactly what happened. The company cast a wide net and caught me even though I'm blameless here and no one bothered to take those six seconds to see if I'm actually a criminal or if this was just a weird coincidence of me picking a name for something and them picking the same name. The fact that my original post was a year before their movie release should be an indicator. However, not everyone actually does his or her job.
Could I fight this? Sure. But I don't need the hassle and I really don't need the expense. So I'm deleting the old post and reposting the review under a new name. Why? Because this not only retitles the review, but it changes the URL. So, someone else's slipshod pursuit of his or her job has forced me to jump through unnecessary hoops. And because I'm not a film company or fabulously wealthy, I'm taking the cowardly (but also easy and free) way out.
Anyway, DMCA notices suck when they're this unwarranted.
1001 Movies bloggers should be at least passing familiar with Ruan Lingyu, since her life and tragic death are the subject of one of the films on The List. Alternately called The Actress and Centre Stage, that film uses clips from some of Lingyu’s work intermixed with re-enactments of her personal life. Because of this, there’s a particular joy in getting a chance to see a full film of hers in Shen Nu (The Goddess).
Shen Nu tells the story of an unnamed mother (Ruan Lingyu) who makes her living as a prostitute (and because she’s unnamed, I’ll simply refer to her as “Goddess” from this point forward). Naturally, this is a difficult life made much more difficult by the presence of her son, Shuiping. Her need to make money requires her to depend on neighbors to watch after her son, and of course the police are a constant problem. A close encounter with a police officer is what causes the plot to begin. On the run from a cop, she ducks into a house where she meets a gambler (Zhang Zhizhi). Since he has protected her, he claims ownership over her, essentially becoming her pimp by default.
