33 Postcards (2011) Online

I'm not too sure why I decided to watch this film, but I am so happy that I did! This film is so emotional and meaningful; it's just so beautiful! It's not a big blockbuster smash hitting film, so if that's what you are looking for then you will be disappointed! However, if you want to see a really stunning film with such an amazing storyline, then I recommend you watch 33 postcards.

Guy Pearce plays an excellent role in this film and carries his character through perfect.

The meaning behind this film is what I liked so much about it. It just makes me think about life and how amazing it is. For a film to get so much of an emotional response out of me is great. This film needs to be watched and given the credit it deserves.

I give 10/10 on the vote for 33 postcards, mainly because of the beauty. The work and emotion that has gone into this film as well as the emotion that has came out makes it such a worthy film of ten stars.

Wow, please give this film a chance, you won't regret it. I promise.

I hadn't heard of 33 Postcards and stumbled upon it online, there was no good reason to watch it, but I did and I'm so glad I did. It isn't the usual blockbuster drama, but weaves emotion like no other.

I'm (for lack of a better word) gob smacked! The film's and the performances' simplicity and earnestness blew me away. It created the magic of an international film with the determined oriental passion. I owe thanks to Pauline Chan, Philip Dalkin and Martin Edmond for wiping the blues away from my evening. And very specially to Guy Pearce, who acted with so much care for the story!

You take away a lot of food for thought, in terms of changing priorities, innocence and holding your ground. I've just watched an amazing movie and that it moved me so much that I cared to register on IMDb to write a review for it, says a lot to the movie's credit.

Do watch it, you will not regret it.

I don't come on here and say much... only when I feel like it is needed. When I read the previous reviews and saw the low IMDb score, I figured something was wrong somewhere? I am so glad, I trusted the previous viewers and went with my gut on this one. What a fabulous movie. It was nicely written, engaging and you really care for the characters and what happens to them. It was a very heart-felt story. This is really what love is all about. The acting was great... guy Pearce was awesome as always and Zhu Lin was also exceptional. All in all a great watch and I am truly glad that I was a part of the experience. Hats off to the actors, writers and directors well done!

When I read the premise of this film, and some of the other enthusiastic reviews, I was quite excited about it. I really enjoy Guy Pearce, and this sounded like a winner. Unfortunately, this movie is flawed in so many ways.

Spoilers

First, we see Mei Mei growing up in an orphanage, and we learn she has a sponsor, Dean Randall, who has been providing for her, and writing to her. But this is glossed over so quickly, and it would have been nice to see how that relationship developed, even though he was making up his life story. We get snippets, but there is no depth to that story line.

Mei Mei never really develops much as a character. She seems very one- dimensional and lacking complexity. And overall, the characters are a collection of caricatures that are largely clichéd and melodramatic.

There are so many story lines that are just unnecessary and pointless. It seems that the writers didn't have the courage to let the two main characters interact and develop. Instead, we are served up a silly plot line where she is put in danger, and Dean has to rescue her.

Pearce does a good job with what he has been given, but he wasn't really give much of a script to work with, and we are left at the end with no real insight into what motivated him to sponsor this girl he never knew.

This could have been a terrific little film, and they just plain missed the opportunity.

If you like Guy Pearce's work you'll likely want to see this film, so as a loyal fan I did. The variety of characters this actor has played and the non mainstream productions he's been a part of, like Memento, The Proposition, First Snow, Traitor, Lawless are the kind movie buffs gravitate to and seek, which is why I considered it in the first place. The director/writer and producer Pauline Chan is not a newcomer to directing or producing; she did come up once again with a very original plot.

Mei Mei, played by Zhu Lin, is an orphan, abandoned by her father at a young age; he dropped her off at a remote institute in the Chinese countryside. She is smart, engaged and liked by the other children at the orphanage; she has had, over the years, a sponsor from Australia with whom she corresponded and one who painted a picture of a life she dreamt of being a part of. So when an opportunity to meet him presents itself, by way of a concert tour by the orphanage's choir, one that brings it to Australia, she is full of hope and determined to make it happen.

What we discover, soon after she arrives in Sydney is that the sponsor is not what she, or the audience, expected; indeed, Dean Randall, played by Pearce, the sponsor, is an inmate at the local penitentiary. The innocent sixteen year old Mei Mei is not however dissuaded by the prospect; she showed determination to find him and get a face to face, despite her orphanage director's instructions not to do so. The encounter was as much a surprise to Randall as it was to Mei Mei. She temporarily abandons the choir and manages to find work so she can be with her 'sponsor father' when he is to be released; a bond between Randall and Mei Mei develops. But when a young orphan from rural China tries to survive in the big city that is Sydney, a series of misadventures ensue as can be expected. Randall will put his life on the line and even risk of a lifetime back in jail to go rescue the child he now feels responsible for. The very ending reminded me much of that feeling at the end of the film Unleashed; it is heartwarming, so you could say this is a feel good movie with a bit of drama. I liked it well enough.

It is incredible how hard it is to write a good story and yet this film takes the simple premise of an orphaned Chinese girl sponsored into schooling by a benefactor she has never met except via postcards and letters and turns it into an achingly good two hours of entertainment.

Mei Mei, Little Sister (Zhu Lin), is a sixteen year old whose life in a Chinese Orphanage has been supported by regular payments made by Dean Randall (Guy Pearce). Mei Mei is training to be the conductor of a children's choir who are to tour in Australia which is where the bulk of this film takes place.

The plot and screenplay are developed with such simple brushstrokes you know there is a masterpiece being painted before our eyes. And this film doesn't let you down through all its wonderful and deft touches. Even the violent scenes are made to fit the delicate canvass the whole is painted upon, and we are never driven to the need for explicit artistic license.

The soundtrack too is so finely tuned to the images, with some breathtaking choral singing at appropriate moments. The acting is strong, brilliant from Zhu Lin and Guy Pearce, and only occasionally overstated by the support. The script is just wonderful but then the message from this film is wonderful too.

Recommended viewing. Nine out of ten.

I can't comprehend how this movie has such a poor rating.. I checked it before I watched the film so I was not expecting much but giving it a crack; mainly because I love Claudia Karven.. Now I'm one to check my phone throughout a film, especially for the first 30 or so minutes but this film had me 100% focused from start to finish; a long with lump in my throat and a hand on my heart. I had to review it just so I could talk about it, because I'm sitting here absolutely touched by this film. I hope the actors are proud of it despite the reviews.. You can tell they put their everything in it and it showed by how quick I connected with each character.

I love Australian film and 33 Postcards reminds me why I have such a place for it in my heart.

First,while the film is not-rated I would give it a rating of PG-13,because of some of the subject matter. The film does a beautiful job of demonstrating how people have a universal desire to be a part of a family.It's a sweet story how two people who are separated by thousands of miles can still effect one another greatly.Redemption,purpose, and life's ongoing search to love and be loved are strong themes throughout the film.While I did enjoy the movie,I would have liked to have seen the film-makers give more attention to the earliest years in the orphanage and the hardships Mei Mei had to endure. Overall,you'll come away from watching 33 Postcards feeling happy.

I give this film 10 out of 10, because I could not think of anything wrong with it. I am really a: blockbuster; action/sci-fi; anti-chickflick movie fan.

However when one has seen just about everything, one decides to watch the unseen movies available. This film being one of them.

The reviews on here helped me to get the guts to give it a go. I can tell you that this film truly is amazing. I will not say anything about it except, this is a masterpiece of the feel good movie genre.

From start to finish I was glued to it and the time seem to fly by while I was watching it. Most of the film is in English, but the Chinese dialogue was supported perfectly by subtitles, which were very easy to read.

This film is only for people with good in their heart. If that is you, it is a must see before you die film! :D

I hadn't planned on watching a film but I stumbled across this when channel surfing. Obviously this isn't a blockbuster but it's a movie I recommend watching if you get the chance. Why? well because it's something different. It has an unusual story and plenty of emotion. We follow Mei Mei (a sponsored orphan) and her search for her dream family but her dream and the reality are completely different. However, her good caring nature shines through as she tries to make the best of what she discovers. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and each main character has an interesting and unique story.

I couldn't decide between a 6 or 7 for this movie so a 6.5 it is. Obviously with this not being a mega funded blockbuster there are going to be one or two things wrong with it but I'm not going to point out faults as I feel the positives far more out weight the negatives. If you get a chance, watch this movie!

This film was beautifully conceived, and started well. The characters are deft, subtle, and well-played by the excellent cast.

Leading into the last act, though, the characters start behaving erratically, with no discernible motivation. Sadly, the movie overall fails to recover, and it ends up being a frustrating experience. A great deal of potential, squandered in an apparent attempt to generate conflict, which in the end feels unbelievable.

Worth a watch, if you like any of the actors in particular, as their performances are still quite good, even from newcomer Zhu Lin as the delightfully naive-yet-savvy Mei Mei ("Little Sister").

I was willing to give this film a chance. I like Australian films, Guy Pearce, the accent, etc.,but when it started with a sequence showing the happy, singing orphans in China, grinning and swaying as they sing their way through their day's work at the clean, sunny state orphanage with private rooms, I knew I was in for trouble. It's not exactly propaganda, it's just freakin' unbelievable. But, then, eventually you can ignore the preposterous orphanage and watch the story unfold in the backstreets of Sydney. It turns out that the orphan's Australian sponsor is not in a good position to take her in, in spite of the fact that he somehow managed to funnel money to the orphanage for her upkeep for-what-ten years? Guy Pearce is a good actor, but his roll here is so downbeat that he's hard to watch. How did this guy last this long with so little resilience in his character? I guess it has to be that way so that all the resilience and determination can be larded onto the Chinese orphan. At any rate, she stands by him and is there at the end to nurse him back to health, although she seems to wind up doing it from some picturesque, beautifully-shot part of China. If you can accept that he can pluck her out of an orphanage 2,000 miles away, then she can support him from mainland China? Oh well. I guess the story doesn't have to make sense to be entertaining.

Australia certainly has a knack for producing depressing films, and this is one of their finest efforts. If I want to be depressed I'll turn on the news. I don't see any reason to bring more sadness into the world.

Initially the story looks promising and indeed could have become moving and uplifting. However, much like the unfortunate characters portrayed, it plunges into an inescapable spiral of gloom and misfortune.

Pearce is certainly on top form here, but his character is so pathetic and easily manipulated that it is difficult not to despise those around him - basically everyone else in the movie.

Technically good films don't work unless there is an inspirational or entertaining story to tell. This one perhaps was intended to be uplifting but misses the mark by a mile. Poor effort indeed.

this film is such a shallow and childish film. i was fooled by the several high praises of the reviews and decided to give a try. but once the film started, we immediately felt that it was nothing but a very pretentious and very shallow film with very bad casting (the Chinese cast), very weak and unnatural script with stupid dialog and unconvincing scenario and plot twists. but what we felt most unacceptable was those Chinese actors, that mei mei cast was definitely one of the worst choices we've ever seen. she looked so pretentious, yet at the same time, so unnaturally ugly with a very unwelcoming downward thick lips mouth, shockingly unnatural low droopy long chin(an overdone bad Korean plastic surgery job?), so long and so pointed downward like the witch in 'snow white and the seven dwarfs' and her acting was extremely horrible. the female Chinese orphanage caretaker's acting was also so pretentious and rigid. the storyline also turned into more contrite and unconvincing when the locality shifted to down under Australia. the storyline about the Australian part was even more stupid and awkward, the loan shark part and the prison part only rendered deeper awkwardness. guy pearce had tried very hard to sink into the character he played, but often over done it. the thugs in jail and the car stealing thugs, the living terror who controlled inside the prison and the outside illegal activities only gave people a small localized group of thugs, not big-deal crime boss. this is a horrible film, i have to constantly use 'fast forward' to speed up the viewing, otherwise..well.