Gave up before the end of the film, which is a rare occurrence.If you like world cinema this is worth a look but not for everyone.
Most impressive is how Kaige pairs the story of Dieyi, an androgynous performer who secretly pines for Xiaolou, with each stage in China's turbulent 20th-century history, leading up to the dark years of Mao's Cultural Revolution. From the awfulness of their upbringing - the cruelty and abuse - two young actors become the stars of classical Chinese theatre.
. In an epic tale of theater, gender, love and class, two Beijing opera actors navigate political turmoil as their friendship evolves over decades. Farewell My Concubine is a 171 minute epic that spans 53 years and is as much a behind the scenes look into the Peking Opera and their schools, a love triangle involving a woman and a man after the affection of a second man and a portrayal of Chinese history including the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Cultural Revolution.
It is the story of two performers in the Beijing Opera, stage brothers, and the woman who comes between them. There he meets Shitou and over the following years the two develop an act entitled, "Farewell My Concubine," that brings them fame and fortune.
For nearly three hours the movie washed over me thusly, later haunting my dreams last night, and now has me trying to make sense of it this morning after. Please try againSorry, we failed to record your vote.
I have this on VHS etc, so I've remembered almost every scene in this movie and it's good to finally see it on Blu-ray but the transfer is merely ok. After all this time the movie is still quite moving taking the viewers on a ride through the traditional dynastic culture pitfalls right on up to the Cultural Revolution and suggests a glimpse of a possible narrative of the Chinese struggles to come into balance from pressure of foreign powers and influences. Directed by Kaige Chen. Similar to other Fifth Generation films like To Live and The Blue Kite, Farewell My Concubine explores the effect of China's political turmoil during the mid-20th century on the lives of individuals, families, and groups.
"Farewell My Concubine" is two films at once: An epic spanning a halfcentury of modern Chinese history, and a melodrama about life backstage at the famed Peking Opera. The DVD cover attests 1)over 60 Critics had agreed it was one of the year's 10 best films in 1993, 2) it won the prestigious "Best Picture Honors" at the Cannes Film Festival, and 3) it won a Golden Globe as best foreign film. It has an epic quality reminiscent of Bertolucci's 'The Last Emperor' albeit on a smaller scale. DVD is all region, in Mandarin with English or Korean subtitles. Gong Li, who became a wife of a guy who plays the emperor must confront the infatuation by the actor.
Please try againSorry, we failed to record your vote. “Farewell, My Concubine” is a movie with two parallel, intertwined stories. And I use the word "melodrama" in the best sense - not as a pejorative for excessive affect, but in its older meaning, to connote an emotional story distilled to its most potent, primal form. Having with 2 Oscar nominations, this is a movie with two parallel, intertwined stories. Winner of the Cannes' Film Festival for Best Foreign Language Film, 1993 While I did not always accept the outcome of these and other individuals, the movie challenged me to dwell on what I had seen. Watch offline. Ultimately, this was the imagery I took away from "Farewell My Concubine". Concubine role is played by this man who is infatuated with a man who is playing the emperor in real life as if his whole life is a play. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. This is a beautiful scripted, beautifully acted piece of work. Farewell My Concubine subtitles English. Highly recommended.
Farewell My Concubine. The film also serves as a metaphor for the lives of the actors. Please try againSorry, we failed to record your vote.