Running Time: 154 minutes
Directed By: Stanley Kwan
Written By: Chiu Tai An-Ping
Main Cast: Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Chin Han, Paul Chang
Click here to view the trailer
IT CAME FROM YOUTUBE
It's probably easy to tell that since my "Platoon" review, my vacation has ended and I've returned to work, hence the lack of reviews. But trust me, it's been a hell of a three work days trying to get back into the swing of things. Anyway, lets get down to business and today's business is a Hong Kong film directed by Stanley Kwan - "The Actress".
The film is a biopic which chronicles the life and career of Ruan Lingyu (Cheung), a very popular Chinese, silent actress. The film flips back and forth between re-creations of Lingyu's life and career, actual footage from Lingyu films and interviews conducted by Stanley Kwan with people who knew Lingyu and with his own cast. Ruan Lingyu took on many different roles, always trying to challenge herself and never being one to fit a specific stereotype as an actress. Over the course of her eight year career, Lingyu appeared in over two dozen films, including starring roles in "The Goddess", "New Women", "Little Toys", "Night in the City" and "Reminiscence of Peking", all of which we see re-created in this film, by Maggie Cheung. The film shows of two lovers Ruan had during her career, Chang Ta-Min (Lawrence Ng) and Tang Chi-Shan (Han). Originally, Ruan was married to Ta-Min, but left him in 1935 and formed a relationship with Chi-Shan, who later began abusing her.
I'm very tired, so please forgive me if I keep this one short and sweet.
SPOILER ALERT!
Man, was this a tough movie to get through. From the word "go", I just couldn't get into this one and I think it had a lot to do with the way everything was put together. I didn't like the inter-cutting of real, documentary style sequences with the fictional, recreated scenes. Warren Beatty employed the same type of method in "Reds" and it really didn't work for me there either. I'd rather be told a straight, linear story, instead of continually being stopped and restarted again. When I was younger (say late teens, early 20s) I really loved a good biopic. I actually have a vague recollection of making a big list of all the biopics I could think of and vowing to watch them all. As I've grown, I've realized that they can be a tricky film to make, because if the life wasn't exciting, then the film can either be boring or inaccurate. It's obvious here that Kwan went to great lengths to ensure his film was dead on with what actually happened and outside of her suicide, Ruan didn't have a life that deemed being told on film. She starred in some films, of which we see A LOT of them recreated by Cheung, she had a couple of suitors, she was a determined actress and then, when her private life was exposed, she committed suicide.
I really don't have much good to say about "The Actress". I enjoyed the performance by Cheung and any awards she won for the part were well deserved. The film was beautifully shot and beautifully scored, but literally everything else did not work for me and I had a really hard time making it to the end of this.
RATING: 3/10 Man, I always feel so ashamed when I write such a short review. I feel like I'm cheating myself and someday, when I go back and read this, I'm going to kick myself for not expanding my thought. Hey future me!!! I'm fucking tired, allright!!
MOVIES WATCHED: 569
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 432
November 1, 2012 5:32pm
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