4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent! (Review revision 2) -- I'd give it 5 stars if I could change that --, April 18, 2009
This review is from: Forever Enthralled (Standard Edition) (DVD)
Second revision -- this is actually an excellent film!
My first copy of this DVD (bought at a local brick-and-mortar) skipped -- and more extensively than first realized. And at the worst place: amid the Zhang Ziyi appearance. The DVD got in exchange is fine. So it deserves an extensively revised review in its favor.
Unlike other reviewers, I get the subtitles without problem (using the remote's "Subtitles" key, or going to the third option on the right on the main menu). And they remain on-screen.
Initially I had problems with the main menu: in addition to being in the main Chinese, as should be expected, its colors made distinguishing of particulars difficult. However, I've since got a widescreen HDTV and it's all clear. On the main menu there are three entries: the first is Chinese for "Play" -- directly to the right of it the word "Play". The second entry is "Chapters" -- the ability to go to specific scenes.
The third entry is "Setup," which takes one to a menu with "Audio" -- it clearly identifies, in English, "Dolby Digital 5.1" and "DTS" -- and "Subtitles". Beneath the latter heading are four entries, three in Asian, and one (the third) in English. The last of the four is actually "Home".
Across the bottom of that menu are two entries: "Resume," and "Main Manu".
According to the information on the DVD case, there are extras: "Trailer," "Teaser," "Promotional Footage," "Director & Leading Cast Interviews," and "Photo Gallery". I've not found a menu for them (there is an HK-issue 2-disk special edition with the same extras on its second disk). Instead, while searching, I accidently hit the remote's "Up" ("^" -- your symbol may vary) button and immediately found myself at an apparent interview (no subtitles) with the director.
I've not found any other extras; and I still don't find a menu entry by which to access them.
As for the film -- my initial review, as adversely affected by the skipping DVD, was this (with slight edits and significant corrections and additions):
"According to the English blurb on the back of the DVD case, it is a drama. According to a different online description, it is intended as a biography of actual world-famous singer Mei Lanfong of the Peking Opera, but because of changes in the historical facts it is more a drama. But to me, so far, it seems to be a comedy: during the first half hour or so there is much laughing by the characters, especially opera "Master" Shinsan, as result of funny one-liners. At several points, as example, one or another character is told, 'Get lost!'"
On seeing the full film, there is a significant amount of humor at the beginning -- Shinsan is the master singer of the opera, and Mei Lanfang is a young up-and-comer. Shinsan is, perhaps predictably, on stage even when off, and accustomed to being center of attention, so he often makes light of things as others hang on his every word. Ultimately, Shinsan and Mei Lanfang give three public performances as a popularity contest, which Mei Lanfang wins.
Originally I said there is much singing; in fact there is very little, and I've come to wish there were much more. This is my original -- self-mocking -- comment on the singing:
"There is much 'singing' (of which I think it only fair the potential viewer be warned in advance), so for much of the first viewing I was wondering if it were a drama or a musical. (Or, as said, a comedy.)
"Most likely it is my lack that the 'singing' so astonishes. That is, I can't tell whether it is, on one hand, at minimum so-so, or on the other, awful: combine the sounds of a live cat being disemboweled without anesthesia, with the sounds of scraping one's fingernails on a blackboard, and you have my most accurate approximation. At very least, don't expect a US release any time soon.
"The only clue that it might be excellent is the overwhelming, often standing, ovations with which the 'singing' is rewarded. But then I wonder if the audiences are only being polite."
(By contrast, I actually have a Chinese friend who HATES Chinese opera -- says she doesn't like the singing, and that she doesn't understand it. I think the latter is a sarcasm as she speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese. And another Chinese aquaintance doesn't like it.)
After watching the film through and getting the gist of it, I surprised myself by becoming enamored of the singing. Once one understands what is happening, the context, it is amazingly compelling, almost overpowering emotionally. Seriously: if you listen to the voices behind the words, you can hear the blues in it.
Mei Lanfang, married at least once and with children, was famous for his skill at playing women characters (as "female impersonator"); and his singing reflects that as a high, nasal falsetto. But stay with it -- you will be rewarded.
By contrast, and this generates some humor among the characters, Zhang Ziyi plays Meng Xiaodong, an equally-famous Peking Opera star ("diva") who specialized in male roles ("male impersonator"). In two instances -- one informal, without makeup; one on stage, in full makeup -- the two pair up and sing, and it's both funny and a genuine pleasure: he sings the female role, she sings the male role. (See [...] for extensive information about this and her other films. And don't miss the clips there of her dancing, especially the lovely "Peacock Dance".)
Alas, though a major role -- in the film it appears Mei and Meng had a hot affair, but in real life were married from 1925 to 1931 -- Ziyi's appearance is all too brief. But much of it is fun: in the informal occasion mentioned, she is asked to sing, an apparent "audition" for the "bearded role". The song she chooses to sing, though, requires a second singer -- "a Phoenix Li" -- so she has Mei Lanfang join her.
Both are in regular clothes, and Mei sings the female character's first several lines. Then Ziyi begins to sing the next -- male character's -- lines -- then stops in effort to stifle laughter. Mei looks at her and she says, "Without your makeup you look like a man to me." And Mei responds, "Without makeup you look just like a woman." Then they perform the bit of the song -- which is actually enjoyable. (Ziyi has a close-up in that scene in which she's her usual pretty. But prepare youself for a short, "mature," haircut.)
The song they sing, by the way, isn't itself funny, at least not as a whole (they do a slightly different part on stage which does have some humor).
So it is a drama, despite some humorous and light situations and events. On the serious side it includes an assassination attempt (I'll not spoil it for those who haven't seen it). It is a powerful scene, and how and why the attempt, and who arranged, is a shock.
Mei Lanfang was the person -- a superstar in China -- who introduced Chinese (Peking) Opera to the West, beginning with a tour of the US in 1930, where he received standing ovations. But despite his love for the opera, and performing, and the stage being his life, he refused to perform during the pre- and WW II Japanese occupation of Peking, and other cities and regions of China -- 1937 through 1945 Japanese surrender. This is given significant, detailed examination, and is frighening if one has come to identify with him as a likeable person.
The subtitles are adequate, though smaller than the usual; and in at least one instance I'd only read the first half of a line when it switched to the next. And it seems they include modern idioms -- "Get lost!" an example -- which seems odd.
But I would not miss it, if a fan of either Peking (Beijing) Opera, Zhang Ziyi, or of the film "Farewell My Concubine," which had the same director, and which as I understand it has Mei Lanfang as model for one of the two main characters. In other words, it's well worth seeing.
In fact, I would now give it five stars. It is an attractive film -- especially the splendidly beautiful makeup and costumes. And the acting is excellent -- Mei Lanfang's wife Zeifang being played by the director's wife; and she more than holds her own!
And it should also be of interest to those interested in the Chinese experience and view of the Japanese occupation (as do films "Purple Butterfly" [with Zhang Ziyi] and "Lust, Caution," by director Ang Lee ["Eat Drink Man Woman," "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"], and starring Tony Leung with an equally excellent cast, especially the first-film female lead).
Don't miss this film!
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