You yuan jing meng

Peony Pavilion was premiered in the Opening Gala of the 25th Hong Kong Film Festival. The title was borrowed from a Kunju(a form of Chinese Opera)title which was a symbol of love. The film indeed was about love, a complex relationship about two women, very much like a parallel to the acclaimed 'Farewell My Concubine'.

Being an aesthetic, all films by Director Yonfan were beautifully shot. The Jade Pavilion was no exception. It was a visual treat. The art direction and cinematography of the film were nothing less than perfect.

However, compared with Farewell My Concubine, The Jade Pavilion was naive and shallow in portraying the relationship between the three leading characters. The story led to nowhere. Throughout the entire movie I have failed to have any feelings or to identify myself with any of the characters in the film.

Yonfan is far superior a cinematographer than he is a screen writer.

Although born a Chinese, I know very little about the famous Kun Opera--Peony Pavilion, which probably represents the consummate achievement of all Kun Operas, but Director Yon Fan had presented it to me so beautifully. This is not a film that tells an exciting story, but with its slow pace, the dream-like color and music, the wonderful acting, Director Yon has introduced us to an artistic world of the old past.

I think Rie Miyazawa's acting was very powerful, and she amazed me by the elegant gravity in her performance and her accuracy in interpreting traditional Chinese culture. All her moves and words are so gracefully slow and inevitably sad, as if she were a woman unintentionally stepping out of the old story told by the opera.

While most Chinese mainland directors are unable to shoot beautiful pictures and those who could shoots beautiful platitudes, I value Yon Fan's ability to present beauty in a gravity inherited from the long and profound Chinese cultural tradition. Thanks to him, I recollected some of my old memories: the beautiful yet somewhat vague image of the artistic past of our people, the age-old but ever-lasting aesthetic value that has influenced our ancestor poets and yet still lives in everyone of us, and about the sweetness of love, and sadness in meditating life, which has been the eternal theme in our poems.

Exquisitely composed, Expertly crafted, PEONY PAVILION is hypnotizingly graceful to the eye, undeniably seductive to the senses, and gently evocative to the mind. The acting is near perfect, and Joey Wong is easily at her best that I've ever seen. As a bonus, listen to Brigitte Lin's voice in the narration.

This film is perhaps most enjoyable as a visual art. The imagery is simply wonderful, and it is that which I remember the film for. I would have agreed with the comment from reviewer Hermes regarding Yonfan being a superior cinematographer than screenwriter, except the credits reveal that Yonfan was in fact not the cinematographer of this film.