Temptress Moon

I decided to purchase Temptress Moon after viewing the breathtaking, and devastating, Farewell My Concubine. Both movies feature the amazing talents of Gong Li and Leslie Cheung. So total is their transformation between the two films, it's difficult to believe that these are the same actors.

While Concubine served as a historical epic, Temptress Moon seemed more along the lines of Shakespearean tragedy. Like Kaige's previous work, the characters' frustrations signify larger themes: domestic turmoil; gender repression; class conflict; etc. Although these themes concern the private sphere of life and are not as overtly political as those addressed in Concubine, they are just as much about power, its abuse and the resulting disfigurement of the human spirit.

Temptress Moon is by no means a romance. The movie succeeds in being lyrical and melancholy - more engrossing than entertaining. Despite the requisite tragic ending, I found the plot to be oddly satisfying! The waxing and waning fates of Zhongliang, Ruyi, and Duanwu intertwined to create a luminous study of the heart and its insatiable hunger.

Overall, Temptress Moon was a clear reflection of the obsessions that ruthlessly dictate interpersonal affairs. Leslie Cheung, Gong Li and Kevin Lin give mesmerizing performances while supporting portrayals like that of Caifei He as Zhongliang's sister and Yin Tse as Zhongliang's Boss are equally flawless. (Among the movie's many moral messages: "Don't Do Drugs!" :)

The images are very impressed. The color, the shadow, the depth of field and the framing are excellent. Every individual image is a great picture! Specially in the scene of presenting Ruyi as the master of the family, the soft lens makes Ruyi's white clothes flared, so that it emphasizes her special position in the family as well as her angel image.

We often see the sexual victim as woman. As contrary, this movie describes a male victim from the sex abuse of his sister and his brother-in-law. The tragedy goes deeper when this victim destroys the others and himself.

In summary, this movie is on my collection list.

Another exorcism by Chinese master Chen Kaige (who directed "Farewell My Concubine" three years earlier), of China's disastrous meltdown in the early 20th Century. An old landed family sinks into decadence as the Qing dynasty collapses and the chaotic early years of a Chinese republic swirl around their ghostly ancestral hall and mansion gardens.

Into this scene returns an extended-family member, Zhongliang (played by Hong Kong star Leslie Cheung), ostensibly to position himself for his Shanghai gang's takeover of the estates. But Zhongliang's return home awakens old wounds and rips open all new ones in a family reeling from generations of drug use and the collapse of an ancient civilization.

Cousins, brothers-in-law, sisters, then become embroiled in a sick game of love, lust, and revenge. This is a very sobering film yet hauntingly beautiful at times. All performances, from a radiant Gong Li, down to the smallest roles, are superb. The character development is profound, the story compelling, and the production values are stunning. A first rate movie.

I watched this movie on the T.V. and I think if I had seen it in a theatre I would have rated it higher than 7. It is a fascinating story, beautifully told. The atmosphere created was wonderful. The story is tragic. The early childhood of Zhongliang was horrifying, as was the life led by the Pang family,addicted to opium; the cruelty shown him by his sister and brother-in-law truly shaped Zhongliang's character. Part of the movie is set in Shanghai in about the 1920's seemed real. It is a sad tale of corruption and cruelty.

As the story unfolded I began to feel that it had been cribbed from a Russian novel. A set of unlikeable codependent characters feeding on each other's misery. The dark tale of a once powerful family's decadent descent into impotent obscurity serves as an allegory for the Ching dynasty. I only wish that there had been more character development, the minor family member Duanyu, who ended as the head of the family - what was his motivation for his betrayal of Ruyi?

The photography is sumptious, and the performances beyond reproach. The films moves slowly and requires the audience to pay attention, but for those who like a dark tale of pending doom and destruction it is worth it.