Rouge

A beautiful film - like a Chinese version of a European art film. A ghost who has been wandering around for fifty years looking for her lover goes into a newspaper office to write a missing persons ad. This film deserves more attention for its haunting story, wonderful acting and beautiful cinematography.

This is a film which is enthralling and gripping from beginning to end. It centers around two lovers from the "wrong sides of the tracks." Leslie Cheung is in love with a high class whore played exquisetely by Anita Mui (as Fleur - or "Flower" in English). Since society was against them being together, Anita poisoned them both but only she died. Her ghost spends the rest of the film (involved with a touching and oftimes comedic sidestory about a reporter and his girlfriend) in search of him. It is beautifully shot throughout. It really reminds one of the "one who got away" so to speak. A definite recommendation.

Anita and Leslie are pefect match of their roles in the movie. No doubt they can act so vividly the role in the movie. They both possess the aura of the beginning of twentieth century. The two superstars collaberated to create a melodrama that hits your heart so painfully, particularly when both are not with us now. There are so many flowers in front of the Mandarin Hotel from fans all over the world in April first. They are both living in the bottom of our hearts.

Lets hope that both enjoy singing together in another world.

This is one of the best films I've seen. As far as ghost stories go, this is one of the scariest for me. It's not scary by way Stir of Echoes or Gothika, but it will give you chills like nothing before. Sure, angry ghosts are scary, but a heartbroken ghost is scarier. She could appear to your left right now and ask for your help. Isn't THAT scary?

If you love ghost stories, love stories, Hong Kong and Chinese music, this movie has all that. It was a pleasant surprise to find a film that told a familiar story so beautifully it becomes unique.

Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui were perfect for their roles. Watch out for the scene where Leslie wears Peking Opera makeup. Fans of "Farewell, My Concubine" will surely love the foreshadowing of Leslie's future internationally-acclaimed performance.

"...like a dreamy moon, or a flower just out of reach..."

Stanley Kwan serves up a feast for the eyes in Rouge, with its gorgeous colors, lights, and the radiant Anita Mui. The connection between her and Leslie Cheung is electric from the very beginning when she sings to him. She plays a woman in 1930's Hong Kong who had been sold into prostitution as a teenager, and he's a customer of hers from a well-to-do-family. When they start getting serious, however, his mother politely objects.

I won't spoil it, but how the film transitions unexpectedly to the present, with a ghostly haunting, and then to melancholy is both dreamy and touching. Anita Mui is dazzling throughout, and the cute newspaper couple, played by Emily Chu and Alex Man, provide a nice modern relationship parallel. Aside from the feelings of romance and heartache the film stirs up, there are elements of sentimentality from things simply changing with time, like the city itself. The ending goes for the emotional jugular too, and succeeds.