Le roi des masques

It was a delightful surprise! This movie does not have Gong Li as a lead actress, but it has the quality that beats any other Chinese movies I've seen. I watched 3 Chinese films yesterday: "Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons", "The Emporor and the Assasin" and "King of the Masks (Bian Lian)". Despite of the high profiles of the other two, "King of the Masks" is the only one that left tremendous impression on me. It is a beautiful, touching film. Well done.

This spectacular film is one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen. It shows a China I had never seen or imagined, and I believe it shows 1930's China in the most REAL light ever seen in a movie. It is absolutely heart-breaking in so many situations, seeing how hard life was for the characters, and yet the story and the ending are incredibly joyful. You truly see the depths and heigths of human existence in this film. The actors are all perfect, such that you feel like you have really entered a different world.

I simply can not recommend this movie highly enough. It may just change you forever once you have seen it.

This movie reminded me of Mulan- only because I saw Mulan first. It was a great film, and as an Asian female and a first-generation American, I found myself relating to "Doggie" (the little girl; by translation). I usually don't cry during movies (and I don't think being 8 and watching The Land Before Time counts), but I do admit my eyes did water up. I was impressed at the production quality of this film and I appreciated the accuracy of its set period. It's imagery was hauntingly beautiful and throughout the film I was questioning this film's budget (The Red Violin as well)- I was contemplating how they were able to afford props and costumes and still be able to release, promote and distribute the film at the same time. The King Of Masks is one of those wonderful pieces of International Cinema that almost everyone can agree on.

The fact that this film was put out on DVD still formatted-to TV and with a fuzzy picture really annoyed a lot of film purists......and rightly so. This deserves a lot better treatment.

The story is about a street performer who needs a son to pass on his craft (the rules of the day) and winds up with a little girl instead (not the conventional way) ....and the problems that ensue afterward. The old man had bought the kid at a slave auction and soon discovers the kid is not a boy, which he obviously thought was the case.

The old man "Bianlian Wang (Xu Zhu)is kind of funny-looking with a missing front tooth and an infectious grin. The little girl "Doggie" (Zhou Renying) is a cutie. The rest of the story is how the two manage after that. I usually like a nice sentimental ending but this gets a bit carried away in the final 15 minutes.

Overall, it's involving story complete with drama, suspense, humor and sadness. Just don't expect a good quality picture for the money you are spending on the DVD. Until it comes out on widescreen, rent it.

I just saw this movie today with my children (son, 10 and daughter, 4.5) at the 3rd Annual Roger Ebert Overlooked Film Festival. After the film the children in the audience were allowed to ask questions to the Director, Tian-Ming Wu. He (through a translator) told several stories about his life and the making of the film.

All tangents aside, both of my children really enjoyed this movie. Of course, I had to paraphrase many of the subtitles for my daughter, but much of the film is visually self-explanatory.

I won't give anything away, but the bottom line is that this film is SO MUCH better than 95% of the Hollywood crap (especially children's films) out there.

Cheers.

p.s. There is a "real"/original King of Masks who can/could do 12 masks at once. The actor in the movie trained and learned to do up to 4 masks at a time (then they would cut and change to 4 new masks).