Rating: 
Summary: One of the best foreign films of the 1990's
Review: Chen Kaige delivers a sprawling epic that spans from 1924 to 1977 which follows the dubious, sometimes belligerent sometimes copacetic, relationship of two Beijing Opera singers as communism and political unrest infiltrates China. It is richly photographed and impeccably acted, with more sumptuous, poignant, and emotionally strident moments than one could ask for in a dozen films (the most powerful image being the last shot of the film). Kaige seems to achieve the almost impossible, making us care deeply for characters while still fulfilling the perfuctory obligations of creating a fastidiously rendered society. Obviously not for everyones liking, but if you're reading this review you probably like good film-making. A must see for anyone interested in the best foreign movies from the 90's.
Rating: 
Summary: A HAUNTING MASTERPIECE
Review: A story of epic proportion with extraordinary acting, breathtaking camera-work, flawless direction and excitement that never stops! The film is a virtual Chinese "history" (recent) lesson of chilling proportions! But in many other "history lesson" films the political story gets in the way of your "being there": you watch instead of experiencing. In this film, you cannot escape "being there" for every second of the story! You experience the 3 lead characters as electrifyingly powerful archetypes: the seductive wily female who can fight and deceive but can also heal, the dominant power-driven male who knows, how to survive - albeit clumsily - in this world, and the androgyne who sees the exquisite magic and beauty of other worlds, but is dangerously vulnerable in this one. The ideas themselves are haunting! Can anyone forget the shocking moment when Leslie Cheung (the male "concubine") surrounded by flames, shrieks out in despair: "you have all betrayed me"?! We realize the horrifying complexity of the betrayal: the country has betrayed him, the society which raised him to the height of "stardom" has betrayed him, friends, a lover, and even strangers have betrayed him, and - worst of all - he has betrayed himself! The strange movement of the story carrying the characters and us through historical periods in recent Chinese history acts like the movements and counter-movements of water masses in the ocean giving us the uncomfortable feeling that everyone lives in a sea of betrayal where nothing is dependable, nothing is safe. And underlying the entire story is the principle that everyone is "betrayed" by the inevitability of death, and by the inevitability of change which by its very nature is our friend at one turn, and our enemy as it turns in the opposite direction. Many scenes burn their way into your memory, but as it is with any great masterpiece, no matter how well you remember the story, you see it each time as if for the first time, totally unprepared for what will happen. I have seen the film many times, and somehow I still react with shock at the amputation of the child's finger and the brutal training of the children early on in the film. And no matter how vividly I think I can remember the "pieta"-pose scene in which Gong Li rescues her rival by forcibly rocking him out of an opium-induced stupor, I still react with tears when I see it again. The film is filled with unforgettalbe moments which shock the soul, which somehow preserve their freshness and power whenever you revisit them. And then, there is the eerie quiet drama of the final death scene... Underlying the masterful visual and conceptual presentation of the film is the hauntingly beautiful musical score which constantly opens the doors of your consciousness, and carries you through the film like a mighty river, moving you breathlessly and inescapably into the presence of the characters and their surroundings from the first to the last frame of the picture. If you haven't seen this film, you have missed a great masterpiece. If you have seen it and admired it and are afraid to see what it loses in the transfer to the small screen, I can tell you that it loses nothing. The color and sound transfer are wonderful, and the film gains from the opportunity to study it and revisit its tremendous depths, again and again. And somehow, the small screen sucks you into the story as powerfully as the large one in the theater did. DON'T MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO OWN THIS FILM!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Violent and disturbing
Review: I agree with the reviewers who have praised the actress Gong Li as Juxian. She was remarkable - a beautiful woman with a musical voice. I don't understand the Chinese language but I wanted to rewind the film to listen to the sound of her speech.I do feel as if I was misled by the blurbs on the box. This is a highly violent and disturbing movie, especially in the beginning when we are witnessing severe child abuse, over and over again. It is pointlessly sadistic and there is a lot of bare-bottomed paddling, especially with the flat of a sword. There is also a bloody incident where a wooden tool is placed in the mouth of the transvestite character and wiggled around until he bleeds. All this because he was confused about "boy" and "girl." I would strongly recommend that viewers keep their children out of the room for this movie. As an adult, I was bothered by the unneccesary violence. It does not mesh with what I've read about the high value placed by Chinese upon their male children. Ironically the invading army scenes were not as violent as the acting school scenes, given that the Japanese committed such inhumane atrocities in 1930s China. Also, it was unbelievable that the characters found a male baby left outside the city wall to die, when it reality, female infanticide is more likely. The costumes in this film are spectacular. And I thought the film moved well through the various eras, first the Warlord era, then invasion by the Japanese, then the Nationalists, then the Communists. I think it gave a good sense of the public humiliation and blacklisting done during the "Cultural Revolution." I saw this film with English subtitles, which seem to aptly reflect what's going on in most cases. However, I don't understand why this film won a film festival award. It is unnecessarily violent and disturbing.
Rating:
Summary: A Chinese Opera Epic
Review: This wonderful Chinese film was nominated for several academy awards. It is a story about Chinese opera and the cultural revolution but at another level it is about relationships. We follow the story of two actors together since childhood and the woman who comes between them. The cinematography is breathtaking (It should be no surprise that director Chen Kaige was originally a cinematographer). Pause the film occasionally (especially if you have a DVD) and just savour the rich colours and textures of the film. It is a gem. This was Leslie Cheung's first major role and it also stars Gong Li who is wonderful in Yimou Zhang's trilogy Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou. (If you like Concubine as much as I did, you will also love these three movies.)
Rating:
Summary: UTTER DESTRUCTION
Review: Opulent, stunning, and beautiful. A love triangle ensues between two (male) opera stars and a woman (the always breathtaking Gong Li) and this can only mean tragedy. The opera stars have been together training for their careers in the opera since boyhood. Naturally they are very close. One of them is in love with the other, so he succumbs to vicious and violent jealousy when the object of his love marries someone else (a woman, Gong Li). This tears at the fabric of their lives and nearly destroys all of them. The cultural revolution sweeps through China, and in the end it does destroy them. This film is a must see.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Pales In Comparison
Review: Chinese Movies like this show us what is missing in hollywood movies today; sincerity. Every new movie has to be "to cool for school" to get made, whereas sincere movies like this are made by the dozens in China. More specifically this tragic tale of two friends who share a deep bond that can never be broken is astounding on all fronts. The music is haunting and superb, The photography is beutiful, especially in widescreen, and the acting is uniformly excellent. A bit of trivia: the male lead (Chueng) is a huge pop star in china!
Rating:
Summary: Lavish, opulent, and intense; bring your lunch
Review: As far as story and content goes this owes more than a little to The Last Emperor (1987), which is not surprising since Director Kaige Chen was a member of the cast of that film and no doubt was influenced by its success. But stylistically, and especially as the film was directed and cut, "Farewell, My Concubine" is original and stands alone. If The Last Emperor was a Western movie about the Chinese political experience in the Twentieth Century, then Farewell, My Concubine is a Chinese movie, influenced by the West, about that same experience. While the former focused on the emperor and those around him, "Farewell..." focuses on two actors of the Beijing opera. Admittedly, "Farewell..." is long (I saw the 157-minute version) and sometimes strays from it intent, but gains and maintains power and keeps our interest mainly because everything is presented in a starkly-lit, intensely focused manner. The epic-like story itself is good if a little pedestrian at times. The lavish and stunning sets in opulent color and design, are just fascinating to view. Everything from the extras in the crowds to the porcelain for tea is carefully chosen and presented. Particularly striking are the traditional costumes and makeup, shown to advantage through the fine camera work. But what makes the film is the glimpse we get of the world of the Beijing opera and its traditions. From the Dickensian boy's school for the actors to the intrigues with patrons and the political powers that be, there's the sense of a world beyond our experience. The acting was also excellent. The beautiful Gong Li, who played Duan's wife was captivating as she displayed a wide range of emotion. Leslie Cheung as Dieyi, "the concubine," and Fengyi Zhang as Duan, "the king," were also excellent. The boys who played the actors as children, especially the actor who played Douzi, were first rate.
Rating:
Summary: speechless
Review: I am stunned. For years and years I've been going to the movies every other weekend hoping, like every other unjaded moviegoer, to not just be pleasantly occupied for three hours, but to be touched, haunted. This movie did all that and more. Believe me, this is no formulaic, effective-but-conventional tearjerker that you'd cry over only when your brain is on vacation. This movie moves BECAUSE of the intellect--along with intuition. This is the kind of movie that stays with you for days. Undeniably, the plot is complex. Yet not in that pretentious, Oscar-hopeful, deliberately esoteric way. During climatic scenes, such as when Xiaolou announces his engagement to Juxian, there are no facades, no twists, no perversions -- only simple, courageous, incorrigible human emotion. Dieyi, grotesquely beautiful in his makeup, emits "Don't leave," from his most unspeakable depth with absolute purity and desperation. And that single, passive tear on his face when he was singing drunk with Yuan -- God! That was absolute perfection! The gorgeous picture with the bleary blue background and Dieyi's powdered face and pink lips, the understated devastation, the unchangeable devotion. (Yes, even Xiaolou's marriage could not change Deiyi's devotion -- nothing could. That's the whole theme of this movie, and of the opera). This movie transcends gender. And for those people that see it only as a protest to China's oppression during the Cultural Revolution: are you people blind? This movie is about what it is to be human! The boundaries of gender, of childhood abuses, of love! And the most amazing thing is this movie is not melodramatic--it is real. All the actors were brilliant, the opera scenes are haunting. There are motifs and bits of symbolism scattered all through the movie that rival even Shakespeare. There is so much meaning in this story. All in all, the most memorable and substantive movie I've ever seen in my life.
Rating:
Summary: Forgettable Farewell
Review: The opening stanzas to this extended score cements the filminto the viewer's memory regardless of the pitfalls that wouldfollow. The early scenes encompassing the opera school for boys could stand alone as worthy cinema. Unfortunately, the trouble with film adaptations of novels--especially if the novel is adapted by the novelist herself--is that several hundred pages of in-depth plot mauneverings and character analysis is awkwardly condensed, even granting near three hours of movie time. What results is a movie with two halves. The first half is genuine cinema, a riveting drama. The second half is thick with contrived plot devices used to usher in historical pieces. So much in the second half of the movie does not ring true with what was presented to the viewer in the first half. Space limiting, only one such incongruency will be illustrated. The greatest betrayal that occurs in this movie is not Xialou betraying his wife nor his opera partner. The greatest betrayal he commits is upon his former self; the compassionate, self-sacrificing boy that he once was in the first half of the movie. A man who risks ridicule by engaging himself to a prostitute and who then also temporarily gives up on his career at her request comes to say that he does not love her? It just doesn't seem feasible. I hope that I am missing something. I want to believe that GongLi's hanging wasn't gratuitous feminist victimization. I want to believe that Xialou was merely "pretending" to say that he did not love her to appease the Communist oppressors. Otherwise, Xialou's betrayal does not ring true and thus renders GongLi's suicide pointless and sickening. In terms of performance, the three adult leads were adequate. Leslie Cheung was least convincing. His mannerisms, his baby face, his falsetto voice "mimicked" a man at odds with his gender and sexuality but I was not completely convinced that there was much inner turmoil within his character. He seemed to use the opium scenes and scenes of overt jealousy towards GongLi's character as psychological crutches, as though he could not realistically play the part of tortured soul unless he was high on drugs or the object of his resentment was directly in front of him. He seemed to sleepwalk through the part as though caught up in a dream state. The character was supposed to literally inhabit the concubine he portrayed. This did not come across well for me. When I reflect upon the character of Dieyi, I recall the boy in the first half and not the adult portrayed by Cheung. The role of Xialou was least demanding and the actor who played him was sufficient to the part. Why he would so easily betroth himself to a former prostitute would have been better conveyed if a stronger sense of suffocation was presented with respects to his relationship with Dieyi. GongLi as the former prostitute is strongest in the movie, excluding the exceptional performance by the child actor who played the young Dieyi. GongLi had plenty of dichotomies and contradictions to play with and she played them well. Her character is simple yet astute, wanting a bland home life yet smartly cornering other characters into her rescuing schemes. She wants to be subservient to Xialou and yet she is firm with him and actually dictates his actions at certain points. She is the hero of the movie, devising schemes that would save both male leads from execution or a release from prison.
Rating:
Summary: A stunning motion picture
Review: This is such a beautiful film. Not only in the cinematography stunning, but the acting as well is delicate and fresh. Truly, this is worthy of the title "masterpiece" in every single shape and form. Brilliant.
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