Rating: 
Summary: I am by Nature a Boy
Review: Farewell My Concubine is about loss of identity. It is a study in how a person reacts to a slow and methodical stripping away of self. Because of this, the movie is almost a psychological study. Many people may think it is about repressed homosexuality in China, but they are missing the primary point. The movie's main character, Cheng Dieyi, is the person most impacted by loss of identity, though it is also experienced by the other main characters as well. From the castration/mutilation inflicted on him by his mother at the beginning to his eventual suicide, it's as though layer by layer of his being is slowly peeled away. Let me for a moment simply regurgitate the way in which this happened. Cheng Dieyi was born as a prostitute's son. From the very beginning, he would be considered a bastard child in almost every culture. His mother claims that he is getting in the way of her "business" at the local brothel and she seeks a way to be rid of him. She winds up taking him to a local acting troupe and when they refuse to take him because of his sixth finger on one hand, Dieyi's mother cuts it off. This can easily be seen as the act of castration. Then his identity is further stripped away by the acting troupe drilling it into his head that he is a woman, since he plays a woman in the theater. From this point on, he associates his lost masculinity with his best friend, Duan Xiaolou. However, even his friendship is taken away when Xiaolou becomes involved with-guess who-a prostitute. It should be apparent to all who see it, that the hatred he feels toward the prostitute, Ju Xian, is not only because she is taking away his confidant, but also because she reminds Dieyi of his mother. Like many people confronted with loss of identity, Dieyi seeks an avenue of escape by doing drugs. The last thing which he is able to keep as his identity is the role he performs on the stage as a concubine for the king of Chu-but even this is eventually lost when he is replaced by a child who he helps to rear. Dieyi isn't the only one who loses his identity, however. Ju Xian struggled to rid herself of the emotional baggage attached to being a prostitute. She became involved with Xiaolou hoping to build a family and achieve some normalcy. However, Dieyi's relationship with Xiaolou complicates matters, and when she loses her unborn child almost all hope is lost. When Xiaolou disavows any love for her, her dream is shattered and she commits suicide. From these two examples in the movie, one can see how one emotionally could be driven to suicide. Dieyi's loss of identity involves the stripping away of every aspect of his masculine self and a devaluation of things which he holds dear. Many people evaluate his relationship to Xialou as a homosexual one, and while it seems to be the case, I would argue that the relationship could also be merely one of a protector-devotee nature or possibly even an older-brother-younger-brother relationship. Ju Xian, likewise loses her self-respect by being a prostitute and later loses everything which could pull her out of this psychological trap. Since the events in China played a role in these two personal losses of identity, it is possible that the movie was simply expressing the author's personal sense of loss at the hands of a repressive cultural history. On the other hand, the fact that many events compound the loss of identity could simply be a way of showing how external forces can influence one's own sense of self. This last possibility is probably the author's intent, since the story could easily be told within the context of any tumultuous period-such as the United States during the Vietnam War era. The end confirms my view of the film's portrayal of self-identity loss when Dieyi messes up the line in the play and says he is a boy not a girl. Throughout his life his identity as a man had been taken away. He struggled against it, was conquered by it, and eventually asserted what power he had left in the act of suicide. I felt tired and emotionally drained at the end of the movie. Farewell My Concubine, unlike any other film I have seen, superbly depicts human nature and is very insightful. It should be declared a masterpiece of not only Chinese cinema, but of film the world over.
Rating: 
Summary: Shame on Miramax
Review: This is a 5-star film, without a doubt. I won't go into the reasons for that; the previous reviews do so quite well. But I had to give it only 4 stars because Miramax, in it's infinite wisdom, cut about 15 minutes from their version of the film. The cut scenes are not filler, either; they add more depth and beauty to the film. In addition, the Miramax version is not anamorphic. Shame, shame on them. If you look hard enough, you can find the uncut anamorphic widescreen version of the film for sale on the Internet. Dare I name the web site that has it available? I won't, in case Amazon takes offense to that.
Rating:
Summary: the best chinese film i've ever seen...
Review: ... and i'm chinese. this film is ridiculously well-made, as perfect in the realm of asian cinema as something like "the godfather" is in western cinema. read bill kang's review for specifics on the brilliant cinematography, acting, direction, and such, for his review represents my opinions well... ... so why am i writing this here? i don't write reviews often, but astonished as i was that there were reviewers who actually gave this film a rating of less than 5 stars, i decided to sift through all the entries and find out exactly what they had against this film... and not so surprisingly, the negative reviews came from westerners who thought that they might know better about chinese culture and history from reading books that other westerners have written than the chinese directors and scriptwriters themselves who've lived their entire lives in china, hong kong, and taiwan. -_-"... is this film really that violent, really that gory? graphically, there is virtually no violence on screen... c'mon, hollywood is all blood and guts! that which disturbs and unsettles the viewer here is the psychological violence and perversion that chen so subtly (yet very effectively) communicates. and i'm sorry to shatter your ideas of the orient being an exotic paradise of incense, tiger balm, and petite women, but yes, psychological perversion can exist in a culture that has been around for over five thousand years. yes, eunichs did exist aplenty, and yes, these poor things did tend to have strange sexual interests, and no, you don't know nearly enough about chinese history to even begin placing things into context and making judgements. ... one reviewer was even kind enough to remind us not to let our children watch the film for the violence and the unsettling themes involved... well perhaps that's what the R-rating is for? just a thought... maybe that's why the film is rated R... i could be wrong... if you are expecting kung-fu fighting, choreographed swordplay, or any other sort of monkey-antics some americans have come to associate with chinese filmmaking, do not watch this movie. your narrow mind might burst from the depth, breadth, and sheer beauty that radiates from every frame of this film, and the complexity of a plot that shows characters interacting with history and culture as much as they do with each other will completely escape you. if you're a viewer that's outraged by the audacity of the filmmakers behind such controversial films as, say, "monty python and the holy grail", this film is not for you. this film was not made in hollywood; do not expect a hollywood film. it is a film that is smart, unsettling, enlightening, and even educational, but the umbrella attribute that permeates the film above all and keeps us hypnotized is its breathtaking beauty...
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE.
Review: ANYONE WHO SAYS THIS MOVIE WASN'T GREAT...something is wrong with them. I think iw ill buy the book after seeing this. it is a great story...a little fast...so the book may be better. BUY THIS MOVIE!
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: Admittedly I usually go for martial arts and Hong Kong action cinema but this drama just blew me away. It tells the soulful tale about two young boys who formed a friendship while enduring strict and sometimes cruel training at the Beijing Opera School. It focuses on their journey to stardomand beyond including the hardship brought on by the changes in the political winds. Leslie Chung's performance was stellar!!!.
Rating:
Summary: If you don't know anything about chinese culture DON'T
Review: even bother to write a review. I have never seen a movie that moves me the way this one does
Rating:
Summary: one of the best Chinese movies from mainland China
Review: This is a Chinese film, and the director and
actors are mainly from mainland China,
instead of HK. Don't mix it with those
KongFu movies from HK. This one is an epic.
A little similar to another classic "Last Emperor".
Rating:
Summary: Not what I was expecting at all and that's good...
Review: Wow. What a different movie. It's nothing like what I was expecting. That doesn't mean it's a bad film. It's just different than any other HK film I've ever seen. I think it breaks new ground and explores how childhood experiences can directly influence adulthood. A boy falls in love with an opera story and tries to live it in real life--and starts to have homosexual tendencies because he plays the female character. His opera co-star doesn't feel the same and falls in love with a prostitute whom he marries---the result is a love triangle of sorts that ends in tragedy. Not to mention powerful men that fall in love with the male-playing-female because he acts the part of a woman so well. Just watch it.
Rating:
Summary: Certainly not to be missed
Review: This movie lifted the veil and exposed the heartwrenching, cruel steps taken in the drive for perfecting Chiense opera in olden China. Lives were ruined and dignity trodden upon in the extreme measures taken to bring fame and a means to livelihood for the opera troupe. Xiaodouzi, a child sold to a troupe since young, had found the means of surviving through the tortourous trainings by developing an intense attachment to an older troupemate, Xiaolou, who had been his protector and his best friend. Forced to take on feminine roles because of his delicate, effeminate features, Xiaodouzi was at first in a state of denial and often repeated the wrong lines of the female character he was playing. Confused over his sexual orientation, Xiaodouzi seem to wake up to his female role after an awkward, disturbing torture Xiaolou meted out on him in desperation. (Xiaolou inserted an instrument into Xiaodouzi's mouth and drew blood)Xiaodouzi was further devastated when he was knowingly delivered by his opera master to an old paedophile. Since then, it seems that he could only live through the concubine character he's perfected in the opera. He and Xiaolou, who played the King in the opera show, gained fame from staging the particular play "Farewell My Concubine". Xiaolou was unable to seperate opera from real life, and trouble started brewing when Xiaolou announced his plans to wed Juxian. The story took many twists as it snaked through the power shifts occuring then in China. Xiaodouzi's undying devotion to Xiaolou seems to have pulled him through his life but was also to be his undoing towards the end of the show.
An achingly sad story that would haunt you for days.
Rating:
Summary: A legend lives on
Review: Wish that I existed in your world, so that I could at least comfort and share the pain that you had to go through. May god bless and guide you to the heavenly peaceful space, where you will be away from all the trouble that you wanted to get away from. Thank you for sharing your talent and bringing us the entertainment for the past two decades. While we all are carrying on through this difficult time, we will remember you. And your legacy will live on ..... Farewell Leslie
| 
