Rating: 
Summary: Farfetched plot but great acting, scenery and location
Review: This 1996 Chinese film is set in the sophisticated Shanghai of 1920 as well as the surrounding area. It is a fascinating drama including opium smoking, love, lust and revenge. There's a beautiful young woman, who has been raised to prepare opium for her father and brother. As her brother is paralyzed, she inherits the family home but despite her wealth, she is unhappy. A distant male cousin serves her and falls in love with her. But she falls in love with her sister-in-law's younger brother who has fled the household years ago because of a shameful secret and now makes his living romancing and blackmailing wealthy women in Shanghai. The plot thickens. Sound complicated? Well, it is. But that didn't stop me from watching the story unfold in spite of the farfetched plot. The scenery was beautiful. The acting was excellent. And the location was exotic. And so I relaxed and just enjoyed the film. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: a tangled web of love and deceit.
Review: This film has a slow start, but it sets the stage for the later development of the central characters. Gong Li and Leslie Cheung, two extraordinary actors, are incredibly beautiful to look at, and the chemistry between them is palpable. The relationships in this movie are so complicated...there are multiple triangles...that one viewing is simply not enough to do it justice. This one has to be seen a second time, and it will be well worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Another masterpiece by Chen Kaige
Review: This is a well-produced film with elegant cinematography. However, the plot is designed to promote misandry (hatred and contempt of men) to an extreme. The unfortunate emphasis on misandry deforms what might otherwise be a classic tale of a heroine seeking truth, goodness and beauty in a difficult period of history for both men and women in Shanghai.
Rating: 
Summary: Misandry
Review: This is a well-produced film with elegant cinematography. However, the plot is designed to promote misandry (hatred and contempt of men) to an extreme. The unfortunate emphasis on misandry deforms what might otherwise be a classic tale of a heroine seeking truth, goodness and beauty in a difficult period of history for both men and women in Shanghai.
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