China Moon (1994)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A Masterpiece!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

By no means something we haven't seen before, in olden Hollywood times this would have been the kind of studio quickie that fills a double program and starring a Victor Mature or Richard Widmark, here Ed Harris and a young Del Toro.It's film noir, the most standard story in the repertoire; well meaning joe smitten by beautiful woman he chances to meet in a bar, someone's unhappy wife and pleads to him. We move through the customary points fairly quickly, we quickly establish them as in love, the husband as abusive cheat, and you don't even need me to tell you there's going to be a plot that backfires the day after. Ideally I would rather have this in a more spacious way, it's a bit constricted by the need to go through set motions. Interesting is that we're not meant to know if she manipulated him that night or if there's another author in control of the narrative. We have only the enigmatic shot of her leaving the hotel and another woman going up to her room (to assume her place in the narrative).The question is not just who done it here or will he get the rap. It's a question of if love that seemed so eager in her eyes was feigned after all. It's all the more devastating as we switch to his pov, that he wasn't just a dope tricked by sex, he was holding out for someone who was the promise of a life together.It makes a real difference for me that we have these two people. In stuff like Romeo is Bleeding or Last Seduction, noir is turned into garish occasion, and I believe noir is enhanced all the more when we're able to see people who aren't cutouts truly struggle with how the world presents itself to them.Harris is great in anchoring a fundamentally alert person who allows himself to stray for love. But it's the lovely Madeleine Stow who makes it, that we have at the center someone with a face as open as hers clouded by all these momentary flickers. She manages to anchor angst about her marriage, truthfulness in the love, from a soft distance that belies the inclination to reduce her to what we expect from familiarity with this type of story. It simply wouldn't be the same without her.Look for example for the airport scene where she goes to pick up her husband, her steely-eyed look as she realizes the betrayal in plain sight might be a femme fatale's scheming of what we assume she is, or simply a woman's determination to end the charade. It's a more elusive view of noir machinations.So I like that we have these two characters as we do, the wraparound into plot and eventual unmaskings less so. Noir Meter: 3/4 | Neo-noir or post noir? Neo

This film is a great example of the classic Film Noir plot: Murder and conspiracy to defraud an insurance company. China Moon never ceases to surprise us with plot twists. The difference is that Ed Harris is a murder detective but doesn't know what he's up against. He's put in the position to cover up a murder that he didn't commit but would ultimately implicate him. But the killer isn't telling him everything...What I like in this movie, is the love story between Harris and Stowe. Both actors perform on such high level, that keeps your attention from beginning all the way to the end. Ed Harris is always better than his material. Madeleine Stowe's sexy performance would get a rise out of a stone idol. We want them to be together. And when Stowe get in big troubles, we want Harris to help her. At the same time we have to think, that she is just setting him up, but we want to believe her. The acting was excellent. The pacing just right to hold my interest and the ending was creative although a bit unbelievable.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

A Strong Trio of Actors, Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe, and Benicio Del Toro are the Force Behind This Fairly Conventional Neo-Noir. What is Lacking is Style. Film Noir and its Modern Evolution Neo-Noir are at Their Best When They Contain an Amount of High-Style to Punch the Plot of Deception, Lust, Etc.In This One , the Story is Pedestrian and the Movie is Virtually Without Much Beyond a Few Night and Rainy Shots that are Certainly Noir's Template. But the Acting is So Strong it Involves from the Beginning and the Audience is Engaged with These Characters. A Twisted Ending is a Bit Heavy Handed and Some of the Important Plot Points Involving Switcheroos are Glossed Over Too Hurriedly and Lose Some Impact. But Overall the Movie is Worth a Watch for the Always Interesting Noir Sensibilities and the Magnetic Actors. It's Mid-Range Neo-Noir, Neither One of the Best Nor One of the Worst.

"China Moon" is a steamy thriller that begins modestly with a number of typical film noir components which lead the audience into believing that they know what's going to follow. The reality, however, is that the plot departs from the conventional "Double Indemnity" template and ultimately leads to a twist which is both original and unexpected. There's a great deal to enjoy in this story of passion, treachery and murder including a superb performance by Ed Harris, some beautiful visual moments and even some great blues music by the excellent Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets.Kyle Bodine (Ed Harris) is an ace detective who's extremely adept at examining murder scenes, deducing how the crime was committed and then identifying clues about the nature of the perpetrator. He's a decent man who's well respected by his colleagues but he's also lonely and sometimes arrogant. His powers of observation are normally exceptionally strong but he doesn't see what's coming when he meets and then gets seduced by the beautiful and mysterious Rachel Munro (Madeleine Stowe).Rachel is married to a rich banker called Rupert (Charles Dance) who's a serial adulterer and wife beater. During a particularly heated confrontation with her husband, Rachel shoots and kills him in self defence and then persuades Kyle to assist her in disposing of the body and covering up the evidence of what has happened. Kyle carries out these tasks with his usual efficiency but problems arise when the body is discovered and his rookie partner Lamar Dickey (Benicio del Toro) discovers some clues which lead to the finger of suspicion being pointed at Kyle.Ed Harris looks perfectly comfortable in his portrayal of Kyle's unassuming demeanour and is totally believable as he becomes passionate about Rachel and then increasingly desperate as he tries to prove his innocence. Madeleine Stowe shows the despondency which has overtaken Rachel as a consequence of suffering years of abuse in a loveless marriage but at other times it seems that her depression has made her unresponsive and difficult to read. This type of inscrutability is a classic trait of the femme fatale but Rachel doesn't fall unequivocally into that category as she is clearly a more sympathetic character than the conventional noir archetype.Charles Dance is good at conveying just how violent and despicable Rupert is but his attempt at a southern accent is lamentable. Benicio del Toro gives an interesting performance as a detective who initially shows a number of significant deficiencies in his range of abilities but then later in the story surprisingly seems to acquire a much better grasp of the skills needed to investigate a homicide.The visual style of this movie with its beautiful settings and wonderful shots of the lake at night contributes strongly to the overall mood and is a great credit to the work of cinematographer Willy Kurant.