Peking Opera Blues (1986)

I love this movie so much

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is an intense action comedy from director Hark Tsui, a story set in post-Chinese Revolution of 1911 where triad members fought each other for power while Sun Yat-Sen's underground movement tried to establish a democratic republic. Mixed into the plot are three young women, played brilliantly by Brigitte Lin, Sally Yeh and Cherie Chung. Lin plays Tsao Wan, who is the daughter of a general. Yeh plays opera actress Pat Neil and Chung plays small time thief Sheung Hung. All three get entwined within the feuding wars of two triad groups that drags them back and forth between the Royal Palace and the Peking Opera.This film blends in action and political satire, to give you an entertaining tale of drama of sacrifice. There are some pretty intense moments as well, from scenes of gun battles to a scene of torture, courtesy of Mark Cheng and Brigitte Lin. All this put added suspense to the film that gives an intriguing aura of tough times during post-revolution China and the yearning of freedom and better lives among its Chinese subjects. Amidst all the carnage and drama is comic relief, most notably provided by Cherie Chung.Overall, it's a rushed film with a lot of chaos thrown in the mix. But, it's pretty entertaining.Grade B-

There is not much that I can really talk about this movie. It isn't one that addresses any really serious issues. All I can really do is give one a quick run down on what it is about and some of the more interesting points in regard to it. Des Mangan, one of SBS's reviewers, absolutely loves this movie (he said so before hand) and puts it down as a cult movie. I don't think that it deserves Cult status, and has not become apart of my collection, but it is still a reasonable movie.Peking Opera Blues is a Hong Kong movie set in 1913 during the beginning of the Chinese Republic. It is set in a town, Peiping or something like that, in South China. The current general is bankrupt and flees because he cannot pay his guards. Then a new general moves in who is involved in a conspiracy to turn South China into a military dictatorship, and his daughter is determined to stop it. Being caught up in this conspiracy is the daughter of a theatre owner, a guard who is about to be killed by his comrades, and a maid from the previous general who is trying to find the jewels she stool.The movie seems to offer the possibility of some fight scenes, but in the end there are not that many. The only cool scene was when the guard was wielding four bolt action rifles at once and shooting all of the other guards in the corridor. There seemed to be potential for fantastic martial arts, but that never really arose. The end was promised to be a bonanza, but that never really eventuated either.I can't really think of anything else that I can describe within this movie. There is no really overriding theme, though there is the possibility of women's rights. The women in the movie all seem to be resentful of male dominance: one wants to be an actor but can't because she is a woman, while the general's daughter cuts her hair short to symbolise her desire to be more of a man. The male heroes in the movie are sort out by the girls, and it is the girls who lose out when both of them are taken. In fact the movie seems to move more from the view of the women than the men - the men are what would be the love interests in typical American movies (and Hong Kong movies as well).I guess this movie wasn't all that bad. There was a lot of untouched potential, and I was never actually board during it. It was interesting enough to keep my attention for the duration. The action scenes weren't fantastic but they were enough to hold me for a while.

This movie is not for everyone. If you're a fan of Kung-Fu movies, with tons of action and light on plot, avoid this movie. If you don't like stylized Chinese movies, avoid this movie. If you don't really know that General Tsao isn't just a chicken dish (a delicious one at this) then avoid this movie. For the rest of us, just sit back and watch a good movie.Granted, the acting is very 1980's Hong Kong stylized acting. If you know a thing or two about Chinese theater (and, for that matter, Chinese Opera) you can easily get past this, since the history is that of traditional stylized movements. The characters are pretty straightforward, in as far as you can get from the English subtitles, which are basic, and sometimes happen way too fast - which is why a pause button works wonders when trying to determine just who this guy is and why he's so happy.There's the girl who dresses like a man, her male friend, the girl who wants to enter the man's world, and the girl who just likes money. And you can tell one thing from this all - they are all actually strong, intelligent characters. Strong, intelligent female characters. The plot moves fast, and, if you pay attention, can really keep you on the edge of your seat. The funny moments are truly funny because they're supposed to be, and the sad moments are, indeed, sad.So, pick it up sometime if you get the chance, and you are aware of all the caveats. It's really worth the time. It completely took me by surprise because I thought it was going to be more Chinese Opera, and less movie.

In Peking Opera Blues, director Tsui Hark takes us back to 1913 China: daughter of the general Tsao-Wan [Lin Ching Hsia] is torn between the love for her father, who plans to secure a loan from the Europeans in order to aid president Yuan, and the support for a rebellious group, who see in Yuan's leadership a peril for the republic and therefore plan to unmask him by stealing the loan papers and handing them to the congress.The movie follows the deeds of three women, different by social class (one is daughter of the general, another one a greedy street musician whose goal is to get rich and leave China, the third one a theatre performer - or, more precisely, an aspiring theatre performer, as acting at the time was only allowed to men) and, yet, put together by Fate. As the three eventually join forces, we get to see a lot of colorful Peking Opera performing, as well as amusing and endearing situations. The movie, indeed, deals with the problems of mutual trust and loyalty, especially in those situations when the ideals come to clash against the personal ambitions.The only aspect of the movie I was a bit put off by is the ease with which the group is always able to escape the most dangerous situations. Even the hardest-to-die Bruce Willis would have been puzzled on how to leave the mansion... and Spiderman himself would need more than one try to leap successfully from a mansion to the top of a tower! Apart from this, Peking Opera Blues is a beautiful movie, more over enriched by a gripping soundtrack, dazzling theatre choreography and, most of all, an intense story that is sure to make you smile with joy at some moments and shiver with terror in other circumstances. 8/10