SYNOPSIS:
Mei Lanfang was born to a family of Beijing Opera artists. His outstanding performances threatened the status of Swallow 13, a veteran artist, and a duel was inevitable. However, Swallow 13 was defeated and died. Years later, Mei Lanfang was famous all over Asia, even receiving an invitation to perform in United States. Meng Xiaodong saw through Mei Lanfang's melancholy at first sight. Performing together, man playing woman and woman playing man, they built an irreplaceable bond. But she decided to leave. For Mei Lanfang's sake. When Japan invaded China, Mei Lanfang decided to end his career, repeatedly refusing the performance invitations the Japanese sent. He won people's love with a bravery to confront all calamities. He conquered the shame and fear he was born with. When he himself was no longer an obstacle, nothing would be.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Chen Kaige returns to fine form with his charming biopic of legendary Peking opera artist Mei Lanfang after his dismal CG-ridden The Promise. In Forever Enthralled, he crafts a detailed portrait of the life of Mei Lanfang, from his younger days as a bold, somewhat impetuous performer to his latter days as an advocate of Peking Opera, bringing the art form to countries like Japan and the United States.
It is little surprise then that with such ambition of chronicling almost the entire life of Mei Lanfang, this biopic is a lengthy affair. Indeed, it is best appreciated as two parts, the first with Yu Shaochun as the younger and the second with Leon Lai as the older Mei. Thematically, the two are also for the most part different- though this doesn’t mean each is no less enthralling than the other.
The first section focuses on Mei’s decision to challenge his master, the great Shi Sanyan, and the operatic traditions that he finds himself trapped under by the obduracy of Shi. It is an excellent character study of Mei, the young upstart who makes the difficult decision to contest someone he no doubt still has enormous respect for. It is also an examination of what it means to be a theatre actor in those times, where respect is mostly what you earn disguised in makeup on stage and breaking free from the shackles of tradition always frowned upon.
Yu Shaochun is brilliant in his portrayal of the younger Mei Lanfang and thoroughly brings out the struggles, both within and around, that Mei faced as a novice against his mentor and a much more renowned practitioner. Just as outstanding are the supporting cast to whom we are introduced to, especially Sun Honglei as his manager Qiu Rubai who gave up his career to mentor the singer and Wang Xueqi as Shi Sanyan.
The second section is generally more disjointed, and often regarded as the weaker of the two, beginning with Mei’s short-lived affair with fellow opera singer Meng Xiaodong (Zhang Ziyi), his tour of America, and finally the chaotic Japanese invasion of China. But it is in these separate events that we get a better understanding of the life of the legend, a life ruled by his stage persona, be it the questionable decisions of his manager Qiu or his wife Zhifang (played by Chen Kaige’s own wife Chen Hong).
There’s a measured amount of tragedy and sadness as Kaige plots Mei as a man increasingly devoid of the ability to make his own choices in life, dictated instead by the sometimes dubious judgments of those around him. A fair amount of time is also spent detailing Mei’s ill-fated passion with Meng Xiaodong, apparently the true love of his life- an exploration of Mei’s own perpetual loneliness as his stage inspiration.
Much has been said about Leon Lai’s portrayal of Mei Lanfang, with many protesting even before shooting began of the casting choice. In fact, Lai is a dignified presence as the opera star and while his more restrained performance may not be as exuberant as Yu Shaochun’s, it is still an admirable one, most notable for its subtlety in conveying the torrent of emotions underneath Mei’s seemingly calm interior.
Thanks to Kaige’s eye for detail, Forever Enthralled is also a beautiful biopic with truly gorgeous visuals, its sets and costumes always a sight to behold. Though long, it is still an engrossing depiction of a legendary figure. Comparisons with his earlier “Farewell My Concubine” will inevitably be made, and though this doesn’t match up to the masterpiece, Forever Enthralled is still thoroughly enthralling in its own right.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
There is an entire disc of special features in this Region 3 DVD by Scorpio East. Besides the obligatory trailer (and teaser) and about 8 minutes of promotional footage, what’s most interesting are the bevy of interviews with the cast and crew.
Interview with Chen Kaige Part 1 and 2: Part 1 has director Chen Kaige talks candidly about working with the cast, especially Leon Lai and Zhang Ziyi, with fairly interesting footage of how he got the cast to get into character on set. Part 2 mainly talks about the technical aspects of the production- especially the design of the many intricate sets and costumes of the movie.
Interview with Leon Lai: The actor/singer shares how he immerses himself in the role which many objected to him playing and his on-set experience with director Chen Kaige and co-star Zhang Ziyi.
Interview with Zhang Ziyi: A look into how the crew helped transform Zhang Ziyi into the opera singer most noted for playing bearded men. There’s also a fair bit showing the kind of preparation Ziyi went through to get her operatic scene with Leon Lai’s Mei Lanfang right.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Beautiful visual transfer brings out stunningly the colourful sets and costumes of the film. You have a choice between the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio or DTS 5.1 option on the disc. Both are just as robust and especially admirable in delivering a sense-surround Peking Opera-tic experience.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 26 May 2009
|
