Ba wang bie ji
Farewell My Concubine
(1993, Kaige Chen)
Woman destroys perfect male relationship.
Edging dangerously close to trippy if not crossing the line more than once. A stitch of gender bending, but in a natural sort of way (not like the over-the-top annoying Hedwig manner). Took the better part of the films early stages to scheme the gender of the other leading role. Colors straight from Capt Insane-o's swatch book, wild wild wild costumes; emulates the real Beijing Opera I'm sure (if there was one, did not fact check, but so ornate gotta be a real thing eh? Hold up... ok appears to be a totally real thing. Some bits of this existance cannot be simply procured just for 172min of epic mayhem). Ok, so definitely epic, definitely not a "musical," definitely a romp thru the ages (which yeah ok fine is another way of saying "epic"). Forgot that Gong Li is kinduva a babe. Convincing acting on her part and really all around. HENCE best film of Sundance or something like that, Golden Globes? I can't recall. Alls I know is that some fancy pants full of em selves types deemed this as good and I conquer! Here's an oddity... what's w/ actors early in the film "looking" Chinese and then later appearing generic or Western? Perhaps some sort of commentary?
If you're feeling like an epic then this one comes Recommended a bit higher than just 'recommended'
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