Review of The King of Masks (1995) by Ld P — 16 Dec 2008

Excellent movie. highest rating five stars. perfect in every respect. This movie reminds me in every way how much I hate most American commercial movies. The film is about a street performer named Wang who practices the change-mask opera art of bian lian as "The King of Masks".

Seeking to pass his art to a grandson, Wang buys what he believes to be an orphan boy at an illegal child market, but quickly learns his new disciple is in fact a girl. As tradition dictates that he cannot pass his art onto a girl, he tries to abandon her, but she stubbornly stays with him.

While looking at his masks, she accidentally sets his humble residence on fire. Out of guilt, she runs away. When Wang is falsely accused of kidnapping a rich family's child, he is thrown in jail.

His former disciple goes to one of his friends, a famous performer in the local opera, threatening to kill herself if he or any of his guests, including a local military leader, are unable to help Wang.

The King is eventually freed, and finally agrees to teach her the art of bian lian. I enjoyed the glimpse of the china of the past of which Americans never get to view. This seems a very authentic movie.

! I agree with Ebert: "Like so many recent Chinese films, it benefits enormously from the beauty of the setting, the costumes and the customs. It's poignant to realize that a society of such beauty existed so recently.

The river life of Wang and Doggie may be at the poverty level, but it has a quality that no modern rich man can afford" This film is first rate cinema storytelling. It is fantastic to see the characters grow together--even if she is not a boy!! excellent movie.

highest rating five stars. One small ps type item. The sound kept cutting out on one channel of my stereo on this DVD periodically. Seems like its an internal audio problem on the DVD. Maybe my copy only?