The King of Masks

This spectacular film is one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen. It shows a China I had never seen or imagined, and I believe it shows 1930's China in the most REAL light ever seen in a movie. It is absolutely heart-breaking in so many situations, seeing how hard life was for the characters, and yet the story and the ending are incredibly joyful. You truly see the depths and heigths of human existence in this film. The actors are all perfect, such that you feel like you have really entered a different world.

I simply can not recommend this movie highly enough. It may just change you forever once you have seen it.

I just saw this movie today with my children (son, 10 and daughter, 4.5) at the 3rd Annual Roger Ebert Overlooked Film Festival. After the film the children in the audience were allowed to ask questions to the Director, Tian-Ming Wu. He (through a translator) told several stories about his life and the making of the film.

All tangents aside, both of my children really enjoyed this movie. Of course, I had to paraphrase many of the subtitles for my daughter, but much of the film is visually self-explanatory.

I won't give anything away, but the bottom line is that this film is SO MUCH better than 95% of the Hollywood crap (especially children's films) out there.

Cheers.

p.s. There is a "real"/original King of Masks who can/could do 12 masks at once. The actor in the movie trained and learned to do up to 4 masks at a time (then they would cut and change to 4 new masks).

I enjoyed the cinematographic recreation of China in the 1930s in this beautiful film. The story is simple. An older male performer wants to pass on his art to a young man although he has no living children. The faces of the actors are marvelous to see. The story reveals the devotion and gratitude of children to those who treat them well and their longing to be treated well. The operas in the film remind me of FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, which was more sophisticated and intricate. The story here reminds me of a Dickens tale of days when children were almost chattel. The plot is a bit predictable and a bit too sentimental for me but well worth the time to view for the heroism, humanity, and history portrayed.

This is a beautiful, rich, and very well-executed film with a rich and meaningful story. Basically, it tells how an old master story teller needs to find a (male) heir to carry on his craft, but ends up not getting what he expected in his very male-dominated world. The characters must then deal with their situation and the old master must grapple with the conflict between his desire for a companion and heir and his and society's traditional notions.

The story is fun, emotional, and complex. The exploration of the characters, their lives, and emotions, is rich and compelling the character development is strong while the characters are complex and not one dimensional at all. The film expertly conveys the old man's emotions and his desire to find an heir, and compellingly shows how he and the kid handle the situation. There is also humour, sometimes quite subtle, at appropriate points. The film also examines the good and bad of traditional Chinese culture, creating further interest and depth to the film.

The directing, acting, and scenery are all outstanding. Added to the other strengths, this creates rich and convincing visual images and compelling, real characters. As a result, the film evokes strong empathy for, and feelings about, the characters.

Some have claimed that the ending weakens the film, but I do not necessarily agree. Perhaps it could have been stronger with a different ending, but any improvement in the overall film would have been rather small.

"The world is a cold place, but we can bring warmth to it." - Master Liang

Predictable, manipulative, and emotional? Yes, but if you still have a heart that beats, you may find Wu Tianming's 1996 film, The King of Masks, to be a moving and memorable experience. Beautifully photographed in gorgeous color, the film tells the story of Wang Bianlian, a lonely old street performer with rotting teeth who lives in a houseboat on the Yangtze and is a master of the art of "face-changing". This involves putting on and taking off silk masks in the flash of a second so that the process is almost invisible to the eye. In the highly patriarchal society of the 1930s, this sort of magic could only be performed by a male; therefore, Wang, abandoned by his wife and children many years ago, must now find a boy to carry on his tradition or it will die forever.

When a famous transgender opera performer called the Living Bodhisattva, Master Liang (Zhao Zhigang) offers him a job in his acting troupe, Wang declines and decides he must find his own "grandson" to pass down his gift to. Thinking "she" is a "he", Wang goes to a slave auction and buys a sad eyed little eight-year old for $5 in a dark alley. He calls her "Doggie" (Zhou Renying) and takes his new companion to live with him and his beautiful monkey "General" (who comes close to stealing the show). When Wang accidentally discovers that Doggie is a girl, he is ready to cast her out, but having been sold seven times previously, she begs to stay.

Xu Zhu, an outstanding actor in the Beijing People's Artistic Theater, portrays Wang as a man still operating within the rules of society but one who is full of kindness and good humor. Out of compassion, the old man agrees not to teach Doggie the art of masking but allows her to stay as a servant and to learn acrobatics to perform in his act. Both social outcasts, the two form a friendship based on mutual need and longing. Cutting to scenes from a Chinese opera, Attaining Nirvana, attended by Wang and Doggie, in which a princess, upset over her father's suffering, vows to find and comfort him in the underworld. Sacrificing herself, she becomes a Bodhisattva. This mirrors the emotional pivot of the film when Doggie, now lovingly devoted to "Grandpa" (whom she must call "Boss"), is willing to sacrifice herself to help him when he is in serious trouble with the authorities. King of Masks is a work of warmth and tenderness, yet is also an indictment of the emotional harm caused by gender preference in society. Zhou (Doggie) is so real in expressing her feelings of being unloved and unworthy that her performance is truly radiant (she is an orphan who performs acrobatics in real life).

One of the most poignant moments in the film occurs when Doggie picks up a statue of a Bodhisattva and asks Wang, "you worship her, don't you?" Tianming, who returned to China in 1995 after a prolonged absence, stated: "I wanted to make this film", he said, "because I fear that society is forgetting our Chinese traditions. Those traditions emphasized the value of morality and ethics, proper manners, a sense of honor, and taking care of each other…Through this story of an old man and a child in a world full of struggle and suffering, I wanted to express the importance of love." He has succeeded far beyond his expectations and, in the process, has elevated us to a new level of understanding and compassion.