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Nominations
at the Hong Kong Film Awards 1987:
Best Actress (Sally Yeh)
Best Supporting Actor (Paul Chun)
Best Action Choreography (Ching Siu-Tung)
Best Art Direction (Vincent Wai, Ho Kim-Sing & Leung Chi-Hing)
Best Cinematography (Poon Hing-Sang)
Best Film Editing (David Wu)
There are movies that you beforehand know are masterpieces
and turn out to be just that. Then there are movies like Tsui
Hark's Peking Opera Blues which have received praise
in EVERY review I've read. In the end some praised movies
end in disappointment and for me this was one.
The story takes place in 1913 where three women with totally
different backgrounds must stop the fall of democracy at hands
of conspiring warlords. Tsao Wan (Brigitte Lin from Dream
Lovers) is the one leading the mission to obtain a vital
document and she has to go against her father, General Tsao
(played by Kenneth Tsang from Anna and The King), to
defend the republic. Pat Neil (Sally Yeh from The Killer)
is an aspiring opera actress that get dragged into the hunt
and Sheung Hung's (Cherie Cheung from Wild Search)
only goal is to get back the jewelry box she once stole...
It really feels like I'm in minority regarding my thoughts
of Peking Opera Blues but before we go into why le
me just say that I didn't hate this movie, it's just wasn't
the masterpiece I expected it to be. First let's talk a little
bit about our director Tsui Hark. His place in Hong Kong cinema
history is long since cemented after influential directorial
efforts such as Zu: Warrirors From The Magic Mountain
and Once Upon A Time In China. He has also produced
even more influential works like A Better Tomorrow
and The Killer and recently fired on all visual cylinders
in Legend Of Zu (a movie I quite enjoyed). So with
all those works behind him, no one can claim Tsui Hark is
not good at what he does. Peking Opera Blues does not
lack the elements for a terrific movie. It's beautifully photographed,
costume- and set design are well above average for a period
piece and Ching Siu-Tung's action choreography is creative
and exciting. So what's wrong here then?
In Hong Kong movies we can live, at times, with a less than
coherent plot and while this movie actually has a good plot,
it's never made interesting in combination with other aspects.
I think that To Kwok Wai consciously choose to let the plot
and character take their time to get together, something I
didn't find annoying at all. The story was already moving
forward at a good pace and the team behind and in front of
the camera carried the movie nicely. When we eventually get
the plot and characters sorted out the movie never truly elevate
itself to greatness. The whole time I was waiting for the
thing to blow me away but that feeling never came. Everything
just halts and remains ok despite the fact that there is always
something happening in Tsui Hark's frame. It's either that
the elements are perfect in the script and never fully done
justice to by the director or the weaknesses were there to
begin with. It's hard to tell but I could be a combination
of both.
To Kwok Wai's screenplay jumps freely between the different
moods without any shame whatsoever and that is also an element
that made Hong Kong movies so fun to watch at this point in
time. The comedy in Peking Opera Blues is often very
funny and well-timed, especially in the opera performance-scenes.
The innuendos that occur on stage are handled well by all
actors involved and they do look prepared timing wise, therefore
creating some genuine laugh out loud moments. The comedic
timing of the cast reaches it's high point when Sally Yeh
is trying to hide her friends from her father (Wu Ma). The
drama that is injected here and there throughout the movie
falls rather flat though. Despite that we know the characters
pretty well and like our three leading ladies, Tsui doesn't
manage to bring out the emotions he's aiming for. John Woo
for example always did this masterfully but Tsui Hark gets
stuck with one foot in the swamp of clichés. I just
didn't care or feel sorry for them, which I should've considering
what I as a viewer had experienced with them.
The biggest star of this show has to be the work by action
choreographer Ching Siu-Tung (director of A Chinese Ghost
Story and the upcoming Naked Weapon). Here his
and Tsui Hark's imagination are nicely combined into scenes
with gunplay, crazy stunts and first rate excitement. I really
enjoyed the inspiring camerawork in these scenes but it makes
one miss what great stuff we used to see in Hong Kong movies.Ching
Siu-Tung is a reliable man to have on your project and kudos
to him for making a dork like Mark Cheng look good with guns
in his hands. Definitely the highlight of the movie and these
are scenes you could watch over and over again outside of
the actual movie. I won't ruin anything for you but the climax
is simply awesome and it's one I will watch again before I
pass on the dvd.
Peking Opera Blues is literally filled with stars
starting with our leading ladies and fan favourites from many
movies of this era. As mentioned, in the script all the characters
never truly come to life and Tsui has apparent problems directing
them to life also. Have to say that neither cast member does
a bad job though and leading the pack is one of my favourite
actresses from this era, Brigitte Lin. She again shows that
she was good at her craft while she was working and the conflicts
and the courage within her character is probably one thing
To Kwok Wai pulled off the best in the writing stage. Sally
Yeh gets weak material to work with since her journey and
character arc is never made clear enough but Cherie Cheung
shows great comedic range and is a delight to follow throughout
the movie. It's not often I have fun watching almost typical
Cantonese humour but under Tsui Hark's guidance Cherie puts
in a memorable performance. Supporting players include, the
almost always bad, Mark Cheng, often bad guy actor Kenneth
Tsang and the always wonderful Wu Ma.
Peking Opera Blues is not a bad film but not the masterpiece
I thought it was going to be and the elements that have been
highly praised in reviews, I thought were done ok. It wasn't
easy not to set the bar high with this movie but in the end
it turned out to be a fairly exciting action-comedy. You hear
that some movies may grown on you during a second viewing
but I wouldn't want to watch this again to see if it's true.
Maybe I'll pick up the future Hong Kong Legends dvd to judge
Peking Opera Blues once again.
The DVD:
Megastar's dvd presentation is pretty terrible for fans of
this movie. The 1.85:1 framing seems correct and the almost
hazy cinematography by Poon Hing-Hang gets treated nicely.
Even if it's soft in intention I still felt the picture should've
been sharper. Print damage is as ever present but was not
too bad considering it's an older movie.
The Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 remix is a disaster though.
The good thing is that music is nicely presented in the front
speakers but throughout the movie new bad foley effects are
inserted and they don't fit AT ALL to the on screen action.
Some of the dialogue is drowned out by all this also so it
wasn't a pleasant listening experience. A Mandarin 5.1 track
is also included.
The English subs didn't fare to well either. The grammar
present is often pretty horrific and it does spoil the film
somewhat. Japanese, Korean, Bahasa Indonesian, Bahasa Malaysian,
Thai, Vietnamese, Spanish, traditional Chinese and simplified
Chinese subtitles are also selectable.
Extras...you can guess them at this point. Plot synopsis,
cast & crew listing (with basic biographies for Tsui Hark,
Brigitte Lin, Sally Yeh and Cherie Cheung) plus trailers for
A Better Tomorrow, A Chinese Ghost Story and
The Killer.
reviewed by Kenneth
Brorsson
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