Yar, you be here: Temptress Moon > Customer Reviews

Temptress Moon Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 9 Reviews)

Amazon reviewer missed the message
Without repeating other comments here, Kaige's Temptress Moon offers much more than merely a meditation. It serves as an allegory of society in flux. Early in the 20th century China was buffeted by economic and social forces that are represented well here. The street scenes of Shanghai where automobiles, streetcars, and rickshaws jostle can be seen as representing the strains of an emerging modernity on China, while the Pang family's wrenching over the loss of the family's head, followed by Ruyi's angst over her role and place in the family and society at large, represent the strains of change. The opium is real and allegorical, and Kaige's message regarding the supposed advantages of western influences is plain to anyone who wishes to see them. Finally, Temptress Moon clearly the equal to if not superior to Farewell My Concubine.

Love on the (Opium) Rocks
Chen Kaige creates another period masterpiece with TEMPTRESS MOON, the story of a wealthy family struggling to maintain their history on the outskirts of Shanghai.

Due to her brother's condition resulting from an addiction to opium (or so we're lead to believe), Ruyi (the ever glowing Gong Li) is granted leadership over the family fortune at a time when women were relegated to secondary roles. However, Zhongliang -- a close relation now grown up and playing a con man to perfection in Shanghai -- returns home to bilk her out of the family fortune at the demand of his boss. When Zhongliang discovers he has fallen in love with her, he chooses to alter her fate ... but his choice only secures his own fate in the eyes of the triad he serves.

MOON is wonderfully photographed, though this image transfer is a bit grainy at times. It is a contemporary 'Romeo & Juliet,' with gangland influences and wonderful period photography. The lovemaking -- while pushing the boundaries in a mainstream foreign release -- is relatively tame but beautiful captured with powerful emotion and vivid lighting. At points, the film feels almost like a narrative valentine to the family and the viewer; but don't look for any happy ending here.

The ending poses a small handful of tight flashbacks that gives new meaning to some of the events depicted in the film, defining more greatly the motivations of the main characters, once again demonstrating how meaningful small decisions are in the pursuit of daily life and how tragic their consequences may inevitably be in the day, months, and years ahead.

While it arguably may be a bit hard to follow at times, TEMPTRESS MOON nonetheless delivers as a truly spectacular, moving experience that should not be missed.

a tangled web of love and deceit.
This film has a slow start, but it sets the stage for the later development of the central characters. Gong Li and Leslie Cheung, two extraordinary actors, are incredibly beautiful to look at, and the chemistry between them is palpable. The relationships in this movie are so complicated...there are multiple triangles...that one viewing is simply not enough to do it justice. This one has to be seen a second time, and it will be well worth it.

1 2 3

Next Page