The Last Emperor - Director's Cut Rating: Release Date: 03 February, 1999 Retail Price: $14.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: John Lone Joan Chen Peter O'Toole Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Complete Cast (10 total)

The Last Emperor - Director's Cut Reviews

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A masterpiece
The Last Emperor is one of those movies that dazzle us even after 18 years of its original release. The acting is fantastic, the Photography simply beautiful, and the locations,(specially the Forbidden city sequences) are breathtaking.
Pu yi, the las Emperor of the Manchu dinasty has become a puppet of war lords, to later become a puppet for the Japanese, to finally become a puppet prisoner in Comunist China. We are taken to the luxurious Imperial Court In the Forbiden City where Pu Yi suffers from extreme lonelyness. The movie presents the human side of the Emperor, and it explains why he acted the way he did. A sympathetic view of a man who played a rather ingrate role in modern Chinese History.


Visually brilliant film which kow tows to Communism
This beautifully shot film, with strong performances from John Lone, Joan Chen and Peter O'Toole, tells the tragic story of China's last emporer, Pu Yi.

The film succeeds in portraying the tragedy of Pu Yi, one of history's victims who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The title is ironic as Pu Yi, separated from his family as a toddler, was at best Emporer in the Forbidden City only.

This was one of the first Western films to be shot in Communist China and it shows. There is a sense of not wanting to tread on Communist toes, which comes across very strongly in the prison camp sequences and the depiction of Pu Yi's "rehabilitation". Despite this the film was not well received in China, largely due to certain scenes. Then again the director was Bernard (Last Tango in Paris) Bertolucci!

Despite its 9 academy awards this film hasn't quite attained "classic" status (at least, not this side of the Pond), but is well worth watching as a thoughtful, well directed historical drama.

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