THE LAST EMPEROR (1987) C widescreen 160m dir: Bernardo Bertolucci
w/John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ying Ruocheng, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Maggie Han, Ric Young, Wu Jun Mei, Wu Tao
From The Movie Guide: "Fascinating but passive pageantry, due to an inactive protagonist. But where else can you get some of these visuals. After a six-year absence, Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci returned to the screen with this grand and powerful biography of Aisin-Gioro 'Henry' Pu Yi, who in 1908, at the age of three, was named emperor of China and by the end of his life was quietly working as a gardener at Peking's Botanical Gardens. ... Combining the command of the historical epic he displayed in 1900 with the political intrigue and melodrama of THE CONFORMIST, Bertolucci has, in THE LAST EMPEROR, constructed a beautiful film about the transformation of both a man and a country. A storyteller and not a historian, Bertolucci offers two tales in THE LAST EMPEROR --- that of China's change, told through a selective sampling of events; and that of Pu Yi's change, told with an emphasis on myth rather than on fact. Moreover, Vittorio Storaro's carefully constructed lighting schemes and moving camera are unmatched by any cinematographer working today. Lone, as the adult Pu Yi, is wholly credible, and Wu Tao, as the adolescent Pu Yi, is every bit his equal. Both actors convey the emperor's innocence, ignorance, and veiled sadistic streak. Chen demonstrates her skill by playing both a radiant teen bride and a rotting opium addict. O'Toole shows more restraint than usual and simply becomes his character, as if he, like Reginald Johnston, would have made an excellent tutor for the emperor. Also worthy of note is the film's score, which combines lush romanticism with traditional Chinese melodies and was written chiefly by Ryuichi Sakamoto (who also scored MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE) and David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame). How we wish the film had used a more red-blooded attack on its commentary on blue-blooded privilege."
THE LAST EMPEROR won all nine Oscars it was nominated for: Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay (Mark Peploe, Bertolucci, based on From Emperor to Citizen, the autobiography of Pu Yi), Cinematography (Storaro), Editing (Gabriella Cristiani), Score (Sakamoto, Byrne, Cong Su), Art Direction (Ferdinando Scarfiotti, Bruno Cesari), Costume Design (James Acheson), Sound (Bill Rowe, Ivan Sharrock).