#a fascinating film

[turnt-archives]

Rolling Thunder Revue - A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019)

[romanceyourdemons]

ah yes, the ultimate poor little rich boy story, the three hour woobification of a shitty dude with a shitty life, the last emperor (1987). from a storytelling perspective, this story found itself in a delicate situation: like any film depicting the first half of the twentieth century in china, it had to encompass a massive scale and depict incredible amounts of social change without getting bogged down. like many such films, it avoids this by focusing in on one person alone. somewhat uniquely, however, it also adds a gimmick of memory: the whole story is presented as the last emperor of china, puyi, recalling his life at various points throughout his imprisonment for war crimes. this gimmick, aided by cinematography which expertly shifts to portray the maturity or state of mind of puyi at that specific time, makes the story far more engaging over its lengthy runtime than it otherwise might have been. and of course all this would have been useless without the incredible performances it is built around. peter o’toole gives a very good performance as puyi’s tutor reginald johnston, and john lone’s puyi captures all the bewildered loneliness this film seeks to convey. though the film may not have had anything groundbreaking to say about the historical narrative of 20th century china, what it does say it says sensitively and gorgeously, and, all things told, i must say that the last emperor (1987) is well worth its reputation