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Hiroshi66 Profile
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Registered: 02-2004
Location: Porter Ranch, California
Posts: 13779
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C-Related Movie: The Last Emperor


I rented this movie yesterday night because I thought it would be a good supplement to the two dramas airing which are about the same time period, the C-Drama Last Empress and the future J-drama Ryyuten no Ouhi. The movie was okay - acting was good, and the history pretty accurate.

Seeing Pu Yi, Wen Hsiu, Wan Jung, and a few other characters from Last Empress was exciting. A few of the differences:

The Wan Jung Empress and Wen Hsiu remain friends until Wen Hsiu demands a divorce from Pu Yi because she is tired of being the consort and wants to be free. She has nothing against Wan Jung and Wan Jung says after she leaves that "she was her only friend." Also - Wen Hsiu and Wan Jung have slept with the emperor in this film.. unlike history, where Pu Yi is said to have never slept with them his entire life.

Also, Kawashima Yoshiko's character is present in this movie, except under another name - it wasn't a name, but a sort of a nickname - something like "East Asian Jade" or "Asian Tiger" - I forget. She is pretty much in love with Wan Jung and in this film - Wan Jung dies in 1945 - after her illegimate son is killed because it is not the son of the Emperor - while in history she dies in 1940, of opium.

We also see the emperor's brother in Mancukuo, and his Japanese wife, who are in the J-drama Ryuuten no Ouhi. It gives us a glimpse of the history of Manchukuo and its rather modern art.

The saddest part of the film is after the communist takeover towards the end when Pu Yi is in the Forbidden City.

It was a good movie, I have to admit I really liked it.
1/1/2005, 11:41 am Link to this post Send Email to Hiroshi66   Send PM to Hiroshi66 AIM
 
ccwf Profile
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Re: C-Related Movie: The Last Emperor


classblockquoteHiroshi66 wrote:

The Wan Jung Empress and Wen Hsiu remain friends until Wen Hsiu demands a divorce from Pu Yi because she is tired of being the consort and wants to be free. She has nothing against Wan Jung and Wan Jung says after she leaves that "she was her only friend."
Ugh. Struggling to recall because I haven't seen this movie in a decade, but now that you mention it, I do dimly recall that scene.

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1/1/2005, 3:29 pm Link to this post Send Email to ccwf   Send PM to ccwf AIM MSN Yahoo
 
Hiroshi66 Profile
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Re: C-Related Movie: The Last Emperor


Yeah.. that was about in the middle of the movie. Throughout the entire movie - Wen Hsiu really liked Wan Jung - and Wan Jung felt Wen Hsiu as her only friend - especially after Pu Yi became engrossed in Manchukuo and became a puppet of the Japanese. So I suppose that's another flaw of the Last Empress.

I also liked the dramatic art of Manchukuo. It seems modern ~ yet a completely different sort of art. Wherever you walk - you see the Japanese flag and the Manchurian flag waving together.

And this movie was probably the longest movie I have ever seen.
1/2/2005, 11:03 am Link to this post Send Email to Hiroshi66   Send PM to Hiroshi66 AIM
 


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