Center Stage

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S R 1001 movies to see before you die. Another pro-China movie, focused on the Japanese occupation, but in the frame of the Chinese movie industry. It was well made and compelling, but felt a bit like propaganda despite the good acting and information about the actress and the history. Juxtaposing the old films and the new was effective. It was on Amazon. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review William L Center Stage takes an unusual approach towards depicting the life of its subject, Ruan Lingyu, the first superstar of the Chinese silver screen - though much of the film is a relatively traditional dramatization of the life of the actress, the film is intercut with scenes from some of Ruan's actual films as well as candid shots of the production team and contemporary interviews commenting on their thoughts on Ruan's life, legacy, intentions, and personality, and meta snippets from production of the period recreations. Anchored by a characteristically strong and nuanced performance from lead Maggie Cheung, Center Stage has strong atmosphere and period flavor. The film gives appropriate deference to the tragic nature of Ruan's villanization in the media of the day, her depiction as an individual of checkered character, and interweaves feminist themes, though it's difficult to call it totally original in that regard; it's a solid but somewhat conventional biopic at its core that is elevated by original narrative design and good performances. Weirdly enough, this is actually the second somewhat meta 1990's Southeast Asian biopic about an early 20th century historical figure that I watched in the past week (The Puppetmaster, 1993). (3.5/5) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/21/21 Full Review Audience Member Maggie Cheung plays silent screen actress Ruan Ling-Yu, who was China's biggest movie star in the 1930s until she committed suicide in 1935. This was Maggie's break-out role and she went on to become an international star after winning the best actress role in Berlin. She appears in every scene and as a result, her character is the only fully delineated one in the film, probably intentionally. Director Stanley Kwan uses an impressionistic strategy to triangulate the viewpoints on Ruan - the re-enactments of her life and films by Cheung and the cast, clips of Ruan's actual films in grainy black and white, and occasionally, discussions between Cheung and Kwan himself along with surviving Chinese actors about the real Ruan. Unfortunately, I saw a cut version (121 minutes) which may have skimped on some of the latter experimental aspects, sadly. The film's art direction is sumptuous, with an intense use of patterns (bold Chinese dresses in front of mismatched wallpaper somehow works a charm due to the colours chosen). Ruan's life was not a happy one due to her problematic relationships with a exploitative gambler and a supportive but married older man and a battle with the tabloid press seems to have ended her will to live. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Ruan Ling Yu is a heartfelt, often sorrowful film that tells the short-lived yet legendary life of a young Chinese movie star both on and off the scene. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member The other day, I stumbled upon a heartbreaking "trivia": during the filming of Imitation of Life, as Mahalia Jackson appeared to sing an acapella of Trouble of the World, Lana Turner actually broke down and ran out of the film set. Amazingly, this is what Centre Stage is all about: the intricate intersection between life and art and the tragic predicaments of female movie stars. This IS imitation of life, and not since mentioned Sirk's film, have I actually shed tear at a movie. I can't say that the editing pleases me entirely (some of the parts are too meandering), but the film manages to strike powerful emotional notes through its sincerity. I consider this, along with Campion's The Portrait of a Lady, to be the most important post-feminist works that ever grace cinema. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Believe it or not, I had never watched this film (neither in cinema, VHS, VCD, LD, DVD, nor on TV) until tonight! "Centre Stage" was arguably the most significant piece in Maggie Cheung (as Yuen Ling Yuk, the protagonist)'s career. It was a watershed how people recognize her as an 'actress' transformed from a movie star. The film was undoubtedly an ambitious project directed by Stanley Kwan. Apart from its fictional part, the film is also a mixture of documentary & behind-the-scene footage. It is an hard-to-take avant-garde even for today's standard. It maybe an good Art House example in the history of HK Cinema. It is however way too overlong, trivial & too much to say at the same time. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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