Farewell My Concubine
Two boys meet as students in a punishing Peking Opera school in the 1920s and remain partners, friends and enemies for 50 years. It’s The Sunshine Boys with screechy singing, and one of the boldest, most beautiful Chinese films in a decade dominated by them. In the “Concubine” opera that becomes their trademark, stolid Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) plays the emperor, luscious Cheng Dieyi (the late, great Leslie Cheung) the concubine. Yin and yang are the roles they assume offstage as well, as Xiaolou has an affair with a courtesan (Gong Li, the imperious queen of Chinese cinema) and Dieyi flirts with the satrap of the occupying Japanese government. Sexual politics gives way to political horror during the Cultural Revolution, when personal betrayal may be the one way to stay alive. Chen Kaige’s stately, volcanic epic was one of the first Mainland films to acknowledge that damage wrought by Maoism. Beyond that, it is a rich dramatization of the venial and mortal betrayals that are the secret, somber melodies of our lives.
A - C
- Aguirre: The Wrath of God
- The Apu Trilogy
- The Awful Truth
- Baby Face
- Bande à part
- Barry Lyndon
- Berlin Alexanderplatz
- Blade Runner
- Bonnie and Clyde
- Brazil
- Bride of Frankenstein
- Camille
- Casablanca
- Charade
- Children of Paradise
- Chinatown
- Chungking Express
- Citizen Kane
- City Lights
- City of God
- Closely Watched Trains
- The Crime of Monsieur Lange
- The Crowd
D - F
- Day for Night
- The Decalogue
- Detour
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
- Dodsworth (1936)
- Double Indemnity
- Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Drunken Master II
- E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
- 8 1/2
- The 400 Blows
- Farewell My Concubine
- Finding Nemo
- The Fly
G - J
- The Godfather, Parts I and II
- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- Goodfellas (1990)
- A Hard Day's Night
- His Girl Friday
- Ikiru
- In A Lonely Place
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- It's A Gift
- It's a Wonderful Life
K - M
- Kandahar
- Kind Hearts and Coronets
- King Kong
- The Lady Eve
- The Last Command
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Léolo
- The Lord of the Rings
- The Man with a Movie Camera
- The Manchurian Candidate
- Meet Me in St. Louis
- Metropolis
- Miller's Crossing
- Mon oncle d'Amérique
- Mouchette
N - P
Q - S
- Raging Bull
- Schindler's List
- The Searchers
- Sherlock, Jr.
- The Shop Around the Corner
- Singin' in the Rain
- The Singing Detective
- Smiles of a Summer Night
- Some Like It Hot
- Star Wars
- A Streetcar Named Desire
- Sunrise
- Sweet Smell of Success
- Swing Time
T - Z
- Taxi Driver
- Tokyo Story
- A Touch of Zen
- Ugetsu
- Talk to Her
- Ulysses' Gaze
- Umberto D
- Unforgiven
- White Heat
- Wings of Desire
- Yojimbo
Behind the List
Great Performances
- Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
- James Cagney, White Heat
- Faye Dunaway, Chinatown
- Cary Grant, Notorious
- Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity
- Jean Renoir, The Rules of the Game
- Raj Kapoor, Awara
- Judy Holliday, Bells Are Ringing
- Bill Murray, Groundhog Day
- Brigitte Lin, Swordsman II
Guilty Pleasures
- Gone With the Wind, 1939, Victor Fleming, U.S.
- Tenth Avenue Angel, 1949, Roy Rowland, U.S.
- Sailor Beware, 1951, Hal Walker, U.S.
- Diabolique (Les Diaboliques), 1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot, France
- School Girl, 1971, David Reberg, U.S
- There's Something About Mary,1998, Bobby and Peter Farrelly, U.S.
- Anatomy of a Murder, 1959, Otto Preminger, U.S.
- Gun Crazy, 1949, Joseph H. Lewis, U.S.
- The Incredible Shrinking Man, 1957, Jack Arnold, U.S.
- Joe Versus the Volcano, 1990, John Patrick Shanley, U.S.
10 Best Soundtracks
- The Adventures of Robin Hood
- Citizen Kane
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Laura
- On the Waterfront
- Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at RKO
- The Man With the Golden Arm
- Jules et Jim
- South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
- Roja
