Movie #13: The Last Emperor

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The Last Emperor


Date Watched: 07/15/24

Format: Streaming on TV via Max

If you cannot say what you mean, Your Majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.

Directing (⭐⭐⭐⭐):

What Bertolucci lacked in writing, he made up for in directing.  The Last Emperor is the art of directing.  He was able to capture the grand scale of China, especially in the earlier scenes.  The only thing that let me down is I didn't feel the transition across time as much as I wanted to.  If it wasn't for the minor changes in actors, I would have been lost.

Writing (⭐⭐):

Acting (⭐⭐):

I am putting these two together.  They were bad.  It wasn't the fact that it was foreign actors.  It was very bad dialogue given to very bad actors.  There were too many times where you had to guess at what was happening.  If it wasn't for Wikipedia, I would not have known the whole story.  That must have been a hard thing to do in 1987.

Wildcard (⭐⭐⭐):

Representation matters.  Cheers to the casting... although their acting skills were pretty bad.  At least they did not take the same route Gandhi took 5 years prior.

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda:

Not very surprised at the win.  Most of the best movies of the year weren't even nominated.  Full Metal Jacket would have been too much for the Academy.  If anything, I am disappointed that The Untouchables did not get enough love.

Ranking:

1) Forrest Gump (Movie #5) 20⭐

2) Gladiator (Movie #11) 17⭐

3) Gone with the Wind (Movie #1) 17⭐

4) On the Waterfront (Movie #3) 16⭐

5) Moonlight (Movie #9) 14⭐

6) Amadeus (Movie #4) 13⭐

7) Shakespeare in Love (Movie #2) 13⭐

8) Rain Man (Movie #7) 12⭐

9) The Bridge on the River Kwai (Movie #12) 12⭐

10) The Apartment (Movie #10) 11⭐

11) The Last Emperor (Movie #13) 11⭐

12) Wings (Movie #6) 10⭐

13) Midnight Cowboy (Movie #8) 9⭐

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