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Center Stage 阮玲玉 (1991) (DVD) (HD Restored) (English Subtitled) (US Version)

Center Stage 阮玲玉 (1991) (DVD) (HD Restored) (English Subtitled) (US Version)

$85.00

Product Title:Center Stage 阮玲玉 (1991) (DVD) (HD Restored) (English Subtitled) (US Version)
Artist Name(s): Maggie Cheung Man Yuk (Actor) | Tony Leung Ka Fai (Actor) | Lawrence Ng (Actor) | Carina Lau (Actor) | Cecilia Yip (Actor) | Chin Han (Actor) | Zhou Jie (Actor)
Director: Stanley Kwan
Producer: Chan Chi Keung | Tsui Siu Ming
Release Date: 2021-06-08
Language: 

Cantonese: LPCM 2.0 Mono
Mandarin: LPCM 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: English
Country of Origin: Hong Kong
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1
Widescreen Anamorphic: Yes
Sound Information: DTS Digital Surround, 6.1, Dolby Digital
Disc Format(s): DVD
Region Code: 1 - DVD
Rating: I
Duration: 154 (mins)
Publisher: Film Movement
Package Weight: 120 (g)

 

Product Description

**GORGEOUS HD RESTORATION RELEASED FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON BLU RAY IN NORTH AMERICA**

\n\nInternational superstar Maggie Cheung (In the Mood for Love) embodies tragic screen siren Ruan Lingyu, known as the \x26#34;Greta Garbo of China,\x26#34; in this unconventional biopic by Hong Kong New Wave master Stanley Kwan (Rouge). Praised for her moving and emotive onscreen presence, Ruan’s private life, which was frequent fodder for the vicious Shanghai tabloids, began to mirror the melodramas which brought her fame, culminating in her suicide at age 24. Kwan and Cheung paint a kaleidoscopic yet intimate portrait of the ill\-fated actress, deftly blending lush period drama, archival footage, and metatextual documentary sequences of Cheung reflecting on Ruan’s legacy. The result is, much like the films of Ruan Lingyu themselves, “tender, vivid and almost overwhelmingly moving” (Time Out).

\n\nBonus features include, Stanley Kwan 2021 Introduction, Stanley Kwan Interview, Hong Kong Cinema Expert Paul Fonoroff Interview, Booklet with new essay by Aliza Ma, Programmer of The Metrograph Theatre

 

Review

Winner - Silver Bear, Best Actress - Berlin Int'l. Film Festival<br> Winner - Silver Hugo, Best Director - Chicago Int'l. Film Festival<br> Winner - Silver Hugo, Best Actress - Chicago Int'l. Film Festival<br> Winner - Best Cinematography - Golden Horse Film Festival<br> Winner - Best Leading Actress - Golden Horse Film Festival<br> Winner - Special Jury Award - Golden Horse Film Festival<br> Winner - Best Cinematography - Hong Kong Film Awards<br> Winner - Best Art Direction - Hong Kong Film Awards ---

One of the indisputably great Chinese works of the past decade and Kwan's most thrilling, concentrated and dazzling achievement. - Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune<p> [Center Stage's] radical break with traditional narrative structure, all the more striking in that it emerges from one of the most commercial industries in the world, is clear evidence of the challenge the new wave directors such as Kwan and his contemporaries Wong kar-wai and Ann Hui, were issuing to the Hong Kong film industry rooted in generic formulas and visual titillation. Like a Chinese box, the film’s various layers slip inside one another, the parts resonating through the whole and interacting in complex and innovative ways. - Dean Bowman, Eye for Film<p> A masterpiece by Stanley Kwan, the greatest Hong Kong film I’ve seen. - Jonathan Rosenbaum<p> Tender, vivid and almost overwhelmingly moving. --Time Out

The self-aware drama moves at the hypnotic pace of an elusive dream―above all, in spectacularly staged musical scenes, set in a night club, merging sinuous and languid dances with high-stakes emotional battles. - Richard Brody, The New Yorker<p> [I]n his 1991 masterpiece, Center Stage, Stanley Kwan turns what could easily be dismissed as postmodern gimmickry into something strange and unclassifiable, an ever-shifting framework that refracts almost every biographical insight the movie puts forth. - Andrew Chan, Four Columns An overwhelmingly moving tribute to the popular Hong Kong actress Ruan Ling-yu of the 1930s. Grade: A - Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews<p> Centre Stage has justifiably earned its reputation as a classic of the Hong Kong New Wave. --Tony Williams, Senses of Cinema

Director:Stanley Kwan

This is the true story of Yuan Ling-yu, the first movie star of the 1930's. Hailing from an obscure background, she became the prima donna of the Chinese screen. Students worshipped her as a cult symbol. Men looked at her with dreamy eyes and women looked at her sideways and full of hate.

Yes, for nine years since her movie at 16, Yuan Ling-yu managed to star in 29 movies. Her roles were usually pathetic ones : girl student, rustic maid, factory hand, prostitute, socialite and authoress. And her endings were invariably tragic : incarceration in a prison, mental breakdown, forced marriages, starvation, illness and even suicide......


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