Peking Opera Blues is possibly the most perfect amalgamation of Hong Kong Cinema ever put on film. It mixes real life history with political intrigue, screwball comedy, romance, and acrobatic action. It is a bright, vibrant, ridiculous film, and enormous amounts of fun.
Buy Peking Opera Blues Blu-raySet in the year 1913, a pivotal moment in Chinese history. The Qing dynasty, which had lasted for some 300 years, was dead. A democratic republic was forming in its place. Corrupt generals were using military force to push the country back into some form of imperial control. That’s (more or less) real history and the background to our film.
Things get a little complicated in the beginning of our story (so bear with me), but then they get simpler and much more entertaining. General Yuan Shi-Kai has taken power of the country, but he needs European money to stay in power. General Cao (Kenneth Tsang) has helped him secure those loans. Cao’s daughter, Cao Yan (Brigitte Lin), is a revolutionary spy who needs to steal the loan documents to help push the country into democracy. Complications ensue. She’ll eventually team up with two very different women.
Hong (Cherie Chung) is a musician who wants nothing more than to earn enough money to leave the chaos currently engulfing her country. We meet her at a performance where a different corrupt general takes a shine to her and declares he’ll make her one of his (many) wives. But before he can pursue her, he’s pushed out of power when his soldiers come after him because he’s neglected to pay them for many months. In the ensuing chaos, Hong steals a box full of jewelry but then loses it, which brings her to the Peking Opera house.
Bai Niu (Sally Yeh) is the daughter of the guy who runs the opera. She desperately wants to be an actress, but the custom of the time forbids women from the stage. When General Cao and Cao Yan visit the opera to watch a performance, fate will bring her, Hong, and Bai Niu together. They’ll spend the rest of the film trying to steal those loan papers and avoid being captured.
None of this plot synopsis gets even close to explaining what a wild, beautiful, ridiculous experience this film is to watch. The costumes and set design are full of big, bold colors. Director Tsui Hark’s camerawork is fluid and constantly moving. Tonally, the film moves from serious drama to slapstick comedy to incredible action sequences to sweeping romantic moments and back again. There will be a gag in which a character passes out in a toilet, followed by a stunning scene in which characters dive from the stage holding colorful cloth, which unfolds as if it is the sea moving across the floor.
I’m not super familiar with Hong Kong cinema. I’ve seen more than my fair share of Shaw Brothers’ kung fu flicks (and quite a few from Golden Harvest) and some other films by John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, and others, but I’m not an expert. There is definitely a lot of Shaw Brothers influence in this film, especially their more comedic movies, though I’d say the direction here and the acting beat anything the Shaw Brothers ever got their hands on. But there is a broad silliness that they share.
Honestly, it is in this comedy that the film loses me. I’m weird when it comes to what makes me laugh in a film. I tend to not crack a smile with big, broad jokes, and most slapstick leaves me cold. But I do love a film that goes for broke with its comedy, and the way Peking Opera Blues blends its humor with all its other genre flourishes is quite clever.
There is a fascinating feminist bent to this film. Cao Yan’s hair is cut short, and she dresses like a man. This allows her greater access to the male-dominated culture in which she lives. Bai Niu wants a job in which women are not allowed to perform (and yet men are asked to portray women). There is an interesting scene where her uncle (who regularly plays women on the stage) is pursued sexually by one of the military men. He slips out the window to escape but keeps on his wig and makeup while doing so. Hong is the only one of the trio pursuing what would generally be considered herteronomative, and right at the beginning of the film she’s harassed by that general who wants her to become his wife after seeing her perform. At first, all of these women seemed defined by the men in their lives, but over the course of the film the come into their own and pursue their own desires.
I watch a lot of movies. I love watching them with my wife, but she’s a little more particular with the types of films she wants to sit down with. So, I often wind up watching them alone up in my room. So it was with this film. I really wish I’d asked her to watch it with me. It is a film that deserves a crowd. I’d love to see it in a packed theater. It is a film that anyone can watch and love. It literally has something for everyone.
Shout Factory presents Peking Opera Blues with a new 4K UHD transfer. Unfortunately, my disc was defective and unreadable in my player. Fortunately, this set also comes with a Blu-ray and it looks fantastic.
Extras include the following
DISC ONE (4K UHD):
- 4K Scan From The Original Camera Negative
- Presented In Dolby Vision (HDR-10 Compatible)
- Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio Mono, English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
- Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated for This Release
- Audio Commentary with Film Critic James Mudge
DISC TWO (BLU-RAY):
- 4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative
- Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio Mono, English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
- Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated for This Release
- Audio Commentary with Film Critic James Mudge
- “An Opus For Peking: Starring in a Tsui Hark Classic” – An Interview with Actor Mark Cheng
- “An Operatic Achievement” – An Interview with Cinematographer Ray Wong
- “Hong Kong Confidential” – Inside Peking Opera Blues with Author Grady Hendrix
- “Peking Provocations” – An Interview with Author and Critic David West on the Cinema of Tsui Hark
- “Peking History Blues” – Professor Lars Laamann on the Setting and Time of a Tsui Hark Masterpiece
- Archival Interview with Actor Sally Yeh
- Archival Interview with Composer James Wong
- Theatrical Trailer
- Image Gallery
Peking Opera Blues is the ultimate Hong Kong movie. It is crazy in the best possible way, funny, and dramatic. It is truly one of a kind and this new disc from Shout Factory is a great way to see it.
