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Thread: The Great Magician 大魔术师 - Tony Leung, Lau Ching Wan, Zhou Xun

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    Senior Member xiaolong's Avatar
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    Default The Great Magician 大魔术师 - Tony Leung, Lau Ching Wan, Zhou Xun

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    Let's just say...WOW! I actually had really low expectations of The Great Magician when one of my Livejournal friends called it a joke. And when it comes to Chinese comedic movies, my standards are really tough as it takes a lot to make me burst out in laughter and I detest over-the-top slapstick-types of comedy that B-grade HK cinema is known for. But The Great Magician made me laugh so much...I almost forgot when was the last time I laughed this hard after watching a drama or movie. I'm now more than convinced that Tony Leung's talent for comedy is rather under-rated compared to his dramatic talents. He's usually seen as a rather serious dramatic actor these couple of years by movie-goers, but his early performance as Wei Xiao Bao in TVB's DOMD in the 1980s already more than convinced me he's one of the greatest comedic talents in his generation.

    I can see why some of my fellow bloggers didn't like the movie. The most common complaint is the character of Bully Lei, who is suppose to be the typical evil warlord we have gotten accustomed to hate and detest in the min guo drama genre. But he turns out totally the opposite. And that's precisely why I loved this movie.

    In my opinion, the script for The Great Magician is magical. It belongs to the self-reflexive, anti-illusionism genre, reminding me of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters In Search Of An Author (a play I studied in-depth during my university days). However, it's not a genre known to Chinese audiences, hence the reviews have been mixed for this movie. But to me, The Great Magician is a triumphant mark of the coming of age of the min guo drama genre. All the stock characters and story elements of the typical 1930s min guo drama are set up early in The Great Magician - a powerful evil warlord Bully Lei (Lau Ching Wan) kidnaps a young beautiful woman Liu Yin (Zhou Xun) to be his concubine and holds her father hostage. The young woman's handsome ex-lover Zhang Xian (Tony Leung), who is "The Great Magician" as named in the title of the movie, plots to save her and her father from the evil warlord. In fact, during one of Zhang Xian's early shows for Bully Lei's concubines, he uses a series of paintings to narrate this typical min guo drama-type plotline, and the audience is moved to tears, rooting for Zhang Xian to succeed in overthrowing the evil warlord and attain his happily-after-ever with Liu Yin. Yup, I was definitely expecting a plotline along those lines.

    But one by one, these stereotypes are subverted. All is an illusion. The warlord isn't actually evil. The young woman is no damsel-in-distress. And the handsome ex-lover, well, since I'm in a bromance-mood a la BBJX, forms a kind of touchingly "bromantic" relationship with the not-that-evil warlord! HAHAHA! And the father who's under hostage, isn't really under hostage by Bully Lei, but is in the situation that he is for his own protection. Plus the way some scenes were filmed...they were almost throbbing with danger, e.g. when Zhang Xian gatecrashed a society party at Bully Lei's house to see Liu Yin, and Bully Lei confronts him when he sees Liu Yin's longing glances at her ex-lover...
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    The movie ruminates on the typical min guo plot element of "free love" versus "forced love". In the typical min guo drama, it's always the warlord (usually a 'dirty old man'-type acted by not-so-hot actors) who uses dastardly means to steal young beautiful women away from their true loves (usually hot actors like Chen Sicheng - a regular in the min guo drama genre). Yet, near the end of The Great Magician, I was actually all for Liu Yin to get together with Bully Lei! *shock* It doesn't help that Lau Ching Wan is made-up to look exactly like notorious historical warlord Yuan Shikai.
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    I think Bully Lei is a kind of satire on the Yuan Shikai character-type in min guo dramas - stealing young women from their fathers and true loves to join his harem, cooperating with the Japanese, imprisoning political dissidents in terrible conditions. But one by one, these stock characteristics are turned upside down...and all for a great laugh!

    I was really impressed by Lau Ching Wan's performance to endear both Liu Yin and Zhang Xian, AND his audience, to adore his bumbling "evil warlord" character and actually root for him to have a happily-ever-after with Liu Yin.

    But there will be an open ending on the love triangle. In the end, I actually just wanted all three of them to be BFFs forever and not be involved romantically. Just more fun that way.
    Last edited by xiaolong; 01-17-12 at 11:15 PM.
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