Tweet
Released on: February 12, 2013.
Released by: Well Go USA Entertainment
Director: Hur Jinho
Cast: Ziyi Zhang, Jang Donggun, Cecilia Chung
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Here we get the Chinese version (by way of a Korean director) of the classic French novel, Dangerous Liaisons. Set in Shanghai in 1931 it's the now-familiar story of lust and romance and the interpersonal warfare that can happen amongst the bored upper class. This version features quite a number of leading Asian cinema stars as well, with Cecilia Chung as the evil scheming socialite, Mo Jieyu; Jang Donggun as rich, smooth heartbreaker Xie Yifan; and Ziyi Zhang as the lovelorn but good-natured widow Du Fenyu.
Xie and Mo are both well-known socialites, with he being known as a Casanova and Mo as a powerful, driven businesswoman. The two also share a friendly rivalry in their passion for hooking up and then abandoning numerous gullible lovers. So they set a bet on their own relationship, relying on Mo's ability to get her ex-lover's new virgin fianceé deflowered and Xie's ability to melt the ice queen that is is distant cousin, Du, and bed her as well. The numerous twists and turns Mo and Xie put each other through are cruelly and conveniently played out, leading to the horribly inhuman final conclusion that's been detailed in film previously.
What sets this version apart is the focus on class and the peasant struggle and nationalism happening in China at this same time. This hateful, loveless, empty gaming with emotions and lives on the part of the lazy rich is balanced with the ever-present image of starving peasant children and political demonstrations against this state of things. The politics are nicely held in check, though, and don't become a hammering point in the narrative, providing just a nice hopeful closing touch as Du's character gets to move on, like Mother China, in a positive direction and leaves the upper class screaming and alone.
Audio/Video/Extras:
This Blu-Ray from Well Go USA comes in full 1080p with a MPEG-4 AVC encode that's presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. While the image is expansive and lavishly shot at the same time some of the black levels seem too compressed as to not allow much differentiation. This only comes up in a couple scenes, though, and otherwise the balance on the film is pretty good. The film itself was shot on Super 35mm and so the lushness in terms of golds and yellows is exceptionally sharp.
The Mandarin-language track is served up in both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 varieties. Both are quite adequate for this film although they both rely pretty heavily on the center speaker.
Extras here include a roughly :20 minute “Making Of†that relies primarily on the main actors explaining their characters and what they do in the movie. They're very matter-of-the-fact, press-kit kind of interviews, though the best info and insights come from the producer and director. Being that this is perhaps the first Chinese production featuring a foreign (Korean) director they find it quite interesting to explain that detail, in detail. Three 2-minute “meet the characters†trailers, plus the US trailer, are also included.
The Final Word:
While it's been done - and done well - previously in film this version of Dangerous Liaisons is still enrapturing and entertaining, providing just the right mix of drama, romance and politics.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
