Actress, The

Director:  Stanley Kwan
Year Released:  1992
Rating:  1.5

Distanced look at the tragic life of Chinese actress Ruan Ling-yu and the men of her life who helped make her what she was. Kwan draws parallels between his relationship to Maggie Cheung and that of Ruan and her director(s) - and splices in clips of the classic films Ruan starred in so that he could "reconstruct" the scenes for his own film - but the rest of the movie is static as opposed to dynamic (it's more Hou than Wong Kar-Wai), therefore negating the (eventual) impact of her suicide. Cheung's performance is definitely overrated - she can weep on cue, but the entirety of her presence seems to consist of Kwan getting the right light on her face.

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