#1129: KWAN, Stanley: Rouge (1987)

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KWAN, Stanley (Hong Kong)
Route [1987]
Spine #1129
Blu-ray


Cantopop superstars Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung display the androgynous magnetism that made them icons as doomed lovers in this emblematic film of Hong Kong’s Second New Wave, directed by pioneering queer melodrama master Stanley Kwan. Rouge bridges past and present in its tragic romance between a humble courtesan and the wayward scion of a wealthy family, who embrace death by suicide pact amid the opulent teahouses of 1930s Hong Kong. Fifty years later, she returns to the city-state to find him, drawing a young contemporary couple (Alex Man and Emily Chu) into her quest to rekindle a passion that may be as illusory as time itself. With its lush mise-en-scène and transcendently melancholy mood, this sensuous ghost story is an exquisite, enduringly resonant elegy for both lost love and vanishing history.

96 minutes
Color
Monaural
in Cantonese
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2022


Director/Writer

Adapted from the book by Lillian Lee.
Written by Chiu Kang-Chien.
Stanley Kwan was 30 when he directed Rouge.

The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Ten-page wraparound featuring an essay by film programmer and critic Dennis Lim.

Commentary

None.

Conversation

Between Kwan and filmmaker Sasha Chuk.

Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema

A 1997 documentary by Kwan exploring the representation of queerness and LGBT identity in Chinese film.

1997 memoir film

By Kwan: Still Love You After All These about his Hong Kong identity.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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