An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty

American culture has always had a hard time reconciling eroticism and art.  Maybe it’s our Puritan heritage.  Maybe it’s our deep-seated fear of naked ankles.  Or maybe it’s because we crave violence in every form but the sight of Rachel’s nipples on a Friends re-run is a national emergency.  Either way, the rest of the world seems to handle it just fine.  In fact, a few hundred years ago the ruling classes in Asia and Europe were renowned for the hedonistic behavior.  Case in point, An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty (1984), one of the final films produced at Shaw Brothers studio, which follows the softcore adventures of a female poet who refuses to conform to social norms expected of her gender.

Independently wealthy thanks to her reputation as an artist and her former role as a concubine, Yuan-Gi (Patricia Ha) dabbles in business, religion and casual sex hoping to find satisfaction beyond the purely physical.  But her selfish quest for fulfillment begins to affect those closest to her, even as her rebellious streak sets the stage for female empowerment that might be ahead of its time.

With elements of the Emmanuelle films and Shaw Brothers’ own historical epics, director Eddie Fong’s film is never anything other than beautiful.  Even the sexual escapades are shot with an eye for sculpture, limbs intertwined in posed embraces that celebrate the bodies on display rather than exploiting them.  The amorous woman in question, Yuan-Gi, is a fascinating portrait in contradictions, wasting her talents on party games and lording her liberated status over all admirers.  An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty isn’t afraid to label even its protagonist as morally confused, let alone the hypocritical acolytes and government officials whose abuse of power is equally corrupt.  Yuan-Gi’s quest for true love ends in poetic fashion, revealing that freedom, like desire, is often more complicated than it seems.

The latest addition to 88 Films’ library comes from the original camera negative and includes a commentary from journalist David West (who provides a relaxed, professorial analysis of the film), interview with Alex Mann, trailer, stills, fold out poster and slipcover.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All Ladies Do It / Frivolous Lola

Image
Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...
Read more

Hand of Death

Image
Even hardcore martial arts fans will admit that not  every  film is worth watching.  With the sheer amount of product pushed out from Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest at the height of the kung-fu craze, quite a few lesser efforts slipped through the cracks, many serving as a training ground for new talent on the way up.  So even if the final product – like 1976’s  Hand of Death  - is aggressively average, there’s bound to be some novelty when it comes to the talent involved.  Names like John Woo, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung are sure to attract interest.  But put them all in the same film and you’ve got yourself some must-see viewing!   Yet another showcase for the mythical shaolin brotherhood, here a monk, Yun Fei, is sent to exact vengeance on a ruthless warlord, Shih Shao-Feng, who’s made a long list of enemies throughout the province.   Yun Fei assembles a team of talented fighters to defeat Shao-Feng and ...
Read more

Charley Chase at Hal Roach: The Late Silents 1927

Image
As a niche within a niche, silent films are certainly a hard sell for modern audiences.  Even Turner Classic Movies can only spare a couple hours a week in their schedule on late Sunday nights.  Perhaps because silents are positioned as something to be appreciated rather than enjoyed, dry history lessons held back by their crude technical limitations.  But the newly restored  Charley Chase   at Hal Roach: The Late Silents 1927  proves silent  comedy  was anything but.  A “do-it-all” comedian, Chases’ on camera persona relied less on slapstick than farcical domestic situations.  Unlike Chaplin’s  tramp  character, Charley often played a put-upon everyman just trying to catch a break.  The first two shorts in the set are a prime example:  There Ain’t No Santa Claus  follows his character’s attempt to hide the purchase of a Christmas gift for his wife from his rent-hungry landlord…while...
Read more