Master Qi and The Monkey King (2010/First Run Features DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: A Film: B+
Welcome
Qi Shu Fang of The Peking Chinese Opera, one of the first female Chinese Opera
Divas. Born in China and
trained in opera from an early age, she blossomed into a one of the top artist
in her field. From dancing, costuming, martial arts, to singing Chinese Opera
incorporates all those skill, and that's just one person. When an entire troop comes together they
demonstrate mystical arts of the orient, see what their life was like behind
the scenes and the cultural history in which the preserve for the future
generations in Master Qi & The
Monkey King (2010).
This
documentary directed by Alan Govenar shows a story of Chinese dancers, the hardships,
training to become the top performers in China. After years of training and touring the world
they came to America and saw the amateur Chinese Opera and decided to stay and
show them what real Chinese Opera is like, the troop brings a piece of China,
it's culture, history and heritage to share with what Americans have only seen
in pictures or imagined in film.
Like the
first European theater, female roles were originally played by men, but with
modern times females have become more involved and taken a role on stage. This film tells the tale of the few success
story of a female actor came to fame and then to the United States. Most actors never make it out of their village
much less the country, so this is a revelation to them. In a country with over 4 billion people, only
a few ever become independent in their fields.
There are
some picture anomalies in the video presentation and location audio issues on
the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, but this is not bad for a documentary
otherwise. Extras include bonus
performances, photo gallery, and biographies.
- Ricky Chiang
