The Movie Emperor

This film attempts to convey grand ideas but ultimately remains confined within its own limitations. It appears as though an inexperienced director was granted a substantial budget to create a movie without adequately refining the final product.

Director Hao Ning, with the assistance of Andy Lau, places excessive emphasis on personal expression, thereby undermining the overall structural coherence of the film.

In comparison to its peers, the movie poses several pertinent questions regarding the film industry that merit consideration. Observers have pointed out that the primary theme revolves around satirizing our society's obsession with celebrity culture, which in turn fosters a pervasive sense of narcissism among public figures. This observation may indeed hold a significant degree of truth.

A wickedly funny and very meta portrayal of the modern HK film industry. I deeply appreciate it when films try to be detailed and have their own voice and a sense of place - and this one is VERY deeply positioned in the present moment, many elements of which wouldn't have made sense even 5 years ago.

After all, it is the kind of film which has the main characters practically pray the director of Parasite will find something else to do when they discuss their own film's chances at the international film festivals. The kind of film where the leads get confused for health inspectors when surreptitiously showing up on an unsanitary pig farm uninvited - with everything about the scene evoking what we have learned about the wet markets since 2020. They are there because they want to be inspired to properly depict "rural grit" - which is rightly called out by the local official as an indulgence in poverty porn, their disappointment that the countryside around HK refused to stand in place in "pristine" deprivation nothing but perverse.

Meanwhile, their film's chief sponsor is a vaporware electric car company led by a supremely arrogant techbro - again, something that would have been difficult to imagine even in mid-2010s, yet now a reality both in the U. S. (brand names such as Nicola and Faraday have truly notorious tales to tell) and moreso in the PRC, which invested deeply and profusely into the sector. The protagonist is occasionally interrupted by his smart watch telling him to get up and start moving, since "Movement is life". Last but not least, multiple conversations are held while TV screens display footage from the Ukraine War in the background.

And as a story, this tale of an actor truly in love with his craft and looking to secure his legacy, yet also struggling against his arrogance and other character flaws is very, very thorny and ambiguous. The main character is often in the wrong, yet even his good intentions can backfire - and sometimes vice versa, while the outsiders cannot really tell the difference. The dramatic parallel between their historical film's script and the events outside it may be a little too cute at times in terms of ignored epiphanies, but then again, that is generally the purpose of such (consider the pirate comic in Watchmen.)

Here, Andy Lau may not be LITERALLY playing himself in the script, but he does compete against the literal Jackie Chan (even as it had become an "I don't think about you at all" situation for Jackie.) And the leitmotif here is taken from "In the Mood for Love", Lau's best-known work, ironically recalling the past glory he is struggling to reach again.

I don't know if I can keep going any further without crossing into the spoiler territory. Suffice it to say - there is a reason why, in a year where I saw some 70 films, this was one of my handful of perfect scores.

I respectfully disagree with the other reviewer who gave it paltry 3 stars.

The central theme of this film was to make fun of our celebrity obsessed society. How this in turn leads to near constant narcissistic behavior of the celebrities.

Meanwhile it also shows how an entire industry has developed around such people! We see it in real life in the US!! The spin masters, PR firms, promoters endless talking heads on TV especially for political leaders!!

Andy Lau is the central character who plays this conflict laden personality superbly in my humble opinion. Never seen any of his films before. (Shame on me!) Every single subtle move, expression is exquisitely executed. Again my humble opinion.

I congratulate TIFF snagging this film as their World Premiere. Kudos to them.

Photography and music score were superb. Some of the shots were almost picture frame perfect! Supporting cast were impressive.

Just as a disclosure I am not of Asian descent. So very little bias in this review!

This gets an easy 9 stars from me.

So much of this film reminds me of Fellini's work. One could almost say it's sort of a tribute to his theme and style of existentialism. Could it have been too on the nose? No I would say as it sure does have its own original strokes to it where the story unfolds culturally within its own unique way. It's hard for one to empathize with Andy Lau's character unless one has been through an acceptable level of understanding of what it takes to make a film. It's tough walking a fine line trying to achieve something great while still being able to keep all parties satisfied without having to sacrifice the true integrity of an epic art piece. A balancing act that few people could ever comprehend. Some films are ahead of their time, this might just be one of those, just like Wong Kar-Wai's films, this piece might not find its true value and recognition within the audience until a future date.

It's been highly promoted already, with super movie star Andy Lau playing an in-movie movie star that's modeled after himself. He finds himself successfully in his career peak but with insatiable ambition needing a well-recognised award to fill. His plan to make it big comes back to bite him, in contrast to what he thought. The complexity of the role network: stake-holding parties, his vanity-partially-driven ideal, his self-centred personality, broken relationships would all impress me. A nice insight into the scene of business and movies is offered to lay audiences, and online criticism caused by a tiny issue is definitely aligned with reality. Overall, Andy Lau's long-honed acting and the story's realism make this work an ticket-worthy one. Highly recommended.