The King of Masks

Released 1996
Stars Zhu Xu, Zhou Ren-ying, Zhao Zhigang
Directed by Wu Tianming

The King of Masks is melodrama of the highest order: manipulative and occasionally overacted yet deeply affecting despite its weaknesses. The film draws from a rich tradition of stories that have children melting the hearts of lonely, older men or women. Central Station, a Brazilian movie, earned a Best Foreign Film nomination in 1998 for a similar tale. Kolya won two years earlier in the same category. The chief advantage of The King of Masks, the latest film from Chinese director Wu Tianming, is not that it tells the story better than its many antecedents, but that the cultural backdrop - China in the 1930s (a dark time in the advent of the Communist Revolution) - lends depth and freshness to familiar themes.

Bian Lian Wang (Zhu Xu), the so-called King of Masks, is a locally renowned street performer whose magical ability to instantaneously switch between various facial coverings makes him a crowd favorite. A famous opera singer, Liang Sao Lang (Zhao Zhigang), is so impressed with the King's show that he asks to learn the old man's tricks. The King gently, but firmly, refuses, stating that "While my talents may be meager, only a son may inherit them." His family has a long tradition of passing their secrets from fathers to sons (no daughters). However, the King has no child - his only boy died at the age of 10, 21 years ago. So, to ensure that he has an heir, the King goes to a slave market where he buys Doggie (Zhou Ren-ying), an affable 8-year old. At first, the King is delighted by this new presence in his life - someone who readily calls him "grandpa." Then he learns he has been duped. The "boy" he purchased is actually a girl.

Summary by James Berardinelli