The King of Masks . Tucson Weekly . 08-23-99

The King of Masks

DIRECTED BY: Tian-Ming Wu

REVIEWED: 08-23-99

Hong Kong director Wu Tianming deftly paints a simple yet moving picture of Wang (Zhu Xu), an elderly street performer who must find a male heir to carry on his mastery of a unique artform involving the rapid-fire changing of brilliantly colored masks. Things get messy when the little boy he finally adopts, "Doggy," turns out to be a girl (the adorable Zhou Ren-Ying, who makes the Olsen twins look like puke). I'm usually diabetic when it comes to sugary stuff like this, but Doggy's gutsy struggle to prove her worth to the old man (and to a culture that considers female children worthless) could pull a smile from the lips of Chiang Kai-Shek. The movie's visuals are as sweet as the plot, dishing out candy-colored images of surreal Hindu operas, monolithic religious icons carved from an entire cliff face, and the King of Masks practicing his astounding craft. It's a luxurious, satisfying film; I wanted to see it again a couple of hours later.

--Greg Petix

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