A Masterpiece!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

An adaptation of the two hundred year old French novel of the same name, director Jin-ho Hur's Dangerous Liaisons remains fairly faithful to the book, with the noticeable exception of landing the story in 1930s China. In a world where power is as metaphysical as it is monetary, the sensual and conniving Miss Mo (Cecilia Cheung) enlists the allure of notorious playboy Xie Yifan (Jang Dong-gun) to help her toy with the relationships of unsuspecting acquaintances. When the cruel pair makes a bet that Yifan has no hope of seducing the prim and proper Du Fenyu (Zhang Ziyi)- a wager neither party has even considered losing- matters begin to spiral out of control as young lovers Beibei and Dai are thrown into the mix and the human element rears its ugly head.The film looks fantastic. The overall camera-work is inspired and dynamic, while the interior cinematography is tinged with a golden hue that gives each scene a unique and stunning richness. Exterior shots are almost Snyder-esque, making modest use of computer-generated imagery to recreate post-WW1 Shanghai in all its splendour. But aesthetic appeal aside, the strength of this film rests on its characters. Here the audience is presented with a couple of individuals who have achieved great success in their own lives by blocking out their natural human states and manipulating 'weaker-minded' counterparts for their own amusement. As a result, the film accommodates a lot of intrigue when these raw emotions inevitably boil over and consume them. Unfortunately, Hur's ambition in attempting to weave a multitude of arcs together during the third act gets the better of him, as a need to neatly wrap up the holistic plot overwhelms the emotional investment placed in each solitary character. As the closing credits roll, it becomes apparent that Dangerous Liaisons lacked the urgency and genuine thrill demanded, or at least permitted, by the subject matter.It is bittersweet, then, to assert that the film stumbles at the final hurdle when everything leading up to that point is actually quite fascinating. No character is omitted from the story for any extended time, motifs in the form of letters, mirrors and closed doors intelligently hint at the exclusive, secluded world these people live in and the epilogue is rare in that it is both cathartic and memorable in the way that many others are not.At its core, Dangerous Liaisons is an atypical and worthwhile tragic love story; Shakespearean in enterprise despite lacking in execution. *There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on [email protected] and let me know what you thought of my review. If you're looking for a writer for your movie website or other publication, I'd also love to hear from you.*

Having there already been several adaptations to the French novel, this movie had high standards to live up to. Having only seen one of them myself, Cruel Intentions (1999), I still felt this Chinese version deserved more credit than it had been given. This adaptation gave the story sophistication and depth, without playing too much on the idea of sex appeal and sexual scenes within the movie. Some western audiences may find this a little PG, and may not take a liking to the approach, but with experience and a deeper understanding of Oriental culture, it can be explained. The director, South Korea's Jin-ho Hur was really taking a risk with trying to maintain the traditional Mandarin-romance story, but also allowing it to appeal to a worldwide audience. Of course there are a few disappointments, but for me were mainly script based. It frustrated me to realise that the script writers altering the script somewhat to appeal to an English speaking audience. With the cast often saying the odd word or sentence in English, something I had yet to witness in Eastern Asian cinema. I didn't quite understand it at first, completely deeming it unnecessary. There have been many successful Mandarin speaking films that had never attempted this and have won awards in countries worldwide regardless. It didn't, however ruin the experience for me too much, with it still 95% Mandarin Chinese, it was just something that saddened me. It also seemed that while the direction really attempted to make this more appealing to a worldwide audience, it still managed to latch on to the typical Chinese romance story; with a real lack of sexual scenes and a more sophisticated, graceful feel throughout. The cinematography was beautiful, capturing a real authentic feel to 1930's Shanghai. The sets, costumes and general atmosphere captured to perfection. If you're a Zhang Ziyi fan, you will not be disappointed; this is a truly brilliant film.

Why so many people in so many countries love doing their interpretation of the French novel "Dangerous Liaisons" (I'm giving the English translation, I know) is beyond me. It's not THAT great a story. There have been two American versions (which includes "Valmont") plus "Cruel Intentions," plus the Korean version entitled "Untold Scandal." I'm sure there are even more versions out there that I don't even know about.In any event, because I'm a Zhang Ziyi fan and the reviews were relatively decent, I thought I'd give it a shot. This film is OK if you like Asian cinema, but there is no reason to go out of your way to see this film. Zhang is extremely restrained in this role, and unless they intentionally wanted her to look less attractive than she has in the past, her beauty is starting to slip. I had never seen the sumptuous Cecelia Cheung before, and she trumps Zhang in the looks department this time around.With the exception of a very moving sequence by Zhang when she realizes she's been duped, I thought the film was soulless, and broke little new ground compared to the other versions I've seen. If you want to see a great version of this story, then the Korean version called "Untold Scandal" is for you. My review for that one is under that movie on IMDb.

Some characters are just so vile, so devious, so dumb or so benevolent that the notion of them being real people is simply unthinkable. But you want these people in a movie, often desperately, because the very combination of their characteristics is just the right recipe for a drama fraught with lost love, lies, betrayals and startling revelations. Like scandal-laden Taiwanese soap operas, or magic tricks, there's nothing good that comes out of showing you the whole thing before you watch them unfold. The less said about Dangerous Liaisons, the better. I hope you experience its ideas fresh and I hope the plot surprises work for you as much as they did for me.Cecilia Chung plays Mo Jieyu, a jealous and cunning ex-lover locked in horns with former partner and millionaire playboy Xie Yifan (Jang Don- gun). They make a bet that the one-track minded Yifan couldn't resist: If he beds new-in-town widow Du Fenyu (Zhang Ziyi), Jieyu will give herself to Yifan again, but if he fails to achieve the goal, he must give her a piece of land. Talking about Dangerous Liaisons then leads to a more complex problem because this premise that it's being sold on barely scratches the surface of what the whole movie has to offer. Yes, the movie concerns these three characters, but in many ways, they are just catalysts, with most of the major events unravelling around their actions.Telling you how it all exactly plays out and why would definitely sell you on this movie, but it's hard to do so without spoiling the show, so I'll stick to the other noteworthy bit: the setting. Director Hur Jin- ho's 1930s Shanghai is at once glittering and ramshackle, with opulent, brightly lit buildings and polished cars flanking timeworn shophouses and beat up trishaws. The rich hold firm their social mores while the poor prove less restrained, yet they co-exist in undisturbed harmony. It's one of the most carefully curated, detailed and beautiful looks at a lost world, delivering a reality that feels consistently believable even though it's only vaguely familiar.If that sounds like the setting plays a big part in the movie, that's because it does. So much of the plot is predicated on the traditional customs of the period that you suspect the movie would have been less smart and less tense had it been staged at another city in another era. Keeping a couple apart by telling the audience that a relationship isn't valid if the people involved don't share similar social statuses or breaking a marriage because the virgin that a rich and famous man is going to marry suddenly becomes a non-virgin isn't new, to be sure, but it's interesting to see a movie hit on these concepts to propel its story into richer complexity. Into this complexity is where you find the characters switching roles. This is the sort of movie that spends enough time in the headspace of its character for you to claim that you can fully interpret what each character is thinking by the time Dangerous Liaisons nears the end. And you could have easily imagined the movie simmering down to a more predictable conclusion of having each of its characters get his or her reward or comeuppance. Which the characters do. But there's a greater note to that end, and I find myself forced to question whether the good person is actually the bad person, and whether the bad person is actually the good person. Or whether there's always a good side to a bad person.