The Stage

Republican-era China, in years when the fighting never stopped. An opera troupe is trying to put on a show at a theatre in the city. On stage a Peking opera is running and the actor playing the ruler sings his heart out; behind the curtain there is money, fear and negotiation. The commander who holds the city comes to watch and announces that he does not like the ending. The troupe has to survive and to please the man in the seats at once. Once the curtain is up, how the play gets performed is no longer in anyone's hands. Chen Peisi directs, adapting the stage play of the same name, and takes the lead himself. A hundred and seventeen minutes. Huang Bo and Jiang Wu are also in the cast. A film that runs in the shape of a comedy and darkens steadily toward the end.