Word: yun
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...largest set constructed from scratch since Cleopatra, including a seven-acre palace. Thousands of extras, amongst them children you'd love to take home. A gilded barge gliding through the waters of an enchanted jungle. Well-behaved elephants. All of this headed by the regal, charming, sexy Chow Yun-Fat. Sounds better than the Greatest Show on Earth. However, the shaky basis, unnecessary length and wobbly storyline of Anna and the King denies it a place amongst epic love stories like Ben-Hur and The English Patient...
...However, this is not to say that the sappy amongst us won't sigh and smile at the love between the king and Anna, for Chow Yun-Fat as King Mongkut provides much to sigh and smile at. While the film's message may not be clear, what is obvious is the talent of Chow Yun-Fat and his ability to carry a film. He perfectly complements and is at home amongst the rich sets and lush landscapes. Despite that neither English or the Siamese he speaks in the film are well-known languages to him, his words are infused...
That's especially true since he is played by the marvelous Chow Yun-Fat, who interprets the role as if the cranky volatility of Yul Brynner and Rex Harrison never existed. He has all his hair, doesn't comically fracture his English and, though he occasionally loses his temper, never loses his quiet wit. There is about him a sort of watchful wariness, a thoughtful, insinuating manliness that avoids macho strutting in favor of bemused calculation. He is, in short, an absolute monarch for our postfeminist time. Cutting through the epic gesturings of Andy Tennant's direction, he provides reason...
...feel about the fact that many of the most popular Asian films here are martial arts related--Chow Yun-Fat or Jackie Chan? Is therea need for more artistic endeavors...
Because little information has come our way regarding Anna, coupled with the fact that there are four screenwriters credited with formulating the script (the more writers, the worse is my opinion), caution is advised before spending upwards of two hours in the theater. To see Chow Yun Fat finally in a North American dramatic role is tempting, but, like special effects, fantastic costumes and elaborate art direction are not sufficient criteria to spend upwards of five dollars on a film. Anna looks to be tepid, trite and filled with it's own self importance...