The Last Emperor

Dir: Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987 (9.1*)

Best Picture (AA, BAA, GG)

Sweeping historical epic, beautifully filmed, tells the story of the last emperor of the Ching Dynasty, Pu Yi, played by John Lone as an adult. We begin when he's really a playful 'tike' (this kid was wonderful) and takes the throne, and remains sheltered for decades inside the Forbidden City in Peking. Eventually history forces him outside, and he must deal with World War 2 and Maoism. Peter O'Toole plays his Scottish teacher, Joan Chen is terrific as his wife. Bertolucci's most ambitious and successful film, which also shows a major portion of modern Chinese history, though it is perhaps a bit long and slow in parts (over 3.5 hrs). The dvd set has four disks, holy toledo, a bit of overkill perhaps, but disk two has the director's cut, labelled as "The TV Version", while disk one was the theatrical release. 9 Oscars

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The Conformist

Dir: Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970, Italy (9.8*)
This brilliant and artistic crime film has influenced every similar film since, notably Coppola's Godfather series. He even used Bertolucci's cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who would only have his film developed by a special process available nowhere but Rome, hence the dark, saturated color look that is entirely unique. Bertolucci's film is about a man, Jean-Louis Trintignant in his best role, who supports the fascist government of Italy at the expense of his conscience, just to conform and fit into society. This film brilliantly shows the dangers of selling out your ethics ("soul") to succeed in what may be a temporary situation. Dominique Sanda is the ravishing beauty that tortures his soul. Includes a beautiful shot that equates blowing leaves with death, copied many times since. Definitely Bertolucci's masterpiece, one of the best foreign language films ever.

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