Ewan McGregor, Hideko Yoshida, Judy Ongg
Set in contemporary Japan and Hong Kong, a successful model revives memories of her calligrapher father by having her lovers give her pleasure by writing on her body. An affair with an Englishman lead...( read more
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DVD Release Date: December 15, 1998
Stats: 697 reviews
Great film, Peter Greenaway direction is beautiful! This is the first film were Hollywood took note of the young Ewan McGregor too but it?s Vivian Wu who steals the show.
Everytime i try to get into this film i encounter a solid wall that won't let me pass. Vivian Wu should be in more movies, naked if possible.
Greenaway is definitely an acquired taste; he IS painfully affected and pretentious, but his sumptuous visuals can more than make up for it, and this is probably the most beautiful example of his work.
This movie was pretty weird and slow at times, but it was beautiful and was very artistically shot. There was always a lot going on visually (pictures within pictures, subtitles, text, lots and lots of text). The music reminded me of a Clockwork Orange. And as an added bonus t...( read more)
I love this film. Its amazing....And that has nothing to do with Ewan McGregor's lack of clothes... :P Parts of it are vile, but its worth watching!!
A feast for the eyes, and the senses. Ewan McGregor finally dares to play a totally different role.
This complex, erotic, artistic, stylish and beautiful Greenaway tale makes you wonder about our true motivations; the outstanding and depressing (but even so, masterful) direct...( read more)
Sensual, artistic, and mesmerizingly beautiful. This film is one of a kind, the whole concept is very original and the story is enchanting.
Easily my favorite Ewan McGregor movie. It may be rated NC-17, but it is NOT porn. It is subtle in it's symbolism, contains spectacular acting and a gripping story.
The film has written and spoken dialogue in twenty-five languages - English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Latin, Hebrew, necrotic Egyptian ... and it has written calligraphic text on paper, wood, and flesh, on flat and curved surfaces, vertically and horizontally, on both living and dead flesh, in neon, on screens, in projection, as sub-title, inter-title, and sur-title, as High Art and low art, as advertisement and banker's check and registration plate, on photograph, on blackboard, as letter correspondence, as photocopy facsimile, and spoken, chanted, and sung, with and without music ... a mocking challenge. You want text? Cinema wants text? Cinema pretends to eschew text? Then we can give you text to mock that smug suggestion that cinema thinks it is pictures.
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