''Temptation of a Monk'' () is a 1993

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Clara Law Clara Law Cheuk-yiu (, born 29 May 1957 in Macau) is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director. Law currently resides in Australia. Early life Clara Law was born on 29 May 1957 in Macau. At the age of 10 she moved to Hong Kong. Law studied at the ...

based on Pik Wah Lee's novel of the same name. The film had

Joan Chen Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film ''The Last Emperor''. She is also ...

and Hsing-Kuo Wu in the lead roles. The film is about a monk named Jing-yi and his haunting past, and a lady assassin who was sent to kill him. The film was banned in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Synopsis

Set in 7th Century China, General Shi Yan-sheng (Hsing-Kuo Wu) was tricked into the brutal murder of the crown prince of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

by General Huo Da (Zhang Fengyi), so that he could take the emperor's thrones. General Shi Yan-sheng was forced to flee away but was determined to revenge General Huo Da for his betrayal. However things didn't happen in favor Shi, and all his loved ones including his mother (Lisa Lu) and his girlfriend Princess Hong-e - Scarlet (Joan Chen) were brutally murdered by Huo Da. Devastated Shi wandered around various place and ended up in a Buddhist monastery. Shi became a monk and changed his name to Jing-yi. One day he came across a widow named Qing-shou - Violet (Joan Chen) who had striking facial resemblances with his girlfriend. Violet also became a nun in the same monastery. Initially, Jing-yi is disturbed by the presence of Violet but later falls in love with her. It was unknown to Jing-yi that Violet was actually an assassin sent by none other than Huo Da to find him.

Cast

as Princess Hong-e - Scarlet / Qing-shou - Violet * Hsing-Kuo Wu as General Shi Yan-sheng / Jing-yi * Fengyi Zhang as General Huo Da * Ming-yang Li as The Abbot *

Lisa Lu Lisa Lu Yan (; born January 19, 1927) is a Chinese actress. She won the Golden Horse Awards three times in the 1970s. She is the only person who is a member of both the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts ...

as Shi's Mother

Reception

''Temptation of a Monk'' was met with mixed to positive reviews. While everyone praised the production designs, costumes and cinematography, the writing and characterization was met with lukewarm response. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' said that "For all its beauty, the film has its lethargic moments, and the tangled political intrigue that drives the story is not easy to follow." Stephen Teo of ''Senses of Cinema'' said that: "Temptation may be in the title but redemption is the real theme of the picture, and it's a measure of Law's inability to expound on the process of redemption that the film finally falls apart." Meanwhile, some of the reviews called this film as a masterpiece and some other found the use of silence as a medium of communication as spellbinding. The first part of the film reminded critics of

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

's ''

Kagemusha is a 1980 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate the dying ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords fr ...

'' . Director Clara Law later stated that those portions represented dawn of the chaos the internal conflict, of the protagonist and those scenes should not be considered as part of sensationalism.

Awards and nominations

Won

*''Mili Award-Cinematographer of the Year'' for Andrew Lesnie by

Australian Cinematographers Society The Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1958 for the purpose of providing a forum for Australian cinematographers to further develop their skills through mutual co-operation. Location Its Nati ...

(1995) * ''Best New Performer'' Award by

Hong Kong Film Awards The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies are typically in April. The awards recognise achievement in various aspects of filmmaking, such as directing, screenwriting, ac ...

(1994) for Hsing-Kuo Wu * '' Best Original Score'' Award by Hong Film Awards (1994) for Tats Lau and Yee-Leung Wai * '' Special Award'' for Ming-yang Li in

Golden Horse Film Festival The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

(1993) * '' Golden Horse Award'' for Best Art Direction to Tim Yip, Zhanjia Yang and Wai-Ming Lee in Golden Horse Film Festival (1993)

Nominated

*Hsing-Kuo Wu for ''Best Leading Actor'' in Golden Horse Film Festival (1993) * Eddie Ling-Ching Fong and Pik Wah Lee for ''Best Original Screenplay'' in Golden Horse Film Festival (1993) *Arthur Wong for ''Best Cinematography'' in Golen Horse Film Festival (1993) *Tim Yip and Wai-Ming Lee for ''Best Makeup & Costume Design'' in Golden Film Festival (1993) *Siu-Hung Leung for ''Best Action Choreography'' in Golden Film Festival (1993) *''Best Picture'' in Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) *Clara Law for ''Best Director'' in Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) *Hsing-Kuo Wu for ''Best Actor'' in Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) *Ming-yang Li for ''Best Supporting Actor'' in Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) *Andrew Lesnie and Arthur Wong for ''Best Cinematography'' in Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) *Tim Yip, Zhanjia Yang and Wai-Ming Lee for ''Best Art Direction'' in Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) *Wai-Ming Lee for ''Best Costume & Make Up Design'' in Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) *''Golden Lion'' Award in

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

(1993)

Trivia

* Joan Chen shaved her head for the role of Violet.

References

External links

* * {{Clara Law 1993 films Hong Kong drama films Films directed by Clara Law Films set in the 7th century Films set in China Films with screenplays by Lilian Lee 1990s Hong Kong films