I think I first sought out Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987) on Roger Ebert's recommendation from his show "At The Movies." I remember seeing it again in the mid 90s while working as a substitute teacher in a history class and was impressed. It has stood the test of time well. The locations and cinematography are amazing and it has an excellent cast with John Lone, Joan Chen, and Peter O'Toole in the principal roles. The special features include: audio commentary by director Bernardo Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Mark Peploe, and composer-actor Ryuichi Sakamoto, and a booklet featuring an essay by critic David Thomson. The audio commentary was quite interesting, but I found it amusing that Sakamoto tried to be an apologist for Japan's colonial role in his commentary China saying that they suffered at the hand so of Europeans as well-certainly not on the level of Nanking and the other atrocities committed by the Japanese there.
I recently read the BFI: Il conformista essay on Bertolucci's The Conformist (1970) by Christopher Wagstaff. So I decided to watch it again and it also holds up to the test of time as a striking visual artifact as well. I originally sought it out as director Paul Schrader confided that he always watches it before starting a new film project for inspiration. And I can see why he does this.
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