Reviews (8)

PROCEED WITH CAUTION
Set in the T'ang Dynasty, TOAM is a story of fratricidal politicts in which the emperors chief bodyguard Shi (Wu Hsin-kuo) becomes a willing, albiet passive, accomplice in a palace coup initiated by the emperors brother. Despite promises to Shi prior to the coup, the emperor and all his family are killed, and out of shame and guilt he flees, taking anonymous shelter in a Buddhist monastary. Not wanting to give the rest of the film away, be it enough to say while often a very slow moving film, Temptation of a Monk is still a fairly good one, with Shi's unintentional spiritual evolution and some very good visual panoramas. Joan Chen plays a dual role and the monk that becomes Shi's mentor is an enjoyable character.

temptation can be a passive response
Hong Kong director Clara Law's film is based on a novel by Lillian Lee, who also wrote Farewell My Concubine. Set in China's Tang dynasty, it concerns the antagonism between two generals, Shi (Wu Hsin-Kuo) and Huo Da (Zhang Fengyi) who plot to overthrow the Emperor. Shi retreats from the fight when the ascendant heir is killed and seeks refuge in a Buddhist monastery. Law lacks the narrative skill to elucidate the story, relying instead on random set pieces, which occasionally redeem her painfully slow pace. The stylised use of colour and choreography in the opening ceremony and in an extended brothel sequence are very lovely, and she out-Peckinpah's Peckinpah in savage slow-motion massacres. Law has a good eye for composition, favouring the use of wind and smoke in her exteriors, and the burning of a house near the end is very beautiful. The brothel sequence features a transvestite, and the sex scene between Shi and a nun is all the more erotic because their shaved heads give it a particular subtext. Of the actors, Joan Chen manages to connect with the audience, though her screen time is limited, and the abbott monk raises a few laughs.

temptation and restraint
this movie has got to be one of the greatest stories of all times, if you can understand it. you need to understand the asian culture in order to truly grasp what's going on as joan chen acts two roles. it has no relevance on the story, it's just this woman trying to kill the hero-the 19th princess is already dead. it is the monk being tempted which is obviously the core of the movie-where our hero has forsaken revenge for introspection. it is only after he is pushed to the furthest point of endurance where he fights back, and even then unwillingly. it is this self-control that most US viewers have a hard time comprehending, but one sees that the hero's opponent's lack of self-control is what makes him lose in the end, a modern fable this is

Confusing Story
Temptations starts off well, but it gets confusing when Joan Chen's character Scarlet is killed. Then, later on, when our hero takes refuge in a Buddhist monastary, Joan Chen shows up again as Violet. Was she supposed to be Scarlet's twin sister, or what? The sex scene in the monastery, in which Chen and the protagonist are bald from having shaved their heads, is pretty erotic, but apart from that, there is no reason to see this movie at all.

Yet again disappointed!
First let me say that I like this film. It's beautiful with a intriguing story.

With that out of the way let me again point out that Fox/Lorber has again put out a poor DVD edition of another film. The subtitles are on the film and very big. I guess I shouldn't complain as you can read them, unlike most of Fox/Lorber films.

This is in Full Screen. I wish someone could explain to me how Fox/Lorber can call their movies widescreen with they are full frame? Someone should call them on this fact as they repeatedly call their movies widescreen that are obviously full screen.

The video is decent as is the audio. All I can say is that it's watchable and doesn't take too much away from the original. But again it's just a poor transfer.

Oh well...if you are like me and really want to see this film it is probably the only version that will come out. But if not...there are plenty of Criterion and Anchor Bay DVDs to mention a couple. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

to people who want a gllimpse into asian culture
if you want to understand more some of the heritage and the issues facing traditional asia, this is the movie for you. real modern poetry. ... Read more

Description

Four leading and award-winning international filmmakers create a highly charged anthology of erotic short films told from a female point-of-view. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Looking for Lots of Celebrity Skin? Look Elsewhere
Priscilla Barnes of TV's "Three's Company" promoted this movie, saying something like, "I have a very daring nude lesbian scene..." Well, she is in the movie, and she plays a lesbian, but aside from a few kisses and caresses, the ladies don't do much. If the Priscilla footage is the only reason you want to see "Erotique," you will be disappointed.

The movie is four sex-related short films spliced together. The first one is about a phone-sex worker, and it's kind of dumb; the next is longer and set in Latin America on board a train, and it's even worse. Then there's "Taboo Parlor," starring Priscilla, and while the sex and nudity are too brief the itsy-bitsy movie itself is better than the first two. Finally, there's "Wonton Soup," a movie about a Chinese couple that's really well made.

But again, if Priscilla Barnes is the drawing card for you, save your money and buy a collectors' edition of 3/76 Penthouse, which features her as Pet of the Month.

Insufferably bad soft porn.
Yes, it's porn. Yes, it's SOFT porn. And, yes, it is very, very bad. There are many films out there that do sex and fantasy well, tell a story, and contain "ideas." Try, for example, "Lady Beware" or even "Crimes of Passion." The acting and writing in Erotique is, well, wanting. The scenarios (not just the phone sex story but ALL of them) is standard stuff pilfered from the pages of Penthouse Forum circa 1977. Been there, done that, don't care. An utter waste of money and time.

Majesty of hominism
I thank Leonard Maltin for standing up for the majesty of hominism and LOGOS in art, which is well-practiced and annealed innovation. Unnanealèd experimentation should remain in private, and not be hideously aired like dirty laundry. Thus had Leonard, with the light of modesty, abjured this aborted endeavor with a just and measured implacability.

A total tasteless video
Very dull and boring. Nothing but a complete turn off. One or two scenes started getting spicy and while it seemed that they could produce a 'start engine' condition, they abnormally terminated, without succeeding their point even at least. As for nude scenes... A schoolchildren suitable video. I do not seek exclusively for hard-core scenes. Erotic videos can be far more arousing, if well made,(e.g:Penthouse videos) without the sole need of them. I was totally dissapointed with this one. A total waste of time and money...

Good and funny look at sex in 90's
Agree with that other reviewer that Maltin can only understand Disney fare. This one is for art films lovers who also want to laugh. Rented it from NetFLix, liked it so much that I'm buying it from Amazon. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Tony Leung Kar-fai tracks his missing expatriate wife (Maggie Cheung) from Hong Kong to New York City, which is depicted simply as an urban sewer in this gratingly arch and pretentious 1990 melodrama, written and directed by the ambitious young director Clara Law (The Reincarnation of Golden Lotus). Every specific detail of the horrors of New York rings luridly false, and Maggie Cheung, who was just about perfect in Ann Hui's expat heart-tugger Song of the Exile, embarrasses herself. In fairness, no actress on earth could make something convincingly human out of the character she has been asked to play, a victim whose personality has been split down the middle by the pressures of her icky new environment. One half is a demure Chinese village girl, the other a borderline whore, a role she's forced to assume in order to survive in the Gotham Inferno. As he continues his search, Leung picks up a standard-issue eccentric sidekick, a streetwise, gum-popping Americanized Chinese girl (Hayley Man as a stereotyped punk rocker). The fatal finale (in the shadow of a papier-mâché copy of Tiananmen Square's Goddess of Democracy) is only the most egregious of the movie's overblown symbolic gestures. --David Chute ... Read more