"The First Emperor"

finally got time to scribble something here again! in fact free enough to catch the last show of "The First Emperor", which turns out to be a huge disappointment. filming an opera performance and showing it on the big screen is never a great idea to begin with, then again, it might still works if the camera angle, editing, post production stuff etc are well done. but not in this one though.

the worst of the lot being the choice of camera angle for some scenes, when there is clearly lots of actions happening on stage, the editor/producer can actually choose to zoom in on a particular person or part of the stage. what the hell is he thinking of? this is the stage, where we want to see a wide picture of things happening, not a zoom in special, especially when everything is happening on stage at the same time! however the only consolation is that, the camera is switched to the conductor, Tan Dun, who is never short of action, during the draggy scene changes.

the only 2 saving graces of this show (at least the videoed version) are the powerful singing of Placido Domingo and the majestic sets on display. at least these 2 things kept me awake for the whole 190min, so as not to waste the 15bucks on the ticket and 1hr plus of traveling time...