The Last Emperor

Have You Ever Seen

Our first Best Picture winner in this year's Oscar Month, The Last Emperor, went 9 for 9 at the awards that year. John Lone, Joan Chen and Peter O'Toole are all solid in the starring roles, but there's something fairly soulless and even a little opaque about this spectacular production...especially for a Bernardo Bertolucci film. Bertolucci and his team were the rare Western filmmakers to be allowed to shoot in The Forbidden City in China, as they told a story about a sheltered child surrounded by devious sycophants. Puyi might be a royal, but his comfortable life is spent in effectively a prison. The biggest problem we couldn't get past with this film, though, is that this was what the Oscars told us was the pinnacle of 1987 filmmaking, even though Broadcast News, Moonstruck, Robocop, Predator and Lethal Weapon were all out that year. So don't you dare try to leave the 575th edition of Have You Ever Seen---not until you get kicked out---as we marvel and moan in equal measure about The Last Emperor.

Well, Actually: Maggie Han was born in Rhode Island, but her parents were South Korean. Also, Licence To Kill was released in 1989, not 1987.

They can't get Sparkplug Coffee in China, but people in America and Canada can. And if you use our "HYES" promo code, you'll save 20%. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes".

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