The King Of Masks (1996)

(Originally released as Bian Lian)

Starring: Zhigang Zhang, Zhigang Zhao, Renying Zhou, Xu Zhu

First, The Lowdown: An elderly street performer looks for an heir to pass the secrets of his trade to, but finds it harder to do than he thinks.

In a riverside village, a street peddler performs for an entranced crowd. The performer, Wang, specializes in an elaborate mask dance - where he changes masks with the flick of his hand. This is witnessed by Liang, a famous female impersonator with the Sichuan opera – whose most famous role is retelling the legend of Quan Yin. Liang invites Wang to tea where e expresses his amazement at the older man's talents and offers Wang a position with the opera company. Wang prefers his solitary life and politely demurs. Liang asks Wang about who would take his place when the older man dies. But Wang has no disciple - his only child died when he was 10, and the art of the masks is one that is passed on from father to son. Liang implores Wang to find some way of making sure that his art survives.

A recent flood of a nearby village has saturated the poorer quarters of the town with desperate refugees. Their need is so great that they are looking to sell their children into service because they can no longer care for them. Wang looks there for a heir, but finds mostly girls. Just as he is about to leave, an 8-year old boy calls out to him. Wang is taken in by the boy's appearance that he buys him from his father, who sells him gladly. Later on his boat, Wang names his new charge “Doggie,” and asks the boy why his father didn't seem disappointed in losing a son. Doggie shows Wang the bruises on his arm and tells him that he was beaten regularly. Wang promises to take care of him and never to raise a hand to the boy ever.

Life seems blissful for the pair, until it is revealed that Doggie is a girl. Since Wang's tradition is one that is passed from father to son, he feels both betrayed and swindled. Angry at this turn of events, Wang tries to turn Doggie away with a handful of money, but she instead begs him to take her in as a servant. Having been already moved by the child, albeit deceitfully, Wang agrees to let her stay.

The best thing about The King Of Masks is that it's a movie with much social commentary, but doesn't resort to too much soapboxing (although it does happen). Chinese traditionalism values boys over girls, something that is starting to come back to haunt them: in spite of its population of over 1 billion, China's obsession with male progeny has caused their population to decrease. Even with though Mao's communist reformations valued all members of the proletariat equally, whether male or female, the population at large has found it a hard practice to let go of.

With its lush sets and interesting portrayal of almost forgotten performing arts, I was often reminded of Farewell My Concubine, so much so that I was bracing myself for a fast-forward to the 1960s and Chairman Mao's “Cultural Revolution.” But fortunately, it spends less time being political and more time trying to prove that sometimes the only way an ancient art can survive is by evolution, not tradition.

Line of the movie: “Even a beggar has many ways of beating away dogs.”

Four stars. Don't whiz on the electric fence.