What Took Me So Long: This is one of those Oscar winning best pictures that fell of the grid pretty quickly.
Why I Saw It: (Club 50) It is a best picture winner. I know that's not a perfect way to identify a great movie but it normally indicates a good one. This movie was interesting, not entertaining. I kept being reminded of Slumdog Millionaire by the number of scenes that were meant for "they really lived like that" purposes and it felt a little exploitative in that way. I did find it to be a fascinating story from Pu Yi living as a child emperor in his palace to realizing he was essentially trapped in there, eventually living like a regular person. It's like imagining if the British Royal family stopped being taken care of. Very strange.
Why I Wish I Hadn't: There's a very calculated pace to this and that pace is decidedly slow. For me, at least, the more interesting parts of the movie are at the beginning in the palace. By the time he is in exile, I don't care all that much about him. I'm not sure what else came out in 1987, but there has to be a better movie.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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