DAVID CRONENBERG

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BB. 

USA, 1993.  Geffen Pictures.  Screenplay by David Henry Hwang, based on his play.  Cinematography by Peter Suschitzky.  Produced by Gabriella Martinelli. Music by Howard Shore.  Production Design by Carol Spier.  Costume Design by Denise Cronenberg.  Film Editing by Ronald Sanders.  

Reunite brilliant auteur David Cronenberg with his Dead Ringers star Jeremy Irons and you should have another classic, but this time the story just doesn’t play out all that well. Based on factual events, it stars Irons as a British diplomat in China during the eighties who strikes up an affair with a Chinese opera singer (John Lone) who turns out to be both a spy and a man. Somewhere in all the espionage, deceit and performances of Madame Butterfly, however, a real relationship blossoms between these two oddly-paired individuals. The Crying Geisha Game it most certainly is not, and the ending is too arch to have much emotional impact.