While the film is worth watching, Chen Kaige’s “The Legend of the Demon Cat” did leave me feeling that there was potential to build upon the characters and improve the storyline. But the film didn’t reach its full potential.
TITLE: The Legend of the Demon Cat
FILM RELEASE: 2017
DURATION: 129 minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16:9 widescreen), Mandarin and English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo. Subtitles are in English
COMPANY: Well Go USA Entertainment
RATED: Not Rated
Release Date: October 29, 2019
Based on the Novel by Yumemakura Baku
Directed by Chen Kaige
Written by Chen Kaige, Wang Hui-Ling
Produced by Kao Shirley
Co-Executive Producer: Han Sanping
Music by Badelt Klaus, Segal Misha
Cinematography by Cao Yu
Casting by Kawamura Kei
Production design by Lu Wei, Tu Nan
Costume Design by Chen Tongxun
Starring:
 Huang Xuan as Bai Letian
Sometani Shota as Kukai
Zhang Yuqi (Kitty) as Chunquin
Qin Hao as Chen Yunqiao
Abe Hiroshi as Abe no Nakamaro
Matsuzaka Keiko as Bai Ling
Haoran Liu as Bai Long
Zhang Tianai as Yulian
Zhang Luyi as Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
Sandrine Pinna as Lady Yang
Tian Yu as Gao Lishi
Liu Peiqi as Huang He
Xin Baiqing as Li Bai
A poet and monk join forces to investigate a demonic cat who has possessed a general’s wife and is wreaking havoc on the imperial court. The investigation takes an unexpected twist, leading the pair to unravel a mystery behind a decades old death of a legendary and beautiful courtesan.
From filmmaker Chen Kaige (“Farewell My Concubine”, “Forever Enthralled”, “Together With You”, “Yellow Earth”) comes his latest film “Legend of the Demon Cat” and is an adaptation of Yumemakura Bak’s novel “Shamon Kukai Tou no Kuni ni te Oni to Utagesu“.
The film took nearly years to recreate the capital of the Tang Dynasty in the 8th century. The set cost about $200 million (US).
The film features Chinese and Japanese production starring Huang Xuan, Sometani Shota, Zhang Yuqi, Qin Hao, Abe Hiroshi and Libby Brien.
And now “Legend of the Demon Cat” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Well Go USA.
The film is set in China during the Tang Dynasty and a cat shocks a woman (portrayed by Zhang Yuqi) who talks to her. And then wanting to give her anything she wants, as long as she feeds him fish as he likes the eyeballs.
As the woman feels she is granted a special gift as long as she and her husband, Yunqiao (portrayed by Hao Qin), the captain of the royal guards, feed the cat his fish eyes. But when they start acting foolish, the cat ends up showing how going against him is wrong and blood is shed.
Meanwhile, a great poet named Bai Letian (portrayed by Huang Xuan) and a monk named Kukai (portrayed by Sometani Shota) have met as Kukai (who is the founder of the Shingonshu school of Buddhism in the Heian period) has traveled to China as part of a government-sponsored study expedition.
The two end up investigating the death of a concubine named Yang Guifei (portrayed by Sandrine Pinna), who was the concubine for Emperor Xuanzong (portrayed by Zhang Luyi) who may be possessed and following a trail which was left by a cat who eats fish eyes. Her life was chronicled in Bai Letian’s famous poem “Song of Everlasting Sorrow”, which is considered his masterpiece.
But with clues left behind by a deceased Japanese courtier named Abe no Nakamaro (portrayed by Abe Hiroshi), the film shifts to 30-years in the past, when Lady Yang held her birthday celebration, “Banquet of Ultimate Bliss” which is a national event that symbolizes the Emperor’s love and glory to the Empire.
As Bai Letian and Kukai investigate, what will they discover?
There is no doubt that filmmaker Chen Kaige has directed a gorgeous film that recreates 8th century China during the Tang Dynasty. It’s no doubt ambitious and the Chinese/Japan collaboration with well-known talent is a big positive for the film.
There is also no doubt that Chen Kaige can create a film that showcases romance and tragedy and he does it with efficacy from past to present films he has directed.
The problem with “The Legend of the Demon Cat” is that it incorporates a story within a story and one half you are watching a film featuring poet Bai Letian and the monk Kukai and then the second half suddenly changing and focusing on Lady Yang and numerous characters.
While the story within a story is not bad, the problem is that the second half really is a different vibe and to be truthful, it was like watching two different films. While there are various films that have a story within a story, looking into the past and tragedy.
For the original author Yumemakura Baku who wrote the novel, it took four volumes to tell the story of “Shamon Kukai Tou no Kuni ni te Oni to Utagesu“. With that alone, that’s enough to inspire numerous films not try to compact things into one.
One of the biggest films that delved into the past really well was “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ involving Harry’s parents. But it’s a past that showed great love among the characters and with “Legend of the Demon Cat”, it’s about love for a beautiful concubine which led to her death, that may not have been or what it seems. Especially when it leads to the true reveal of who the cat is.
Fortunately, the final part of the film manages to connect things together and for the most part, I was content with the overall film. The film does put the visual imagery, environments, costume design and atmosphere as priority but the CG of the cat was a bit out-of-place.
So, with that being said, I still found “The Legend of the Demon Cat” to be an entertaining film. While the Blu-ray looks good and it features a Mandarin and also an English soundtrack. There are no special features unfortunately.
As a cinema fan who has enjoyed Chen Kaige’s work (especially from the past), he is able to bring glamour, romance and tragedy to the big screen but what if he was able to have done it in two films instead of one. Would the film have benefited from the extra time for character development?
While the film is worth watching, Chen Kaige’s “The Legend of the Demon Cat” did leave me feeling that there was potential to build upon the characters and improve the storyline. But the film didn’t reach its full potential.
