ShangLuda Admirable film.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

cloudsponge Throughout, I felt that this movie had the sensibility of a comic book, but a comic book of genius. The visuals were ceaselessly stunning, every single scene change led to another beautiful surprise; both dramatically and with what we were allowed to gorge our eyes (and sometimes ears) on. Rather than call it "directing", or "photography," or "set design," I want to say that the artwork was breathtaking.What are movies but comic books with the added dimensions of movement and sound? Both largely tell their stories with visuals, and dialog or narration. Too often I am a stickler for believability in movies but I could not help cutting this movie a lot of slack. "Yes, that is just how a comic book might treat the story but with nowhere near the impact," I found myself thinking throughout...

contronatura Though a little slow at times, Clara Law's Temptation of a Monk is a beautiful and well-acted epic, at times achieving a Kurosawa-esque level of stunning imagery and battle scenes. Joan Chen has two roles, one as a vibrant princess the other as a mysterious assassin. She is very good in both roles. This film is not perfect. The story ultimately doesn't go anywhere, for one. I must recommend it on the basis of its sheer beauty, however. And one battle scene in particular is terrifyingly beautiful. For fans of Kurosawa this is worth seeing. Others might grow restless, though.

RobertC Narrative structure has never been Clara Law's strong point; but she usually has some kind of conceptual development to tie her images together... this one tries to float like a dream; & ends up sinking like a stone. Watching it, one can't help wondering whether there was a three hour version either scripted or shot: all the elements for an intriguing take on individual responsibility seem to be in place; but none have been allowed to develop beyond the level of operatic manga. As Gertrude Stein observed (probably unkindly) of Oakland, there's no there there....Then again: perhaps Ms Law just fell in love with her (admittedly quite stunning) images....

Varlaam Like the Kurosawa film, this one promises more than it delivers. There are a lot of spectacular vistas, but ultimately what is lacking is story or dramatic punch.Perhaps the misleading ad campaign was to blame, and this film improves on second viewing. It would be nice to think so; it has a number of good elements.