Good But Rather Mainstream

Rating: 8/10 (20 June 2008)

Practically custom made to win Academy Awards, "The Last Emperor" did just that in 1987, winning every single award for which it was nominated. Bernardo Bertolucci's sprawling historical epic is beautiful to look at, but it also has a brain in its head, something rare for the usual Best Picture winner. Still, it's one of the most accessible films Bertolucci has ever made, and one has to wonder if it would have received the acceptance it did had it not been so mainstream. After all, Bertolucci's masterpiece, "The Conformist", a far better film than "The Last Emperor" in almost every way, was almost completely ignored by the stuffy Academy back in 1971.
Grade: A