The King of Masks

(1999)

Set in 1930s China, this is the tale of old Wang (Zhu Xu), an itinerant mountebank whose skill is face changing, the rapid donning of garish masks. Wang's secret can be passed on only to a male heir. but his wife has long since left him, so he decides to adopt, purchasing a boy from the benighted parents who offer children for sale on the streets, and all goes well till little Doggie (Zhou Ren-ying) turns out to be a girl. Unapologetically sentimental, Wu Tianming's film makes no effort to disguise its simple emotional appeal and limpid manipulativeness.