MOVIE REVIEWS : THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLMAKER

Of all the offerings in the “New Films From China” series at the Grande 4-Plex (345 S. Figueroa St.), “The Dollmaker” (opening Wednesday) is the most theatrical, its acting verging on the operatic.

Yet co-directors Li Wenhua and Du Yu bring to the script Li wrote with Chen Aimin so rich and unified a vision of life that their film creates its own stylized world and catches us up in it.

For all its quaint period charm, this world is singularly brutal and precarious. No wonder the hero, gifted sculptor Chang Jiapi (Zhang Yi), concludes that the Emperor’s seal of approval bestowed upon his ancestor in the 18th Century is a curse rather than a blessing. That honor brought the House of Chang fame but also made it vulnerable to those who would exploit the family’s skills down through the generations.

It is now the early 20th Century, and Jiapi and his wife (Xin Jing) and sister (Xiang Hong) have returned to their ancestral village. They struggle to establish themselves, only to fall prey to the oily antiques merchant Zhao (Shao Wanlin), whose fortune is in fact based on his ancestor’s taking advantage of the original Chang.

“The Dollmaker” pleads boldly for the freedom of the artist to create in his own style rather than imitate his predecessors--in this instance, that Jiapi should be allowed to depict common people instead of gods and emperors--while castigating the imperial past in which the masses had virtually no rights. It ends on a feminist note, challenging the Chang family tradition that its skills be passed down only to its male offspring.

As a period piece the film is an enchantment, with rich interiors, bustling street life and splendid ancient monuments. The brightly painted clay figurines--not dolls, actually--are themselves delightful: The emperor was right when we hear him remark of the first Chang that he captured the human spirit in his work. With its carefully orchestrated emotional crescendos, beautiful images and wistful score, “The Dollmaker” (Times-rated Mature because some scenes are too intense for the very young) brings the new Chinese films series to a fittingly graceful and impressive conclusion.

‘THE DOLLMAKER’

A World Entertainment release of a Beijing Film Studio production. Directors Li Wenhua, Du Yu. Screenplay Chen Aimin, Wenhua. Camera Zheng Yuyuan. Art director Mo Kezhan. With Zhang Yi, Xiang Hong, Shao Wanlin, Xin Jing. In Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles.

Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes.

Times-rated: Mature.