German Expressionism, Greek Tragedy, and KMT China: 'Song at Midnight'

'The Phantom of the Opera' is one of the works that so pervades the artistic consciousness that you deem it unnecessary to view, for you've been so bombarded with it and talk of it, and cinematic references to it that you feel familiarized with the material, despite having never read the original book, seen a play version, or watched a filmed version. This arrogance of assumed knowledge is generally wrong.

It was with the aforementioned hubris that I decided to watch the cultural mash-up of another age, 'Song at Midnight' (also know as 'Midnight Song,' and first known as 'Ye ban ge sheng,' its original Chinese name whose Pinyin transcription I've probably just mangled, the literal translation of which is 'Voice at Midnight'). The film is a grainy, Chinese version of 'Phantom of the Opera' that meshes the original French story, German Expressionism, and Greek tragedy, as well as some (what was then) contemporary politics.

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