| Tuesday, February 01, 2005 |
| House of Flying Daggers |
Last night, a group of 6 of us, including this character, went to see "House of Flying Daggers". Our friends A. and D. couldn't attend (work commitments and illness respectively) and asked me to blog a review.
House of Flying Daggers is a deliriously romantic martial-arts extravaganza directed by Zhang Yimou ("Hero"), and takes place at the end of the Chinese Tang dynasty in 859 AD. The story opens with a struggle between the Emperor's army, and a deadly grassroots insurgent coalition that has gained widespread support in the rural areas (sound familiar??). The insurgent group is called "The Flying Daggers" for their deadly use of, well, daggers of course.
Meanwhile, rumors in the province lead local police to suspect that the new showgirl at a local brothel is a key member of this group, and they set about to infiltrate the group through her and bring them down. Mei, played to porcelain perfection by Zhang Ziyi, is actually the blind daughter of the recently assassinated leader of the "Flying Daggers" and is out to avenge her father's death. Mei is the new showgirl working at the Peony Pavilion. She is all ethereal, balletic beauty, athletic grace, and deadly force in every move.
The movie itself is ravishing in its art direction and cinematography. There is so much lush eye candy from the detailed sets; richly brocaded costumes; textures of the materials used.... It had me gasping more than once. I can't even begin to describe the lavish and imaginative use of color in this movie for both visual impact as well as metaphor. Just focus on the color green and you'll see what I mean. I had no idea there were so many shades, or meanings of green in my life. As for the scenery; from the virgin birch forests, to fall fields and meadows more reminiscent of Maryland than China, to prehistoric woodlands, and finally - to the eerie otherworld of a giant bamboo forest where army assassins fly at will through the trees and spears can imprison you in moments, Yimou uses the landscape to his every advantage.
The first major scene is in the brothel, where to avoid being arrested, Mei agrees to play a game of "Echo" with the police commander. He flings a bean at a circle of elaborate drums, and Mei has to immediately replicate the location of the sound by striking the same drums in the same sequence with her robes. As the tempo rises, so does the sexual tension, which is only realized much later in the film. From this first scene to the final and inevitable death struggle, the slow motion, martial arts scenes are more like ballet than fight scenes. The daggers don't fly so much as act repeatedly like boomerangs, hurtling through space before straightening out and then stopping in mid air before settling into their directed target. As dramatic as this is - it does require a complete suspension of belief. Of course, these are all done in point of view (POV) perspective from the dagger or arrow itself.
Being a Chinese language film, the dialogue comes across as very quaint and parochial at best, corny and stilted at worst. The love scenes are amusingly modest and hopelessly over dramatic, but poignant. The most erotic scene in the movie is when Mei tries to identify / visualize her rescuer/captor by running her hands across his body and face starting from the bottom up.
To say much more might spoil things. This is a movie of double crosses, triple crosses, betrayal, love, jealousy, patriotism, mistaken identities and reveals. No one is whom they seem to be, and everyone has a vested interest and goals that are in direct opposition to the person they claim to love, and those that love them in return.
As a love story, it is overly dramatic, Shakespearean in its plot, and quaint by US standards. As a film, it is ravishingly visual, epic, and more beautiful than most movies we're accustomed to. Well worth your hard earned $$.
|
posted by Broadsheet @ 7:25 PM   |
|
| 1 Editorial Opinions: |
-
Linda, I understand Mandarin and the language was just as cheesy.
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
Linda, I understand Mandarin and the language was just as cheesy.