Sunday, 2 January 2005
House of Flying Daggers (Yimou Zhang, 2004)
Excellent film from the director of "Hero". This time it's set at the end of the Tang Dynasty. The same beautiful (and sometimes over-the-top) cinematography. The plot is enjoyably twisty but not as complicated and intriguing as the flashback narrative of Hero. Hero had too much flying around; I prefer the martials arts in Flying Daggers. It's still beyond credibility but not quite into fantasy. Flying Daggers is a better love story. However, it's a Chinese film and, as you know, Chinese films don't have happy endings. Highly recommended.
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This is most certainly a beautiful film. There are two things that contribute to its beauty. First, the cinematography is lush and glorious; so many of the images would make beautiful still pictures. In addition, the scenes are so entirely unexpected; the situations are so imaginative that I was continually thinking that I never expected to see this in a movie.
ReplyDeleteThe plot, too, is unexpected, with twists that always leave you off balance.
A note to the squeamish: all but the final 5 minutes are completely blood-free. Just close your eyes in the final scene and it will have been a well worth-while experience.