The Great Wall

Directed by Zhang Yimou and screenplay by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro, and Tony Gilroy from a story by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz, The Great Wall is the story of two European mercenaries who help a Chinese army fight off against a horde of mysterious alien monsters. The film is a monster movie of sorts where an army tries to fight off mysterious monsters as they get unexpected help from a couple of Europeans who travel to China to find gunpowder. Starring Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Andy Lau, and Willem Dafoe. The Great Wall is an enjoyable and adventurous film from Zhan Yimou.

The film is this story of two European mercenaries who encounter an alien monster and kill it where they’re later captured by a secret Chinese army at the Great Wall who are trying to stop the monsters from reaching civilization. It’s a film with a simple premise that involves two white European mercenaries who are in China to trade and steal as they reluctantly help the Chinese fight this horde of monsters that come from a meteor many centuries ago and things have gotten worse. The film’s screenplay doesn’t do much with the film’s story though a few characters are well-defined such as William Garin (Matt Damon) who is a mercenary that admits to fight for food and money as a means to survive as he is someone that is a great archer but never had a real reason to fight for something. His friend/partner Pero Tovar (Pedro Pascal) is more concerned with trying to find gunpowder as a way to give Europe a sense of power yet is also a skilled warrior himself.

Yet, the monsters they encountered early in the film and brought to the attention of this army known as the Nameless Order become aware that the monsters are coming back as they’re led by General Shao (Zhang Hanyu) and Commander Lin Mae (Jing Tian) as the latter is known for her crane attack whose army attacks from the top of the wall and are pulled back after attacking the monster. Garin befriends Commander Mae and the company’s strategist Wang (Andy Lau) as they’re both impressed by Garin’s archery skill and his methods in trying to capture a monster in order to study it. Still, the script emphasizes more on action rather than development as Tovar isn’t as developed in the film as he’s more of a comic relief in some ways as he and another European in Sir Ballard (Willem Dafoe) are concerned about taking the gunpowder to Europe than help the Nameless Order. Despite these shortcomings in some of the characters as well as scenes where it played into more time over story instead of action set pieces. The film does maintain its purpose in being this action-adventure film.

Zhang Yimou’s direction is definitely stylish in terms of his presentation of the action as well as creating something that is a grand spectacle with loads of extras and large set pieces. Shot on location in the Qingdao province in China, the film does play into this world that is grand with its deserts and mountains as well as fictionalized look of the Great Wall of China where it is set in this land where behind that wall is civilization and the city where its emperor lives in. Yimou’s usage of wide and medium shots does have a lot of scope and depth of field into the locations as well as what is at stake. Even in the latter as it relates to the interaction between characters as he does know when to break from the action and give time towards development on the characters and the situation they’re in. One notable scene involves General Shao and Commander Mae checking out a situation where it does have this air of suspense as it’s a key moment in the film into what is at stake.

While Yimou does establish a lot of what is happening and the stakes that the characters are dealing with. He is unable to get it all together where there’s so much action and fighting that is happening as he isn’t given enough time to slow things down. Notably in one scene where a monster is captured as Garin and Wang both want to do more study on the creature and figure out what to do next but an envoy to the Emperor would take the creature to the Emperor which would be a moment of stupidity that eventually leads to the film’s sprawling climax. The fact that Yimou is hampered by a script that is more about action than character development does hurt the film a bit though he is able to provide some key moment where the characters to play into the stakes and stop these monsters from wreaking havoc. Overall, Yimou creates a thrilling though messy film about two European mercenaries helping the Chinese fight off against mysterious alien monsters.

Cinematographers Stuart Dryburgh and Zhao Xiaoding do excellent work with the film’s cinematography from the colorful and naturalistic look of the scenes in the deserts to the usage of natural interior lighting for scenes inside the Great Wall and the very colorful sequence in the film’s climax. Editors Mary Jo Markey and Craig Wood do terrific work with the editing as it is stylish with its jump-cuts and other rhythmic cuts to play into the action and suspense while not deviating into the idea of chaotic editing style. Production designer John Myhre, with set decorator Gordon Sim and supervising art director Helen Jarvis, does brilliant work with the look of the interiors of the Great Wall as well as some of its exteriors and its landscape around the wall. Costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo does fantastic work with the look of the different kinds of armors and the color of those armors to represent different parts of the army as it’s a highlight of the film.

Hair/makeup designer Paul Engelen does nice work with the look of Garin and Tovar early in the film before they’re captured to play into their ragged look. Visual effects supervisors Phil Brennan, Martin Hartle, Viktor Muller, Matt Russell, Sable Sanjiv, and Ben Snow do wonderful work with the design of the monsters though some of the effects are a bit wobbly in its movement though the look of some of the landscape and the crowd of people are a marvel to watch. Sound designer Kyrsten Mate and sound editor Gwendolyne Yates Whittle do superb work with the sound in the way the monsters sound as well as the weapons and the sense of atmosphere that occurs during a battle scene. The film’s music by Ramin Djawadi is incredible for its bombastic score that mixes traditional Chinese percussion and string music to play into the grand scale of the film and the sense of adventure while music supervisors Peter Afterman and Margaret Yen provide a couple of original songs in the film sung by Chinese pop artists.

The casting by John Papsidera and Victoria Thomas is marvelous as it include some notable small roles from Cheney Chen as the head of the Imperial Guard who brings the monster to the young Emperor, Karry Wang as the Emperor, the trio of Huang Xan, Eddie Peng, and Kenny Lin as commanders of different platoons of the army, and Lu Han in a terrific performance as the young soldier Peng Yong whom Garin befriends and sympathizes with over the horrors of war. Zhang Hanyu is terrific as General Shao as the leader of the entire army who is mistrustful towards Garin and Tovar for being outsiders but realizes their worth in their fighting skills. Willem Dafoe is superb as Sir Ballard as a European who had lived in the Great Wall for 25 years as he is eager to get out and bring gun powder to Europe while teaching the Chinese how to speak English and Latin.

Andy Lau is excellent as Wang as the army’s strategist who is one of the few who can speak English as he bonds with Garin in their interest for the monster as well as willing to see what it can do as knows that the monsters are far more intelligent than they realized as it’s an understated performance that could’ve been used in more scenes. Pedro Pascal is fantastic as Pedro Tovar as this mercenary who is more reluctant to help the Chinese in their battle against the monsters as he’s more interested in getting the gunpowder while he also has some of the film’s funniest lines. Jing Tian is brilliant as Commander Lin Mae as a young warrior who leads an army of women as she befriends Garin as she sees what he can do but also copes with the responsibility of her role as well as wondering if she can trust Garin. Finally, there’s Matt Damon in an amazing performance as William Garin as a mercenary who is also a skilled archer as someone that is reluctant to go into battle knowing he’s fought for other things where he later finds a big reason to fight as it’s a role where Damon plays it straight as well as be generous with the other actors he’s with.

The Great Wall is a stellar yet flawed film from Zhang Yimou. Despite the film’s shortcomings in its story in favor of bombastic action, the film does have some nice visuals, a killer score, and noteworthy performances from Matt Damon, Jian Tian, and Andy Lau. Even as it’s kind of a minor film from Yimou in his first English-language release but it is still a worthwhile and entertaining film. In the end, The Great Wall is a good film from Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou Films: (Red Sorghum) – (Codename Cougar) – (Ju Dou) – (Raise the Red Lantern) – (The Story of Qui Ju) – (Keep Cool) – Not One Less - (The Road Home) – (Happy Times) – (Hero (2002 film)) – House of Flying Daggers - Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - Curse of the Golden Flower - A Simple Noodle Story - (Under the Hawthorn Tree) – (The Flowers of War) – Coming Home (2014 film) - (Shadow (2018 film))

© thevoid99 2018

2017 Cannes Marathon: Coming Home (2014 film)

(Played Out of Competition at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival)

Based on the novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi by Geling Yan, Coming Home is the story of a professor who is about to be released from prison during the last days of the Cultural Revolution in China as his wife struggles to remember her husband due to an accident that caused her to lose her memory. Directed by Zhang Yimou and screenplay by Zou Jingzhi, the film is an exploration of a family coming back together after years of being apart as they struggle to start over and recall aspects of the past. Starring Gong Li, Chen Daoming, and Zhang Huiwen. Coming Home is a touching and mesmerizing film from Zhang Yimou.

Set mainly in the 1970s during the final days of the Cultural Revolution in China and three years after it ended, the film revolves around a professor who had just been released from prison after an escape during his sentence where he returns home to find that his wife is unable to remember him since the day he had been re-captured. The film is an exploration of a man trying to reunite with his wife and daughter as copes with the fact that his wife has no memory into what he looked like as she continuously waits for him at the train station on a certain day of the month. Zou Jingzhi’s screenplay begins in 1973 where Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) has escaped from prison during a prison sentence for his crimes against the government as he tries to meet his wife Feng Wanyu (Gong Li) as she hopes to see him again.

Yet, they’re reported by authorities that would put Lu back in prison while Feng is knocked on the floor with serious head injury. The film then picks up six years later where Lu is released as he’s picked up by his daughter Dandan (Zhang Huiwen) as he learns about Feng’s amnesia as he would live nearby trying to see if she can regain some form of memory about him. Dandan would help her father as she has been forced to live in a dormitory at the factory she works at as she carries some remorse over what happened to her parents as it relates to her ballet career where she lost the shot in being a lead dancer. Dandan would start to connect with the father she barely knew as it would also give her the chance to reconcile with her mother whom she’s had a very troubled relationship with since the accident. Even as she tries to help her father in regaining aspects of her mother’s memory where she thinks Lu is a former government official named Fang. Yet, Lu would often appear in front of his wife pretending to be a piano tuner or a letter-reader as a way to get close with his wife as she continues to go to the train station waiting for him.

Zhang Yimou’s direction is quite understated as it doesn’t go for anything that is overly-stylized which is often prominent with some of his films. Instead, Yimou aims for something very simple with this story that doesn’t revolve on vast locations nor anything extravagant as he shoots the film in rural areas in Beijing and Tianjin where it does feel like a world that is changing. With a lot of references to the Cultural Revolution that includes a performance of the Chinese ballet Red Detachment of Women in the first act. Yimou showcases that period in China’s history as well as some of its aftermath where it is a straightforward drama told in a very sensitive manner. Much of Yimou’s compositions include medium shots and close-ups to play into Lu’s attempt to reconnect with his wife which includes scenes of him reading letters he wrote to her or talking about simple things. Though there’s a few wide shots, Yimou is more about a family reconnecting no matter how complicated things are as it relates to Feng’s memory as she still waits for her husband to return. Overall, Yimou creates a compelling yet heartfelt film about a man trying to connect with his amnesiac wife.

Cinematographer Xiaoding Zhao does excellent work with the cinematography as it is straightforward but also very low-key for some of the nighttime interior/exterior scenes as well as the daytime scenes. Editors Peicong Meng and Mo Zhang do nice work with the editing as it is straightforward to play into the drama without anything that is stylized in its approach to cutting. Makeup designer Greg Cannom does terrific work with the makeup for some of the people in the ballet as well as a key scene late in the film. Sound editor Jing Tao does superb work with the sound as it is very straightforward with some big scenes involving a chase early in the film as well as moments in the streets. The film’s music by Qigang Chen is fantastic as it is very low-key for its orchestral score with a lot of string pieces to play into the drama.

The film’s brilliant cast include some notable small roles from Tao Guo and Ni Yan as a couple of government officials and Jia-yi Zhang as a doctor. Zhang Huiwen is amazing as Dandan as a young woman who initially wanted nothing to do with her father as she copes with some of the thing she’s done as she would later connect with him in trying to help her mother whom she’s have issues with. Chen Daoming is incredible as Lu Yanshi as a professor who copes with his time in prison as he finally returns home where he deals with his wife’s amnesia as he does whatever he can to reconnect with her as well as his daughter whom he barely knows. Finally, there’s Gong Li in an absolutely radiant performance as Feng Wanyu as this woman who hadn’t seen her husband in years until a chance to see him would cause her to lose part of her memories in an accident as it’s a very restrained yet evocative performance of a woman trying to remember as well as determine to see him again despite the fact that the man who is helping her is her husband.

Coming Home is a remarkable film from Zhang Yimou that features a magnificent performance from Gong Li as well as top-notch performances from Chen Daoming and Zhang Huiwen. Along with its simple yet engrossing story, the film is definitely one of Yimou’s more intimate yet touching stories that is really a love story. In the end, Coming Home is a sensational film from Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou Films: (Red Sorghum) – (Codename Cougar) – (Ju Dou) – (Raise the Red Lantern) – (The Story of Qui Ju) – (Keep Cool) – Not One Less - (The Road Home) – (Happy Times) – (Hero (2002 film)) – House of Flying Daggers - Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - Curse of the Golden Flower - A Simple Noodle Story - (Under the Hawthorn Tree) – (The Flowers of War) – The Great Wall (2016 film) - (Shadow (2018 film)

© thevoid99 2017

Curse of the Golden Flower

Directed by Zhang Yimou and screenplay by Yimou, Wu Nan, and Bian Zhihong from a story by Wang Bin, Curse of the Golden Flower is the story of an empress who conspires with her son to lead a revolt against the emperor after learning about the emperor’s desire to get rid of her. The film is an epic set in ancient China that is inspired by Cao Yu’s 1934 play Thunderstorm that explores the dynamic of family and betrayal. Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, and Qin Junjie. Curse of the Golden Flower is a lavish yet exhilarating film from Zhang Yimou.

The film revolves around a royal family in ancient China as it prepares for an annual festival to take place. Yet, there is discord in this family led by Emperor Ping (Chow Yun-Fat) as he returns from a military campaign with his son Prince Jai (Jay Chou) while Ping has left specific instructions into treating Empress Phoenix (Gong Li) who has been ill as she has to drink a special medicine. Yet, she becomes suspicious about the medicine’s contents as she believes she is being poisoned while is having an affair with her stepson in Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye) who is the Emperor’s favorite son. Still, the Empress and Prince Jai conspire to stage a coup against the Emperor for his actions that also involves secrets relating to the Imperial Doctor’s family. With everyone conspiring against one another, there is still the young Prince Yu (Qin Junjie) lurking around as he observes all that is happening.

The film’s screenplay explores the dynamic of this very dysfunctional family where everyone has to serve the Emperor yet they’re being mistreated for his own reasons to maintain his role as Emperor. Prince Jai’s discovery of what is happening to his mother becomes his motivation to rebel against his father in secrecy while there is also a lot that is lurking around in the film’s first half. Notably as Crown Prince Wan is having an affair with the Imperial Doctor’s daughter Jiang Chan (Li Man) as she is hoping to have a life outside of the palace. Another character that plays a key part in the film’s first half is the Imperial Doctor’s wife (Chen Jin) who has a grudge towards the Emperor as she helps out the Empress while is one of the few that knows a dark secret that could impact the entire royal family.

While the first half of the script is all about various people planning the coup as well as its motivations. The film’s second half becomes a much more adventurous feature where there’s revelations unveiled as well as the kind of actions that the Emperor is doing. The third act is about this attempted coup on the night an annual festival that is to take place that involves a golden flower that is a symbol of the family’s coat. Yet, it reveals that Emperor’s words about family harmony are really a façade considering the discord that he created in his family.

Zhang Yimou’s direction is definitely extravagant in the way he presents the film as not just an epic but also a family drama with an air of suspense that looms throughout the film. Utilizing lots of stylish tracking shots with some elaborate crane set-ups and stylish action scenes. Yimou creates a film that is about people conspiring against one another as if it’s a game of who can outwit who. Still, it’s a world where it’s all about people serving the royal family where there’s lots of shots that involve many extras who do their duty where Yimou puts a lot of attention to detail of where they should be in the frame and such. While there are still some intimate moments in the framing, it is all about the drama that is unfolding in these lavish settings. The action sequences are presented with a large degree of style as does the film’s climatic coup that involves a horde of extras and some visual effects to establish the vast power of this rebellion. Overall, Yimou creates a very engaging and mesmerizing film about betrayal and dark secrets.

Cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding does excellent work with the film’s very colorful photography from the lighting schemes and atmosphere in some of the film’s interior settings to the broad look of the palace hall exteriors as well as some scenes set in night. Editor Cheng Long does brilliant work with the film‘s editing from some stylish jump-cuts in some of the film‘s action scenes to some stylish rhythmic cuts to play out some of its suspense and dramatic moments. Production designer Huo Tingxiao and supervising art director Zhao Bin do spectacular work with the film‘s presentation of the palace interiors that are colorful and full of style along with some scenes in the palace exterior halls to present its extravagance.

Costume designer Yee Chung Man does amazing work with the costumes from the design of the robes as well as the look of the uniforms of the guards as it all plays to that attention to detail that Yimou wanted. Visual effects supervisors Angela Barson and Frankie Chung do terrific work with some of the film‘s minimal visual effects for some scenes involving the weapons of the Emperor‘s secret guards as well as some of the scenes in the film‘s climatic battle scene. Sound designer Tao Jing does superb work with the sound from the way swords clang to some of the smaller moments to play out that sense of atmosphere that occurs in the palace. The film’s music by Shigeru Umebayashi is wonderful for its mixture of intricate Chinese string music to play out the drama that is mixed in with some lush string arrangements while it also features some bombastic moments to play out some of its suspense and drama including the film’s climax.

The film’s cast is incredible as it features a terrific small performance from Ni Dahong as the Imperial Doctor who is unaware of all of this conspiracy. Chen Jin is wonderful as the Imperial Doctor’s wife who comes to the palace in secrecy to unveil something for the Empress as it relates to a grudge she has towards the Emperor. Li Man is very good as the Imperial Doctor’s daughter Chan who is in love with Crown Prince Wan as she deals with all of the chaos that surrounding the conspiracies that is going on. Qin Junjie is excellent as the youngest prince of family in Prince Yu as the one person the family seems to overlook as he lurks in the shadows to find out what is happening as he feels neglected by everyone including his brothers. Liu Ye is superb as Crown Prince Wan as a young man conflicted in his feelings for both the Empress and Chan while dealing with the expectations that is set upon by his father.

Jay Chou is great as Prince Jai who learns about what his father has done as he tries to defend his mother’s honor by helping her stage a coup in order to set things right for the family. Gong Li is amazing as Empress Phoenix as a woman who is slowly losing her sanity due to the medicine she’s drinking as she tries to stage a coup against her husband while carrying dark secrets that could shake up the entire royal family. Finally, there’s Chow Yun-Fat in a brilliant performance as Emperor Ping as a man who is very shady in his façade as he presents himself as a man of honor but is really a much darker individual who wants to maintain control of his empire.

Curse of the Golden Flower is a phenomenal film from Zhang Yimou that features superb performances from Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, and Jay Chou. The film is definitely an epic that lives up to its grand visual style while supporting with a strong story of betrayal and discord. It’s also a film that features some of Yimou’s finest moments in terms of creating a visual spectacle that involves lots of extras and a grand battle scene. In the end, Curse of the Golden Flower is a marvelous film from Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou Films: (Red Sorghum) - (Codename Cougar) - (Ju Dou) - (Raise the Red Lantern) - (The Story of Qiu Ju) - (To Live) - (Shanghai Triad) - (Keep Cool) - Not One Less - (The Road Home) - (Happy Times) - (Hero) - House of Flying Daggers - Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - A Simple Noodle Story - (Under the Hawthorn Tree) - (The Flowers of War) - Coming Home (2014 film) - The Great Wall (2016 film) - (Shadow (2018 film)

© thevoid99 2013

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

Directed by Zhang Yimou, with Japanese scenes directed by Yasuo Furuhata, and written by Zou Jingzhi from a story by Yimou, Jingzhi, and Bin Wang, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is the story about a Japanese fisherman who learns about his estranged son’s illness with cancer as he travels to China to film a folk opera that his son wanted to see. The film is the story of a man trying to reconnect with his son as he goes on a personal journey to discover his son‘s love for Chinese folk opera. Starring Ken Takakura. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is a heartwarming drama from Zhang Yimou.

The film is this simple story about the journey of a Japanese fisherman who travels to China to fulfill his estranged son’s dying wish to see a Chinese folk opera performed by the singer who can sing this particular opera known as Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. In this journey, the man known as Gouichi Takata (Ken Takakura) travels through China to capture this opera and meet this sing named Li Jiamin who is serving time in prison who asks Takata to bring his eight-year old son so he can meet the boy he had never seen before. Takata along with Chinese man who speaks little Japanese go to a small village to retrieve Li Jiamin’s son Yang Yang (Yang Zhenbo) where Takata tries to come to term with the estrangement of his own son. Even as he starts to bond with this little boy in a land that is foreign to him while trying to fulfill his duties as a father to give his son a last chance at reconciliation.

The screenplay by Zou Jingzhi does play to a simple structure as it opens in Japan where Takata is a lonely man who gets a call from his daughter-in-law Rie (Shinobu Terajima) about his son’s illness. Takata is a man who feels like he’s done wrong with his son whom he hadn’t seen or heard from for 10 years since the death of his wife. After Rie’s call, he travels to Tokyo to see Rie where he overhears his son refusing to see him forcing Takata to believe that he is unwanted. After seeing a tape of his son’s film report on Chinese folk opera and a call from Rie about his son’s condition, Takata feels like he has to fulfill his duties as a father in the hopes he can reconcile with his son. The journey to China in the Yunnan province would be an unforgettable one as Takata not only begins to more about the idea of being a father but also to help another see the son he had never met. What the film does reinforce is the role of being father and how one man tries to seek redemption by helping another to get the chance to see his son while fulfilling his own son’s final wish.

The direction of Zhang Yimou is very simple and understated in the way he presents the drama of a man’s journey for his dying son. With some help from Japanese director Yasao Furuhata for the scenes shot in Japan, Yimou creates images that are just enchanting from the melancholic yet sedated look of the scenes of the Japanese seas and Tokyo to the more colorful scenery of the mountains in the Yunnan province. Yimou provides a lot of gorgeous wide shots to capture the beauty of these mountains and the Stone village where Yang Yang lives that is full of life. Still, Yimou is aware that the film’s climax must feature the opera that Takata has to film for his son to see. Yet, it is more for Takata himself as it is his story where he often reflects his own experience in his voice-over narration. Overall, Yimou creates a very touching yet engrossing drama about a father trying to regain his dying, estranged son’s love by fulfilling this final wish.

Cinematographers Zhao Xiaoding and Daisaku Kimura do amazing work with the film‘s photography with Xiaoding providing many of the film‘s gorgeous look for the scenes set in China with its array of colors in day and night while Kimura goes for a more low-key yet grayer look for the scenes set in Japan. Editors Cheng Long and Akimasa Kawashima do superb work with the editing as both provide a more low-key yet methodical approach to the editing with Long doing the scenes in China and Kawashima in the Japanese sections of the film. Production designers Sun Li and Takaichi Wakamatsu do wonderful work with the set pieces with Li providing some of the staging for the Chinese operas while Wakamatsu does some of the film’s sets in the Japanese sections.

Sound designers Teiichi Saito and Jing Tao, along with co-sound editor Yuhong Wang, do fantastic work with the sound with Saito providing many of the sound work set in Japan for the scenes in the sea while Tao and Wang provide a more low-key approach for the scenes set in China as well as an intimacy in some of the discussions that occur. The film’s music by Guo Wenjing is brilliant for its somber yet serene score that mixes orchestral string arrangements with traditional Chinese music to play out Takata’s journey.

The film’s cast is marvelous as it features mostly non-actors in the scenes set in prison while it features some noteworthy performances from Qiu Lin as the tour guide, Jiang Wen as the translator who accompanies Takata, Li Jiamin as the incarcerated actor who can perform the opera, Yang Zhenbo as Li Jiamin’s son, Kiichi Nakai as the voice of Takata’s ailing son Kenichi, and Shinobu Terajima as Takata’s daughter-in-law Rie who is dealing with what is ahead as she often tries to reach Takata in his journey through China. Finally, there’s Ken Takakura in a phenomenal performance as Gouichi Takata where Takakura provides a restraint to a man not willing to show his emotions as he goes in this journey while showing moments where he can be engaging as it’s a really mesmerizing performance for the Japanese actor.

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is an extraordinary film from Zhang Yimou and Yasuo Furuhata that features a sublime performance from Ken Takakura. While it’s a much more understated film from Yimou in comparison to his more lavish martial arts films, it is still an engaging one for the way it explores fatherhood and a man’s attempt to reconcile with his dying son by going on this journey. In the end, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is a remarkable film from Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou Films: (Red Sorghum) - (Codename Cougar) - (Ju Dou) - (Raise the Red Lantern) - (The Story of Qiu Ju) - (To Live) - (Shanghai Triad) - (Keep Cool) - Not One Less - (The Road Home) - (Happy Times) - (Hero) - House of Flying Daggers - Curse of the Golden Flower - A Simple Noodle Story - (Under the Hawthorn Tree) - (The Flowers of War) - Coming Home (2014 film) - The Great Wall (2016 film) - (Shadow (2018 film)

© thevoid99 2013

Not One Less

Based on Shi Xiangsheng’s A Sun in the Sky, Not One Less is the story of a 13-year old child who fills in for her schoolteacher to teach other kids for one month. There, she has to make sure she doesn’t lose a child during the duration where she tries to find a boy who leaves to search for work. Directed by Zhang Yimou with a script written by Shi Xiangsheng, the film explores the world of the Chinese educational system as well as its social classes. Starring Wei Minzhi and Zhang Huike. Not One Less is a touching melodrama from Zhang Yimou.

Hired as a last-minute substitute teacher for Gao (Gao Enman), Wei (Wei Minzhi) is a 13-year old who can barely read as she is asked by the village’s mayor (Tian Zhenda) to take over for a month. Gao is leaving to watch over his ailing mother as he tells Wei to not lose one student during the month or else she won’t get paid properly. Wei tries to deal with the 28 students in her class including troublemaker Zhang Huike (Zhang Huike) as she has a hard time trying to save chalk and teaching the kids. When one of them leaves because of her running talents, Wei isn’t sure tough the mayor insists it’s OK. Then Huike is gone as Wei tries to find him where she learns that he went to city looking for work. With the help of the remaining 26 students, Wei tries to raise funds to get a bus ride only to have further complications over money.

With little money left, she sneaks a ride into a bus and later hitchhikes to the city where she tries to find the people Huike was supposed to live with. With the help of a teenager (Sun Zhimei), Wei tries to get announcement made but with no results as Huike is lost in the city. Wei continues to try and find Huike through ads she made and trying to get in touch with a TV station manager (Wu Wanlu) only to face the harsh reality of the city and its people. After waiting for more than a day outside the TV station, its manager sees what happen as he hears her story that brings a much bigger issue about what is happening in her poor village.

The film is about a young 13-year old who is asked to teach a group of children in small village, with little resources and money, and hope not to lose one. Instead, one of those kids leaves so he can help pay off his ailing mother’s debts by going to Beijing forcing this young woman to try and find him in the most troubling circumstances. Though she is this very naïve person who is very unlikely to find this kid who had been a huge source of trouble for her. She is very determined about getting him back after losing one child under different circumstances. Yet, she enters into this world that is very different from the rural environment that she lives in.

The screenplay by Shi Xiangsheng is a story that doesn’t rely a lot on plot but rather the actions of its characters. Many of them are flawed due to the environment they live in as the mayor is concerned with the fact that he’s going through financial difficulties while Huike is this kid that is kind of a schemer until he finds himself begging for food in the city. A lot of the film’s narrative is driven by Wei’s determination to not let this old teacher down and help teach these kids despite her educational limits. Upon entering Beijing, she would encounter people who reluctantly help her but they need money and other things where it becomes this very tense moment where she has to grow up and face harsh facts. Particularly as there’s the idea that if she doesn’t get this kid back, she could lose everyone else.

The script is also an exploration about the educational system in these remote villages in China where resources are scarce and money is tight. They had to make sure every piece of chalk used for lessons isn’t wasted or ruined. There’s an element of social commentary that Xiangsheng wants to emphasize but doesn’t do it in a heavy-handed manner. Instead, Xiangsheng only uses that commentary to underscore the drama that is more about this young girl trying to get a boy home.

Zhang Yimou’s direction is truly extraordinary to watch in its understated yet engaging approach to the film. Shot largely in a cinema verite style with some hand-held camera movements and lots of very striking compositions to emphasize the beautiful yet remote landscape of the Hebei province. Wanting to maintain a realistic approach to the film, Yimou chooses to work with non-actors to flesh out naturalistic performances. Due to the lack of conventional script, the film does start out slow as it takes its time to establish the situation this young girl is in to teach these kids as she becomes concerned about wanting this extra money by not losing one kid from the class.

For the scenes in Beijing, Yimou wisely decides to avoid shooting on actual landmarks to play up the realism of the city where it’s quite grimy at times. Particularly as the camera often follows Wei in her journey while creating this sense of dread that might be coming. The idea that she could lose everything in the end of the film does loom but Yimou does find a way to bring a sense of hope in the story. Though it’s an ending that might seem tacked on due to government pressure. The outcome does manage to provide something that is very touching while it would express the problem of the country’s educational system at that time. Overall, Yimou creates a truly heartwarming yet harrowing drama that delves in a young girl trying to help find a boy to find a life outside of poverty.

Cinematographer Hou Yong does excellent work with the film‘s naturalistic cinematography from the vast yet colorful look of the Hebei scenes with its mountains to the more vibrant look of some of the Beijing locations at night. Editor Zhai Ru does brilliant work with the editing in creating lots of stylized cuts to play up Wei‘s struggles through jump-cuts and dissolves as well as methodical rhythms to help flesh out the situations presented. Production designer Cao Juiping does terrific work with the look of the school that Wei works at to emphasize its drab environment and resources it needed.

Costume designer Tong Huamiao does nice work with the costumes that are mostly casual and realistic to play up the world Wei and Huike live in. The sound work of Wu Lala is superb for the sparse intimacy of the Hebei locations to the raucous atmosphere of Beijing. The film’s music by San Bao is hypnotically evocative for its simple and understated flute theme to play up the drama along with a smooth string piece that helps further the drama without going overboard.

The film’s cast which consists of non-actors are all wonderful in their roles as they all play themselves in the real professions they have. The big standouts include Zhang Huike as the troublemaking student who flees school to find work in the city and Wei Minzhi as the 13-year old substitute teacher who tries to find him.

Not One Less is a marvelous melodrama from Zhang Yimou. The film is truly a very touching and engaging story about a poor girl trying to make a difference and later to try and retrieve a lost boy so he can go back to school. While the film may not have some of the more visually-stylish flair of Yimou’s later films, it is definitely one of his most essential. In the end, Not One Less is a remarkable film from Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou Films: (Red Sorghum) - (Codename Cougar) - (Ju Dou) - (Raise the Red Lantern) - (The Story of Qiu Ju) - (Shanghai Triad) - (Keep Cool) - (The Road Home) - (Happy Times) - (Hero) - House of Flying Daggers - Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - Curse of the Golden Flower - A Simple Noodle Story - (Under the Hawthorn Tree) - (The Flowers of War) - Coming Home (2014 film) - The Great Wall (2016 film) - (Shadow (2018 film)

© thevoid99 2012

A Simple Noodle Story

Based on the 1984 film Blood Simple by Joel & Ethan Coen, A Simple Noodle Story (internationally known as A Woman, a Gun, & a Noodle Shop) is the story about a tyrannical noodle shop manager whose wife asks her lover to kill her husband only for a crooked cop to be involved in the scheme. Directed by Zhang Yimou with a script by Shi Jianquan and Xue Jianchao, the film is a more comedic and stylish take on the Coen Brothers film as it’s set into a different period in mainland China. Starring Sun Honglei, Ni Dahong, Xiaoshenyang, and Yan Ni. A Simple Noodle Story is a stylish but heavily uneven film from Zhang Ymou.

After purchasing a gun from a traveling Persian merchant (Julien Gaudfroy), Mrs. Wang (Ya Ni) is hoping to have in case something happens as she is already embroiled an affair with noodle shop cook Li (Xiasoshenyang). Mr. Wang (Dahong Ni) is the noodle shop owner who already suspects about his wife’s affair after a corrupt cop named Zhang (Sun Honglei) reveals the information to him. The already abusive Wang decides to confront his wife and Li leading some trouble as he asks Zhang to kill the two with payment in return. Zhang decides to do the job but he would do something that would complicate things as Li is aware something is wrong. Trying to cover things up, Li tries to deal with what happened as Zhang decides to get more of Wang’s money while cleaning things up.

The film is essentially about a noodle shop manager hiring a corrupt cop to kill his wife and her lover only to be later played by the cop. Set in the Gobi desert in a different time period, the film’s re-telling of the Coen Brothers’ tale of infidelity and revenge is one that is intriguing as Zhang Yimou goes for a film that takes that eerie, noir-suspense thriller into something more comical but retain some of the chills of the Coen Brothers film. The only problem is that the screwball comedy approach to the story makes the whole thing uneven. Notably as it includes a subplot involving two employees named Zhao (Cheng Ye) and Chen (Mao Mao) who are both trying to break into their bosses’ vault over owed payments.

It’s a subplot that doesn’t work as it would confuse the viewers into thinking what kind of film is seeing as the script also has issues in its approach to the narrative. Notably in the lack of suspense that occurs in favor of action while there are a few noteworthy moments involving no dialogue as it’s about action and what the characters are doing. For viewers who aren’t familiar with the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, it’s a plot approach that is confusing while for those have seen the 1984 film. It feels very familiar and the suspense doesn’t really work despite the performances and what Yimou tries to do with the directing of the film.

Yimou’s direction is very stylish as it includes a lot of slanted shots, slow-motion action shots, and other scenes that includes an amazing idea of how noodles are created in the old style. Along with wonderful and gorgeous depth-of-field shots of the Gobi deserts with its hills and roadways, Yimou creates a film that is style over substance but also more intimate as he goes for more exploration into characters and their place in the world. Due to the script’s inability to try and be a genre-bending film about revenge and infidelity. Yimou’s approach to the comedy doesn’t really work as the slapstick feels a bit forced and out of place with the rest of the film. Despite a lot of great moments in the directing including some of the violent moments, Yimou ends up creating a film that does do enough to create an engaging story that its premise would suggest.

Cinematographer Xiaodong Zhao does a fantastic job with the film‘s photography from the lush yet colorful look of the daytime exterior settings along with more eerie shots for the film‘s climatic moments at the interior. The nighttime scenes for its interiors and exteriors are very entrancing its bluish looks including the skylines that is a real highlight of Zhao’s work. Editor Peicong Meng does a nice job with the editing to capture the rhythm of the action scenes including some slow-motion shots to intensify the action of the film.

Visual effects supervisors Phil Jones and Jaing Yanming do excellent work with some of the visual effects moment that occur in the film including the climatic fight towards the end of the film. Sound editor Jing Tao does a terrific job with the sound work from the way the police siren sounds to the way swords and gunfire sound in some of the film’s action moments sound like.

The film’s cast is pretty good though some of the actors are forced to play into the silliness of the script. Among them is Julien Gaudfroy as the Persian trader and Zhao Benshan as the police captain in very small roles while Mao Mao is alright as the more cautious Chen. Cheng Ye is OK as the more conniving Zhao who tries to steal from Wang while sporting two big front teeth that is a bad play on Asian stereotypes. Xiaoshenyang is terrible as the cowardly cook Li who is Mrs. Wang’s lover as he doesn’t really get to do anything but be scared and screw up. Yan Ni is excellent as the more willing Mrs. Wang who is trying to divorce her husband while getting a gun in order to defend herself in case anything happens.

Ni Dahong is very good as the vile Mr. Wang who seeks revenge against his wife as there’s a he brings a dark, comical approach to his character while being very despicable. Finally, there’s Sun Honglei who gives the best performance of the film as the smart and cunning Zhang. Honglei doesn’t get to have a lot of lines but always maintain a quiet yet eerie presence whenever he’s around while being the one villain who is always there to make sure he’s doing things the right way as it’s a truly marvelous performance.

A Simple Noodle Story is a decent but very messy film from Zhang Yimou. Despite some stylish scenery, fantastic action sequences, and a brooding performance from Sun Honglei, it’s a film that tries too hard to be two different genres while not doing enough to create a very interesting story. It’s among one of Yimou’s weaker films despite his attempt to re-tell the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple into a different setting and period. In the end, A Simple Noodle Story is an underwhelming remake of Blood Simple that lacks the engaging suspense of the Coen Brothers classic.

Zhang Yimou Films: (Red Sorghum) - (Codename Cougar) - (Ju Dou) - (Raise the Red Lantern) - (The Story of Qiu Ju) - (To Live) - (Shanghai Triad) - (Keep Cool) - Not One Less - (The Road Home) - (Happy Times) - (Hero (2002 film)) - House of Flying Daggers - Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - Curse of the Golden Flower - (Under the Hawthorn Tree) - (The Flowers of War) - Coming Home (2014 film) - The Great Wall (2016 film) - (Shadow (2018 film)

Blood Simple

© thevoid99 2012

To Each His Own Cinema

Note: The Version of the Film I Saw Does Not Feature the Coen Brothers’ World Cinema short starring Josh Brolin and Grant Heslov that Can be Seen Here.

Chacun son Cinema (To Each His Own Cinema) is a 2007 anthology film project produced by Cannes Film Festival organizer Gilles Jacob to celebrate the festival’s 60th anniversary. Inviting many filmmakers from five different continents and twenty-five countries, each filmmaker has to create a three-minute short to exemplify their love for cinema. Among the filmmakers contributing to this project are the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Ken Loach, Lars von Trier, David Cronenberg, Wong Kar-Wai, Roman Polanski, David Lynch, Michael Cimino, Walter Salles, Atom Egoyan, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the Dardenne Brothers, and many more.  The result is one of the most fascinating collection of shorts from some of the world's revered filmmakers.

Cinema d’ete (Open-Air Cinema) (Raymond Depardon) is about a gathering of young Islamic people going up the roof of a building to see a Bollywood movie as they enjoy themselves. One Fine Day (Takeshi Kitano) has a laborer (Takeshi Kitano) going to a small theater in the middle of Japan to watch Kitano’s Kids Return by himself only for things to go wrong during the screening. In Trois minutes (Three Minutes) (Theo Angelopoulos), a woman (Jeanne Moreau) enters an empty theater where she talks to the ghost of Marcello Mastroianni. Dans le noir (In the Dark) (Andrei Konchalovski) has a woman (Yola Sanko) watching Fellini’s 8 ½ while hearing a young couple having sex in her theater. In Diaro di uno spettatore (Diary of a Moviegoer) (Nanni Moretti), Nanni Moretti reflects his own experiences watching films in a cinema along with the places he watches those movies.

The Electric Princess Picture House (Hou Hsiao-hsien) is about Hsiao-hsien’s reflection of an old theater where he has a family in the 1960s going to this beloved theater to watch Robert Bresson’s Mouchette. Dans l’obscurite (Darkness) (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) is about a young thief (Jeremie Segard) trying to steal the purse of a woman (Emilie Dequenne) as she is crying during a screening of Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar. In Absurda (David Lynch) has a group of teens watching a movie where a man on the film presents them horrifying images that scares them. Anna (Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu) has a blind woman (Luisa Williams) watching Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt with her friend (Shaun Madden) as she is moved by what she’s hearing. En regardant le film (Movie Night) (Zhang Yimou) is about a little boy along with a group of children and adults in a small Chinese village waiting to see a movie as they wait for nightfall to see a movie.

In Le Dibbouk de Haifa (The Dybbuk of Haifa) (Amos Gitai), two different groups of people in 1936 Warsaw and in 2006 Haifa are watching the same film just before things would change around them. The Lady Bug (Jane Campion) is the story of a cleaning man (Clayton Jacobson) trying to kill a dancing bug (Erica Englert) as audio from a film is being played. Artaud Double Bill (Atom Egoyan) is about a woman watching Godard’s Vivre sa vie as she texts her boyfriend who is at another theater watching Egoyan’s The Adjuster. La Fonderie (The Foundry) (Aki Kaurismaki) is about a group of factory workers finishing up their job so they can see a film by the Lumiere brothers inside their factory. Recrudescence (Upsurge) (Olivier Assayas) has a couple (Deniz Gazme Erguven & Lionel Dray) go to a movie while a man (George Babluani) eyes the woman for some strange reason.

47 ans aspres (47 Years Later) (Youssef Chahine) is about Chahine’s experience back at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival where his second film was receiving bad reviews as he looks back 47 years later where he receives a lifetime achievement award at the same festival. It’s a Dream (Tsai Ming-liang) has a man recalling his days when his grandmother took him to the cinema as she eats a certain specialty as he watches a movie with his mother, son, and a picture of his grandmother. Occupations (Lars von Trier) has von Trier at a premiere for his own film Manderlay where he’s being pestered by a rude man (Jacques Frantz) as von Trier deals with him in his way. Le Don (The Gift) (Raoul Ruiz) has a blind film buff (Michael Lonsdale) talking to his anthropologist niece (Miriam Heard) about his own experiences while they watch a film in a theater.

Cinema de boulevard (The Cinema Around the Corner) (Claude Lelouch) is about Lelouch recalling the moment his parents met at a theater and how his life was transformed by the films that would impact his life. In First Kiss (Gus Van Sant), a young projectionist (Paul Parson) puts on a movie as a woman (Viva Las Vegas) appears on screen as he‘s transfixed by her. Cinema Erotique (Erotic Cinema) (Roman Polanski) has an old couple watching Emmanuelle where they’re bothered by a man supposedly masturbating to the movie. No Translation Needed (Michael Cimino) has a budding filmmaker (Yves Courbet) wanting to make a movie about a Cuban band with a diva-esque singer (Juliana Munoz) by asking them to perform in a theater. At the Suicide of the Last Jew in the Last Cinema of the World (David Cronenberg) has Cronenberg set to kill himself at the last cinema in the world as it’s being reported by two reporters commenting on the situation.

I Travelled 9000 km to Give It to You (Wong Kar-Wai) is about a man (Fan Chih Wei) and a woman (Farini Chang Yui Ling) falling for each other during a screening of Godard’s Alphaville. Where is My Romeo? (Abbas Kiarostami) has a group of Muslim women watching Romeo & Juliet in a theater to a strong reaction. In The Last Dating Show (Bille August), a Danish man and an Islamic woman go on a blind date to see a movie as a group of men are bothered by the man translating the wrong things to the woman. Itrebak (Awkward) (Elia Suleiman) has Suleiman attend a screening of a film where things don’t work out while he later does a Q&A where everything feels awkward. Rencontre unique (Sole Meeting) (Manoel de Oliveira) has people watching a silent film about a meeting between Nikita Khrushchev (Michel Piccoli) and Pope Jean XXIII (Duarte D’Almeida).

A 8 944 km de Cannes (5,557 Miles From Cannes) (Walter Salles) is about two men having a musical interlude about one’s trip to Cannes as they’re about to go into a theater to watch The 400 Blows. War in Peace (Wim Wenders) is about a group of people in Kabalo watching Black Hawk Down on a television inside a small building. Zhanxiou Village (Chen Kaige) is about a man reflecting the time he watched a Charles Chaplin film as a child as his friends try to find a way to play the film. In Happy Ending (Ken Loach), a father and son (Bradley Walsh & Joe Siffleet) try to figure out what movie to see at a multiplex. World Cinema (Joel & Ethan Coen) is about a cowboy (Josh Brolin) who walks into an art house theater asking an usher (Grant Heslov) about the event as he watches Climates by Nuri Bilge Ceylan to a surprising reaction.

The concept is simple, a collection of short stories by some of the world’s greatest filmmakers expressing their love for cinema. Whether it’s personal, humorous, or serious, it’s all about going to the movies and what does it mean. With many filmmakers choosing to use clips of other movies to express their love of cinema, they also allow to create some kind of statement about what cinema means to them or to express something about what cinema does to them.

The film opens and ends with two different shorts about going to the movies as Raymond Depardon and Ken Loach each create two amazing shorts about going to the movies. In Depardon, he creates the joy of going to a cinema on a building rooftop in an Islamic country just for a bit of freedom. In Loach’s short, it’s all about a father and son trying to figure out what to see amidst a group of annoyed people waiting in line. These two shorts each exemplify the importance of cinema as they each set an example of what these shorts should tell.

Loach and Depardon are among two of the best shorts in the anthology films as many other filmmakers create some amazing gems for varying different reasons. In the humorous department, the shorts by Roman Polanski, Nanni Moretti, Takeshi Kitano, Elia Suleiman, and Lars von Trier provide different arrays of humor. With Moretti, he adds a personal element about his love of going to the movies where he sings the theme to Rocky while Suleiman reveals the awkwardness of attending a movie. The von Trier segment is easily the most gruesome because it’s all about what not to do when watching a movie with Lars von Trier.

Other great shorts involve personal stories such as the shorts by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Claude Lelouch, Chen Kaige, Tsai Ming-liang, and Yousseff Chahine where they each give their own personal stories. For the dramatic moments, Zhang Yimou, Abbas Kiarostami, Andrei Konchalovski, Aki Kaurismaki, Theo Angelopoulos, and Alejandro Gonzalez Innarritu each provide some narratives to their shorts to exemplify the power of cinema. Directors that are known for their style such as the Dardenne Brothers, Walter Salles, the Coen Brothers, Wong Kar-Wai, and David Lynch use the shorts to display part of their own ideas to the anthology. Yet, it’s David Cronenberg’s short that is the major highlight because it has Cronenberg literally shooting himself as he’s about to kill himself over the state of cinema.

With a lot of shorts in this film, there are a slew of great ones but also some good ones that don’t really stand out. The shorts by Gus Van Sant, Bille August, Olivier Assayas, Raoul Ruiz, and Manoel de Oliveira don’t stand out as much but do provide some insight into the power of film. The two shorts by Wim Wenders and Amos Gitai each have political elements though Wenders chooses to downplay at the end of his short while Gitai’s exploration of Hebrews watching a film in two different eras in times of war comes off as pretentious and overbearing. Jane Campion’s short doesn’t really show a film but rather a performance that doesn’t fit in with the entire concept of the film. Yet, her short isn’t the worst as it belongs to Michael Cimino that ends up being extremely ridiculous and very self-indulgent as Cimino tries to make fun of himself for being an egomaniacal filmmaker.

Chacun son Cinema is an extraordinary collection of short films that truly exemplify the brilliance that is cinema. With some amazing shorts from Lars von Trier, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, the Coen Brothers, the Dardenne Brothers, Ken Loach, and several more. There is a great collection that allows fans of these filmmakers to check out while for those who had never heard some of the filmmakers who contribute to this anthology film will get a chance to discover them. In the end, Chacun son Cinema is an anthology film that film buffs must see for these gems from some of the world’s best filmmakers.

© thevoid99 2011

2011 Cannes Marathon: House of Flying Daggers

(Premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Out of Competition)

2002’s stylized wuxia film Hero helped raise the profile of Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou. Thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s love for Yimou’s work that allowed the film to be shown in the U.S. in 2004, Hero became an international hit for the director as he decided to create another stylized wuxia film that was to come out in that same year. This time around, Yimou takes the stylized action of Hero with a love story between a police captain and a blind dancer called Shi Mian Mai Fu (House of Flying Daggers).

Directed by Zhang Yimou and written by Yimou, Peter Wu, and Bin Wang, Shi Mian Mai Fu is set in the 9th Century during the Tang Dynasty as two police captains plot a scheme against a group of rebels who are fighting a corrupt government. Using a blind dancer to lead them to the rebel leaders, the move becomes complicated as one of the men fall for the dancer. Starring Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Zhang Ziyi. Shi Mian Mai Fu is an extraordinary yet visually-dazzling film from Zhang Yimou and company.

It’s 859 during the Tang Dynasty as its corrupt rule is in decline leading to a rebellion. The most dangerous rebel group is the House of Flying Daggers who has a fearsome reputation only to be recently sidelined by the death of their leader by police officials. With a new leader taking charge of the House of Flying Daggers, two police captains named Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau) are given the assignment which will take them 10 days to do. Before the mission, Jin gets drunk at a brothel where he asks the brothel lady (Song Dandan) to bring him someone new. The new girl is a blind dancer named Mei (Zhang Ziyi) who Jin likes only to get into some trouble until Leo arrives to calm things down only to have a dance of his own from Mei to be entertained by.

Mei is eventually arrested following a duel with Leo as he asks her about the whereabouts of the House of Flying Daggers. She refuses to tell as Jin decides to go undercover by pretending to be a rebel by freeing Mei from jail and gain her trust so she can lead him to the House of Flying Daggers’ hiding place. Calling himself Wind, Jin helps the blind Mei lead her across the country to the secret compound while he is followed by Leo secretly gives him orders on what to do. Even warning Jin not to get too close to Mei as an attraction between the two happens. During another encounter with soldiers, things become more complicated as Jin and Mei get closer.

Another secret report to Leo has some harsh revelations about who is after Jin and Mei with Leo unable to help them as more soldiers are approaching. Jin and Mei have a spat where they break up for a while only to be surrounded by more soldiers from a general as they’re saved by the House of Flying Daggers. For Jin, he and a captured Leo learn some shocking discoveries about the House of Flying Daggers along with the people who are in the group.

The film is about two police captains during the Tang Dynasty charming a blind dancer to the whereabouts of a rebel group where one of them falls in love with the dancer. Yet, that is the film’s plot but the progression of the story becomes more intriguing as the relationship between one of the captains and the blind dancer starts to gel though at times, there’s tension. Then there’s the other captain in Leo, a man who is trying to keep his follow officer in check but the warnings he gives about Mei are very strange. Even more intriguing are the identities of the House of Flying Daggers.

The screenplay Zhang Yimou and his co-writers Peter Wu and Bin Wang create definitely plays up to the momentum of the identity of the House of Flying Daggers group. They’re known simply by the way they throw spinning boomerang-knives at their enemies and they’re not seen until the third act. By the time they’re revealed, the entire tone of the film changes somewhat along with the characters that are presented in the story. What happens isn’t just a series of twists and revelations but also the motives of the two characters. Yet, this would lead to even more complications over loyalties with Jin suddenly stuck in the middle of what is happening.

Zhang Yimou’s direction is truly mesmerizing not just in his presentation but also in his approach to a lot of the dramatic elements of the film. Yimou is known for vast compositions with wide shots and lots of action flourishes. Yet, he is also manages to present things in a very simple manner such as scenes of Mei in a field of flowers or Mei and Jin just talking. Largely because he wanted the audience to soak in the landscape of China though a scene set in the snow was shot in Ukraine. There is a heightened atmosphere to the look of the film where it’s not only gorgeous to look at but also plays to the world that the characters are encountering.

Then there’s the action which is presented with not just a great degree of style but also in such precise choreography that is presented by Tony Ching Siu Tung. The movements in the action and fight scenes play like a ballet where it’s not just about the rhythm of the movements but also the staging of it. This is where Yimou really lets the film shine as the stakes in the battles are just as interesting. It’s not just about survival but also the fact that there’s two people in love fighting for their love. Even as there is a climatic duel towards the end of the film that intensify the stakes. Overall, this is a marvelous film from Zhang Yimou who creates a film that is entrancing from start to finish.

Cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding does an amazing job with the film‘s photography from the look of the brothel interiors to the gorgeous shots of the forest with its naturalist yet heightened look. Particularly with the scenes in the bamboo forest where the greenish look of the film is extremely awesome to look at. Xiaoding’s work is definitely the technical highlight of the film. Editor Cheng Long does an excellent job with the film’s editing from playing up to the intense rhythm of the action and fight scenes while maintaining a straightforward approach to the editing in the dramatic scenes. Even as the pacing for the film is very leisured without being too slow or too fast.

Production designer Huo Tingxao, along with art directors Zhong Han and Bin Zhao, does a great job with the set pieces created for the film. Notably the brothel that is rich in its look and color along with the intimacy of the secret home of the House of the Flying Daggers and its forest. Costume designer Emi Wada does a spectacular job with the costumes from the dignified clothes the men wear to the array of colors and layers of clothes that Mei wears throughout her journey as the costumes are another highlight of the film.

Visual effects supervisors Andy Brown and Angie Lam does a very good job with some of the visual effects needed for the film such as Mei‘s drum-dance with nuts flying around or the bamboo battle scenes with soldiers throwing bamboo spears though the latter sequence looked rough in some spots. Sound designer Tao Jing does a superb job with the sound design from the way swords hit each other to the movement of the fights and battle sequences.

The film’s music by Shigeru Umebayashi is another highlight of the film Umebayashi‘s lush yet flourishing score ranging from traditional Chinese music to sweeping orchestral pieces that plays to the dramatic elements of the film and its action sequences. The song that is sung early in the film by Zhang Ziyi is later sung by Kathleen Battle in the final credits that alludes to a legend that is told in the film.

The cast is definitely phenomenal with a large array of extras that are presented in the film to play up to the ambition of the film. For the main cast, there’s only four principle actors as they all do a great job in their performances. Song Dandan is very good as a brothel owner who is keen on pleasing her customers. Andy Lau is great as Leo, a police captain intent on making sure his fellow partner does his duties while giving him vague warnings. Takeshi Kaneshiro is excellent as Jin, a police captain who takes Mei by pretending to be a rebel warrior only to fall for her and be conflicted by his role. Finally, there’s Zhang Ziyi in a radiant performance as Mei. Ziyi brings a wonderful sensuality to her role while bringing something even more remarkable by being blind throughout the film as well as being very agile in her fighting and ballet dancing in what is one of her finest performances of her career.

Shi Mian Mai Fu is a stunning yet exhilarating film from Zhang Yimou featuring a superb cast led by Zhang Ziyi. Fans of Yimou’s films will no doubt enjoy this for this visual splendor, stylish action sequences, and heightened drama. It’s a film that is entertaining but also stimulating in its visual presentation with a third act that really changes everything about the film. In the end, Shi Mian Mai Fu is a brilliant film from Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou Films: (Red Sorghum) - (Codename Cougar) - (Ju Dou) - (Raise the Red Lantern) - (The Story of Qiu Ju) - (To Live) - (Shanghai Triad) - (Keep Cool) - Not One Less - (The Road Home) - (Happy Times) - (Hero) - Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - Curse of the Golden Flower - A Simple Noodle Story - (Under the Hawthorn Tree) - (The Flowers of War) - Coming Home (2014 film) - The Great Wall (2016 film) - (Shadow (2018 film)

© thevoid99 2011