MOVIES : House of Flying Daggers
Why did I see this when it is directed by the same guy who did Hero and Raise the Red Lantern? Because there wasn't anything else on, and I wanted to see if he could get a trifecta.
Well he didn't. This movie isn't boring, it isn't aweful, and it is still beautiful.
Story, in ancient China, centres around a skilled under cover policeman who is sent to seduce the daughter of the oh-so naughty House of Daggers Cheif. And most of the story was OK, which was the biggest failing of Hero (I don't really remember RtRL enough to comment, but I suspect the story was good, just told reeeeaaaalllllyyyy sssslllloooowwlllyyy). Some of the intrigues were interesting.
I noticed at the beginning of the film that the fight scenes were all choreographed by someone else, and they were pretty all right, a little to0 balletic (and we all know how muych I like ballet). But the cinematography was all classic (insert name of director: Yimou Zhang, thanks Neek!) with some fantastic scenery and colour. Very much a 'paints the canvas' type director.
There is a fantastic scene in which it moves from being autumn (all the colors before this point are autumnal) to winter with the snow falling hard and covering the ground. Unfortunately it is also this scene which undoes the film for me as you assume that the director is being metaphorical and about to draw some parallels with other things happening in the film, but then introduces some really stupid 'realistic' elements that ruins it all, destroying the poetry and our connection to the characters. A real pity, when he almost had a pretty good film (rather than boring as batsh*t one.
I think it might be a culutral thing. But at least this one gets more than 1 star (not that I do stars...)
Well he didn't. This movie isn't boring, it isn't aweful, and it is still beautiful.
Story, in ancient China, centres around a skilled under cover policeman who is sent to seduce the daughter of the oh-so naughty House of Daggers Cheif. And most of the story was OK, which was the biggest failing of Hero (I don't really remember RtRL enough to comment, but I suspect the story was good, just told reeeeaaaalllllyyyy sssslllloooowwlllyyy). Some of the intrigues were interesting.
I noticed at the beginning of the film that the fight scenes were all choreographed by someone else, and they were pretty all right, a little to0 balletic (and we all know how muych I like ballet). But the cinematography was all classic (insert name of director: Yimou Zhang, thanks Neek!) with some fantastic scenery and colour. Very much a 'paints the canvas' type director.
There is a fantastic scene in which it moves from being autumn (all the colors before this point are autumnal) to winter with the snow falling hard and covering the ground. Unfortunately it is also this scene which undoes the film for me as you assume that the director is being metaphorical and about to draw some parallels with other things happening in the film, but then introduces some really stupid 'realistic' elements that ruins it all, destroying the poetry and our connection to the characters. A real pity, when he almost had a pretty good film (rather than boring as batsh*t one.
I think it might be a culutral thing. But at least this one gets more than 1 star (not that I do stars...)
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Yimou Zhang
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