i am awe-struck by the cinematography of Zhang Yimou's latest film: "House of Flying Daggers" or more aptly titled in Chinese as 十面埋伏 and perhaps more accurately translated* as facades hiding ambushes... which the director presented at the Cannes. i was slightly hesitant to go, having heard mixed reviews from different people and also by the fact that people i often go movie-watching with aren't free to come along with me... or aren't here for that matter... so i contemplated for a few days...
however unlike those (e.g. DSD) who have expressed their unfavourable views about the film -- whose script incorporated various familiar themes of "Robin-Hood", "Romeo and Juliet", and the Chinese Martial Arts genre -- i do like it... despite a few qualms which i have pertaining to the passionate scenes, which i feel, were perhaps a little contrived and too drawn-out... and perhaps the Title Song, "Lovers", sang by Kathleen Battle, would have been more appropriate if it had been in Mandarin... however, the setting and play of colour themes that ran parallel to the subtle plots and the choreographed movements (both minute and subtle as well as grand and epic) were beautifully done...
i guess you might say i am biased, for i do like Zhang Yimou's films alot and i notice how his style has slowly changed with the years... becoming more fairy-tale like in the modern productions... i also i think Zhang Ziyi is a great actress with a lot of potential... and now i am beginning to understand what people say about Andy Lau's sensitivity in his acting as well as why everyone's so smitten by Takeshi Kaneshiro... yet i guess it is our great loss that we will never see this film starring Anita Mui as the Peony Pavilion's Yee -- whose role was eventually played by Song DanDan. and it is in memory of Anita that the film is dedicated.
[a selection of various trailers is available from here]
* a note on the observed discrepancies of the translated subtitles in the movie -- for example, the (repeated) lines uttered by Jin to Mei: "I came back for you" was actually "I came back for the one I love" in the original Mandarin... which can be seen as either cheesier or more poetic...
posted by ~overacuppa~ on Monday, 17 January, 2005 at 01:56 hrs
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