House of Flying Daggers
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Movie Reviews of House of Flying Daggers
Movie Review: No Escape
Summary: 5 Stars
No Escape
Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers is one of the most visually exciting, beautiful, and emotionally painful films I've ever seen. From his first images, Zhang plunges viewers into this romantic tragedy - a story full of mysterious twists, life and death action, intense color and design, unique use of sound and music, beautifully choreographed action, sensuality, wrenching conflict, passion and devastating loss.
The film is set in 850 AD during the Tang dynasty, when all of China was in chaos. Caught in this time of great political instability, three warriors find themselves not only fighting on opposing sides, but unexpectedly tangled in a fatal love triangle.
The film begins with a single, bold, bright red brush stroke sweeping diagonally across the bare parchment background. As it disappears, an identical stroke quickly follows from the opposite side, and fades. A drop of blood falls, like a musical note on an empty score. This marks the visual key for Zhang Yimou's drama that is masterfully supported by the film's cinematography, unusual score, and superb acting.
As the blood drops, Dai Ya's haunting bamboo flute melody is suddenly overcome by an ominous crescendo of yangqin dulcimers. The film's title appears, center screen, boxed like an official stamp in large, red Chinese characters - House of Flying Daggers. - Zhang turbulent, heart breaking tale.
As the story opens, the emperor of China is weak and ineffectual. Corruption and disorder are rampant. The country has split into numerous warring factions. One of the rebel groups fighting the government is the House of Flying Daggers secreted in a forest of timber bamboo. Because they have the support of the people, and their members have an almost magical skill with daggers and in martial arts, The House of Flying Daggers is a major threat to the government.
Two local police officers, Leo and Jin, are ordered by their general to find and kill the new leader of the House of Flying Daggers in ten days. Believing that the daughter of the recently assassinated rebel leader is the blind dancer, and rare beauty, hiding at the local brothel, Leo devises a plan for her capture. Jin is to go to the brothel, pretend to be drunk, and order the new girl, Mei, to dance for him.
Leo arrives after her dance. He pretends to arrest Jin for drunkenness. To see if the girl is really blind, Leo orders Mei to dance the Echo Game for him before he arrests her. She performs amazingly. This is one of the most extraordinary scenes in the film.
At police headquarters Leo threatens Mei with torture if she doesn't reveal the location of the House of Flying Daggers. Later that night as part of the ruse, Jin rescues Mei. He pretends to be tired of war and wants to escape with her. Leo calculates that she will lead Jin to the House of Flying Daggers while government soldiers secretly follow behind.
Leo warns Jin not to fall for Mei. She can be deceptive, Leo says. Jin, who has a reputation for seducing women, assures Leo, "I'm a free spirit. I'm always in control." Unconvinced, Leo orders Jin not to turn a game into reality and ruin their plan.
War isn't the real story in this film. It's the stage on which the personal dramas of these three characters are played. The war serves to divert, disrupt and endanger Jin and Mei's journey as they are drawn into more devastating personal struggles between loyalty and honor, and the real enemy - unnoticed and unsuspected until too late - true love, the assassin of all good intentions. Once struck, there is no escape.
Nature's beauty is as much a character in this film as are the humans. The wild meadow first deep in flower, and at the end, veiled in snow, which hosts choreographed battles for life, love and death. The woods of white birch against fallen red leaves through which Jin on his magnificent horse flies like the wind itself. Forests of ringed, timber bamboo with their hollow song and whispering leaves in which the lovers discover their true identities.
Zwang camera is often distracted away from human subjects to the pure graphic beauty of nature. Human characters, dressed in the intricate costumes of the period, appear like exotic blossoms, jewels, within these stunning natural patterns and colors.
House of Flying Daggers is also an unusually sensual film where physical attraction turns into something much deeper and with greater consequences.
When Leo shows Mei the torture she could face at the jail, his hands caress her face and arms and hands as a love's would. After Mei and Jin escape from jail, she bathes in a pool Jin makes for her. To hide her identity, he seductively dresses her in men's clothing. Later, Mei asks to know what her rescuer "looks" like. She kneels before Jin and runs her fingers delicately up over his hands, then his body to his face, to feel what kind of man he is. When they are captured by the soldiers, Mei reaches through the cage that imprisons them for Jin's hand. Again and again the camera closes in tight on their hands clasped together.
Touch, the messenger of love.
In the end, it isn't the war that matters most to these warriors, nor their political commitments. It's desire, jealousy and passion that are their real life and death battles.
Movie Review: Zhang Yimou's 2nd Stunning Foray into Martial Arts Cinema.
Summary: 5 Stars
"House of Flying Daggers" is director Zhang Yimou's second martial arts film after a decade and a half of character dramas made him one of the most highly regarded directors in the world. As he did in "Hero", Zhang brings his sensibility for human emotion to "House of Flying Daggers", creating a character-driven action film that will appeal to a wide audience. "House of Flying Daggers" takes place in 859 A.D., at the time of a weakening Tang Dynasty. An underground revolutionary faction called the House of Flying Daggers has emerged to hasten the Emperor's demise. Two provincial police captains, Captain Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Captain Leo (Andy Lau) suspect one of the employees of an upscale brothel, the Peony Pavilion, of being a member of the outlawed House of Flying Daggers. Jin visits the Pavilion as a patron to investigate and is surprised to find that his suspect, Mei (Zhang Ziyi), is blind, stunningly beautiful, and an exquisite dancer. But when Mei attempts to kill Leo, she is arrested. Instead of turning Mei over to higher authorities, The captains cook up a plan for Jin to spring Mei out of prison, gain her confidence, and allow her to lead them to other members of the House of Flying Daggers. Jin is confident that he can seduce Mei and win her trust. Leo is not so sure.
The first 20 minutes of "House of Flying Daggers" are so beautiful that I watched them several times over. Director Zhang Yimou reunited with production designer Huo Tingxiao and costume designer Emi Wada who did such extraordinary work in "Hero". Han Zhong's art direction is especially remarkable in the film's first act. Most of "House of Flying Daggers" takes place outdoors, as Jin and Mei flee the imperial authorities. But the film's most memorable scenes are indoors, at the Peony Pavillion, where the colors and designs of the Tang Dynasty are so captivating that it seems you could reach out and touch them. The audience won't soon forget Zhang Ziyi's dancing among these exquisite sets. But this is a martial arts film, and once things get rolling, there are plenty of sword fights -choreographed by Hong Kong action director Tony Ching Siu-Tung. Zhang Yimou makes it clear that he views fighting as nearly indistinguishable from the dancing, as these fights are stylized and graceful. On the other hand, they are full of passion, since "House of Flying Daggers" is a story of love in the face of war, with the principle characters forming a tragic love triangle.
"House of Flying Daggers" excels in indoor cinematography and is somewhat less impressive outdoors, unlike "Hero", which was spectacular in both. It doesn't have the narrative or thematic complexity of "Hero" either, although "House of Flying Daggers" unfolds to reveal deceptions within deceptions, which seem to be fashionable in most of the world's film industries right now. Because this is a character-driven film whose fight sequences don't pretend to be realistic, I don't know if fans of the martial arts genre will enjoy it. But those qualities will earn "House of Flying Daggers" popularity with viewers who normally avoid martial arts film. In Mandarin with subtitles.
The DVD (Columbia/Tristar 2005): "The Making of House of Flying Daggers" (45 minutes) is a little meandering and too long, but features interviews with director Zhang Yimou, Tony Ching, and the film's stars. Zhang talks about the film's themes. The documentary discusses filming key scenes and ends with the film's premieres in Cannes and Hong Kong. In Mandarin with subtitles. "Creating the Visual Effects" (4 minutes) has no narration but shows the original film for 5 fight scenes, then the computer graphic that was added, then the final sequence. "Storyboard Comparisons" show 6 scenes from the film playing out next to the storyboard for the same scene. "Costumes Gallery" (1 minute) is a slideshow of costume sketches shown next to the final product. "Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery" (3 minutes) is a slideshow of behind-the-scenes snapshots. There is a music video for the song "Lover" performed by Kathleen Battle (4 minutes). The audio commentary by director Zhang Yimou and actress Zhang Ziyi is in Mandarin with subtitles. He discusses his decisions and various aspects of filming and creating the sets, and she talks about her experiences for each scene. The commentary is conversational, but there aren't many lulls. Subtitles and dubbing for the film are available in English and French.
Movie Review: Yimou Zhang makes a film even more beautiful than "Hero"
Summary: 5 Stars
I think Yimou Zhang has made the two most visually beautiful films I have seen in the past year, with "Ying xiong" ("Hero") and "Shi mian mai fu" ("House of Flying Daggers" but literally translated as "Ambush From Ten Sides"). The common denominator is not the martial arts action couple with the Hong Kong wire work but Zhang's use of rich colors. I know that Akira Kurosawa pained a field of grass gold for a scene that ended up being deleted in "Ran," and for all I know Zhang painted all those bamboo trees green in this 2004 film. But Zhang has been paying attention to color for as long as I have been watching his films, which goes all the way back to 1991's "Da hong deng long gao gao gua" ("Raise the Red Lantern"). The man is an expert at creating scenes of spectacular visual beauty on a motion picture screen and this time he is really into blue and green big time.
This is a movie where you do not really care about the plot beyond its ability to move us from one beautiful set piece to the next. Mei (Zhang Ziyi) is the blind daughter of the former leader of the Flying Daggers, a secret group that is combating the corrupt Tang Dynasty of the 9th century in China. The name comes from the fact that they throw daggers, and there are some daggers that are followed by the camera in this film the same way George Lucas followed the X-fighters in the trench during the attack on the Death Star. Mei is a dancer at the Peony Palace, and Captain Leo (Andy Lau), a local cop, sends his young colleague Captain Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to investigate the mysterious blind dancer who is suspected of having ties to the Flying Daggers. While you know this is the beginning of a romance, because who could not fall in love with the beautiful and talented Mei, what matters is that we are up to the first spectacular set pieces, the Echo Game, played between Leo and Mei where the blind dancer shows she definitely knows how to play the game (and strike a pose).
The battle in the bamboo forest is the most impressive of these sequences, but I liked the choreographed battle in the field of grass with the two lovers encircled by swordsmen and the part in the final fight where it starts to snow. I understand there are homages in this film, but while I get the link to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" going back to the bamboo forest scene from "A Touch of Zen" is beyond me because I do not watch too many of these films. But, wow, the ones I have seen make me wonder why I am not watching at least one in a week and the answer is I know in my heart they cannot all be as beautiful as this one. What will Zhang come up with next? We cannot but wait to find out (he is currently filming "Qian li zou dan ji," which literally translates as "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" and is apparently about a Japanese father her take his ailing son to China's Yunnan province to learn opera).
Granted, "Shi mian mai fu" has flaws despite its great beauty. The political backdrop of the film seems to matter at the start, what with the emperor being weak and the officials being corrupt and all, but all that really matters is that Mei starts off on the opposite side of Leo and Jin, who best laid plans are going to go astray in ways too tragic for them to forsee. That is because the story is an excuse to get us from one spectacular set piece to the next and the sides exist simply for one lover to cross over to the other. The swordplay is more stylized than I have seen in other films of this genre and seems to involve less wire work as well, which is fine with me, because I would rather see it used selectively as it is here. There is also a song that Mei sings early on where you need to pay attention because it will come back more poignantly later on. The film has an English audio track, but you are obviously advised to go for the sub-titled original audio track because dubbed always sounds dubbed and that means tacky. Gorgeous films do not deserve tacky audio tracks.
Movie Review: Intriguing Beautiful Love Amidst Clandestine Operations/War
Summary: 5 Stars
Better than "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" this story gradually reveals an unexpected love triangle which contains amazing martial arts choreography woven into a stunning visual masterpiece of epic proportions. The unusual love-triangle is heart-stopping ... the fight scene at the conclusion of the film is a gut-wrenching and powerful. The close-up scenes of pure emotions reveal both artistic cinematography as well as superb acting: whether it is desire, bliss, lust, rage, doubt, torment, suffering or other emotions ... the visual effects are absolutely amazing.
This film has it all: gorgeous period costumes designed by Emi Wada, spectacular landscapes like delicate water colors and oil paintings on canvas and visually pleasing actors and actresses ... They are fairy-tale like in their magnificence. The mountain scenery is breath-taking as the fall foliage paints a collage of orange, red, fading green and brown leaves which are exceptionally stunning from a distance. The field of wild flowers where Jin and Mei playfully discover the depth of their true feelings for each other is a natural wonder. They express their feelings gently at first and then with passionate abandon ... The martial arts fighting scenes in the bamboo forest where the government soldiers ambush Jin and Mei during their escape is exceptionally creative and well filmed ...
This enhanced DVD has a great interview with the director Yimou Zhang who explains that bamboo forests have been symbolic of martial arts in films from long ago and he felt it must be included. Watching the interview, the viewer learns to appreciate the amount of planning and background work which is painstakingly done to perfection to film this artistic masterpiece ... Ziyi Zhang who plays Mei, lived with a blind girl for two months to learn the proper body and head movements in order to play a blind girl accurately. Also, she had studied traditional Chinese dance when a young girl which helped her learn the choreographed dance and martial arts movements in her outstanding performance in the scene for General Leo at the Peony Pavillion. The original music in the film is fantastic, Kathryn Battle sings the theme song which is sung by Mei during her dance performance for Captain Jin. It is a totally heart warming performance that captivates Jin and wins over the viewers ...
The story begins in a brothel called "Peony Pavillion" where government officers visit for a tryst with the ladies and to be entertained ... The visual effects of the establishment are extraordinairily authentic, the set design, bright colors, flowers, and weapons on the wall are all extremely balanced and harmonious ... After Mei, the blind dancing girl does a magnificent martial arts and dance performance for General Leo, she is taken prisoner. She is believed to be the blind daughter of the dead leader of a clandestine organization, called "House of Flying Daggers" who are resisting government authority and creating unrest and rebellion against the Tang Dynasty. General Leo's plan is to flush out the covert operatives ... but unexpected emotional relationships develop to confound his plans. How the love triangle is revealed and resolved is the stuff of which great films are made. The story line itself is deceptively simple ... but its execution is thoroughly unequalled. The film expresses how in the short time of three days true feelings of love can develop with unequalled depth and passion. It can grow into becoming one of the most complex human emotions ever put on film. Erika Borsos (pepper flower)
Movie Review: A Good Home Theater Test Disc
Summary: 5 Stars
Story line aside, this is a good home theater DVD test disc few other movie DVDs can match. One caveat, you should use the Chinese sound track for testing.
The disc contains Chinese, English and French sound tracks and one commentary track. Do not assume the three sound tracks are the same except conversations. The English sound track is the worst of all. Take the acclaimed "Echo Game" scene for example, the English sound track not only is muted in dynamic range but also has very narrow sound frequency range. If one only listen the English sound track, one would think is only a mediocre to average sound track. The French sound track is much better and very close to the Chinese sound track. A very good sound track by itself but compares the Chinese sound track, the sound is less refined in both high and low frequency ends.
Speaking of the "Echo Game", it is the money shot as test disc. Very rarely, one can find a short chapter on any DVD that can test both the sound and image system of a home theater setup. As mentioned before, one should only use the Chinese sound track for testing. The "Echo Game" uses full surround to great extend. Most of the movies only use limited frequency range in the surround speakers in a 5.1 setup. This one uses full frequency range not just the front speakers but also the surround speakers to create the very impressive surround sound effect when beans are hitting the drums from all directions and then drop to the ground. The sleeve hitting the drum part makes use the surround speakers to pin points the drum positions. In the entire scene, the base should be strong and yet crisp. On the subtle side, one should also be able to hear some whisper from the crowd on the second floor. Together with the drum scene, makes a good dynamic range test (the English and French tracks has higher level of whisper background sound make them less a test for dynamic range).
Although I think the overall image is a bit on the soft side, at least it did not suffer from the ghost of over sharpening. Even so, the building, carpet and costumes in the "Echo Game" have more details and shades of color than most movies in one setting. If you have a HDTV, this is a good chapter to test how good your display is. This is in particular if you have a DVD player or PC setup that can up sample the image to 1080i instead of the regular progressive 480p. While I can only see minor improvement of up sampling on "Lord of the Ring", this one is far more significant. In terms of color, there are many saturated color right next to more subdue shades and hues. In a lesser display, either the saturated color will over run or bleeding through the surrounding or the saturation will be muted. The use of a large number of saturated colors also helps to determine the color accuracy of the display (do you see her lip as bright red or orange red?).
The rest of the movie has many great cinematographic scenes and the bamboo forest fight certainly is a great action shoot with great surround sound effect. But if you want a short test for both sound and image, the "Echo Game" is hard to beat and by itself worth the price of the DVD even if you are like me who does not care about the story line.
I wish the DVD has DTS ES sound track but as is the sound quality for the Chinese sound track and to a bit less extend, the French sound track is very well mastered that are far above average. Five stars for the sound and image. Three for the story line.