House of Flying Daggers
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Movie Reviews of House of Flying Daggers
Movie Review: A necessary supplement to Hero
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have not seen Hero, HOFD stands on its own for its gorgeous art direction alone. If you have seen Hero, you must see HOFD, because HOFD is a perfect contrast to Hero; "Hero" cannot be complete without HOFD. Both films are about sacrifice. So what set them apart?
While the message in "Hero" can be interpreted as "the greater goods outweigh the individual needs", the message in HOFD can be deciphered as "the individual needs outweigh the greater goods".
In "Hero", Nameless and Broken Sword gave up their plan to assassinate the emperor (thus giving up not only their desire to avenge personal hatred but also their individual happiness) because they realized that the power of the emperor might be the best solution to end the dreadful pains and suffers resulting from the a tangle of warring states.
In HOFD, Mei and Jin eventually chose to give up their mission to serve their respective political entity and instead, pursue their individual happiness and freedom.
In both movies, the outcomes are the same. No matter choosing the greater goods or individual needs ahead of everything, the individual cannot escape from suffering. In "hero", sacrifice of the individual dreams leads to the broken hearts. In HOFD, sacrifice of the greater goods leads to amplify the conflict of individual emotions (e.g., rejection and jealousy). At the end, the individuals still suffer and death becomes the best way to free it all.
While Yimou Zhang was criticized for the communism dogma in Hero (the importance of the greater good over the individual freedom), HOFD is his brilliant effort to silence the critics. HOFD manifests the unspoken (or relatively hidden) messages of Hero: the individuals' emotional baggage could outweigh everything after all. Humans are just humans. They suffer and search for ways to alleviate their suffering. And Zhang sympathizes with both forms of sufferings.
Movie Review: A classic in its own right
Summary: 5 Stars
Ziyi Zhang's performance as the strong-willed, kick-ass heroine Mei in House of Flying Daggers deserves a second look, now that the DVD release of Memoirs of a Geisha continues to catapult the Chinese actress into American movie fame.
In House of Flying Daggers, Director Zhang Yimou (Hero) shows us that you can only control so much in life and love before fate takes over.
Ziyi (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) plays Mei, a beautiful, blind dancer who may be the daughter of the murdered leader of the House of Flying Daggers, a rogue gang of Robin Hood-esque fighters in the middle of a war with China's corrupt Tang dynasty.
With hidden plot twists, people are never who they seem. And when Leo (Andy Lau) sends Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) on a mission to discover Mei's true identity, a complicated love triangle exploring the differences between love, lust, duty and devotion develops.
Oscar-nominated Director of Photography Zhao Xiaoding captures the culture of ancient China with superb compositions. A constantly moving camera complements the acrobatic nature of the fight scenes, and the special effects are typical of the slightly over-the-top martial arts genre. However, it is Xioading's wide, sweeping shots of misty bamboo forests, sunlit woods and snow-covered fields that truly make the film.
Nature plays an important role, and Yimou uses changing seasons to show the passing of time. The natural beauty of China's landscapes also adds greater perspective. In one shot, Mei stands in a bright green kimono--a thin green stick in a forest of skinny gray trees. The forest overwhelms Mei, making her troubles seem small.
A simple score of traditional Chinese instruments and the title song "Beauty" create a peaceful yet heartbreaking atmosphere that espouses the theme of the film. Love can't be controlled, but it can be taken away.
Movie Review: Absolutely gorgeous!
Summary: 5 Stars
I rented the dvd from BlockBuster and now I'm buying it.
The film is absolutely gorgeous. I've seen only few films that contain as many beautiful scenes, or as beautiful for that matter. My favorite: The echo game at the beginning, the fight in the bamboo forest, the echo game at the end, and of course the snow scene.
The actings are brilliant. I watched Zhang ZiYi playing a blind girl who knew martial arts and thought she deserved an Oscar for it. Also, the two male characters are good. At least there's no eye rolling moment for me in this film. Plus, these are incredibly beautiful people. So even if the film were bad, you'd still want to look at them. Luckily it's not a bad film.
Action scenes are an absolute balance between violence and arts, if there are such things as beautiful killings!
On top of that, costumes are mindblowing. Music is great, especially the theme song at the end.
Weak points - hollow plot, pace slowing down towards the end, not enough character development, a few not very interesting love scenes, too little emphasis on traditional Wuxia themes such as honor, friendship, and so on.
To compare it with Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, this film is more beautiful and a bit better in terms of details.. not as good when it comes to plots and storyline though.
And in response to some of the reviews above, my suggestion is you don't get this movie if you have a problem watching a Wuxia [Chinese Kung Fu] film that puts as much emphasis on romance as fighting. And if you don't like watching people flying, stay clear from the film. This is a fantasy story [kinda at par with Spiderman, Batman, and such.] if you know what I mean.
So even if I do think the film has some weaknesses, I'm giving it five stars.
Movie Review: A Feast for the Eyes
Summary: 5 Stars
NOTE: No "spoilers" will be in this review.
Watching a Zhang film is like watching a moving painting. And like Kurosawa and David Lean, who have both clearly had an impact on Zhang's own style of directing, the emphasis is on stylized, fluid motion and lush use of symbolic colors and color transitions, beauty of color and a variety of camera shots are as important as the narrative. The plot line is simple, with a few twists and bends here and there to keep the audience guessing. But fundamentally, it is an "old fashioned star-crossed lovers" tale where people, politics, and the "rules of desire" all clash to a worthy - if expected - climax. One must applaud Asian directors in general for refusing to deliver the pat brands of "happy" or "perfect" endings. The actors are beautifully chosen, and Zhang gives them enough close ups and ensemble work amidst all of the visual splendor so that they are never overwhelmed by their surroundings. They are also highly skilled, using facial expression and "kinds of smiles" with a deft facility that makes long-winded dialogue refreshingly unnecessary and which makes them all completely convincing in their parts. But it does make the dialogue there is critically important, so this is not a film where "tell me what I missed" is an option. I watched it once for the story, and once just to enjoy its magnificence again. The "echo game" dance sequence early in the film is not to be missed and almost hypnotically perfect. Further, those who find Chinese music grating or annoying will have the chance to revise that opinion. Simple where it nees to be, complex where it needs to be, a perfect compliment to the screen action without banging the viewer's eardrums half to death.
A simple tale elevated by a master director to the level of art. Recommend.
Movie Review: Poetry in motion...
Summary: 5 Stars
"House of Flying Daggers" brings you a wonderful tale you can delight in, and the opportunity to watch a movie where the use of color is so impressive that it is almost surreal, poetry in motion. Notwithstanding that, I think that you probably won't like this film unless you are prepared to suspend your disbelief at least for 119 minutes, the duration of this movie. Personally, I did exactly that, and I don't regret it at all :)
The story is set in 859 AD, when a corrupt dynasty held power in China. There is an organization called "House of Flying Daggers" that is trying to change things, but the government won't allow that. Two officers, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau) are ordered to stop the rebels, and so they devise a plan to infiltrate the "House of Flying Daggers". They capture Mei (Zhang Ziyi), the blind daughter of the previous leader of the revolt, who had been posing as a courtesan. Jin rescues Mei from the jail, and tries to convince her that he would like to join the rebels, when in truth his objective is to destroy the "House of Flying Daggers". But even if everything started as a plan, will Jin be able to remember Leo's advice, "Don't fall in love for real"?.
I want to point out that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The story was great, with enough twists to keep you entertained, and plenty of outstanding fighting scenes. Chinese director Zhang Yimou made such a great use of the elements at his disposition (great actors + inspiration + music + choreography + use of colors) that many sequences seem directly out of a dream, and the spectator feels as if he were bearing witness to a real story that happened a long time ago. In a word, the results are impressive... Watch "House of Flying Daggers", and decide whether you share my opinion :)
Belen Alcat