House of Flying Daggers; Zhang Yimou Returns to Form

This year, for the traditional Christmas-Day-Eve movie I saw House of Flying Daggers. I enjoyed almost every bit of it and found it to be nearly a complete return-to-form for Zhang Yimou, the genius "Fifth Generation" Chinese filmmaker who directed it. While his recent crossover hit Hero had the typical aesthetic beauty of Zhang's films, I was troubled by the seeming authoritarianism of its implied political message. Flying Daggers takes place in too much of a fantasy world to have any implicit message for China's leaders today. In essence, it's a combination of Zhang's earlier, melodramatic mode in films such as Shanghai Triad, with his current foray into martial arts epics.

The film takes place in the waning days of the Tang dynasty, in a China riven by factionalism and civil war. The plot concerns Mei, a blind dancer played by the incomparable Zhang Ziyi; the latest in a line of icons of Chinese beauty whom Zhang has directed, starting with Gong Li. Mei works at the most beautiful, ornate brothel ever portrayed on film, but two policemen - Leo (played by Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau) and Jin (played by the Half-Japanese Half-Taiwanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro) think that in reality she's the daughter of the leader of the Flying Daggers, a group of assassins at war with the government. They move to arrest her but only after playing a round of "the echo game"; a too-complicated-to-explain activity that is simultaneously one of the coolest and most ridiculous things I've ever seen on film. After capturing her Jin and Leo then decide that a better idea would be to have Jin break her out, pretend that he sympathizes with the House of Flying Daggers, and try to use her to get to the leader of the group. Thus begins an (uncharacteristically for a Chinese film) complicated series of double, triple, and quadruple crosses and identity shifts. The enjoyable, somewhat film noir like plot takes the characters on a perilous journey north, culminating in sword play in the snow which is actually filmed in the Ukraine.

The whole thing is ridiculous, melodramatic, absurd, great fun, and absolutely beautiful. Zhang's film always have beautiful cinematography, with every frame composed like a beautiful painting, and this one is no exception. As opposed to Hero's lovely use of simple, solid colors, this time he has chosen a motif of ornate patterns to unify every scene in the film. I only wish American films could pay half this attention to aesthetics, and could be half this sincere and this bold.

If you're familiar with the style and attitude of Chinese martial arts epics (And no, Crouching Tiger doesn't count.) then you should love this. But be forewarned; if you are ever at all prone to having an "Oh yeah. Like that would happen" reaction to any detail of a film, or are one of those smug, cynical types who think it sophisticated to deplore melodrama, then this is most definitely not for you.

Comments

[mary]

Zhang Yimou's 'Hero' was so stylized, so far from realism, it was almost like an opera. It was a beautiful film, and I enjoyed it, but it was very old-style melodramatic (which may explain the authoritariansim).

I have no problem with melodrama and I can't wait to see House of Flying Daggers. Thanks for the review.

[someone]

From the trailer I expect extended homage to "A Touch of Zen". What a brilliant movie that was.

[Eric]

mary,

What put me off with Hero was the fact that, well, he didn't kill the fucking emperor in the end. The message seemed to be that - because everything he was doing was for the glory of greater China - his total ruthlessness in cracking down on local rebellions and not allowing self-determination for anyone was justified. What a message for the people of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, etc. etc. today! And this comes from a director who was known to critique China's rulers, both implicitly and explicitly, in his previous films.

House of Flying Daggers is even more stylized than Hero. In fact, it makes Hero look positively naturalistic by comparison. It's also a much better film.

[mary]

About Hero - if I were the Emperor, I would’ve whacked the Nameless Hero no matter what. Here’s a man who apparently killed three of the Emperor’s enemies – enemies that he couldn’t manage to kill despite his powerful army. Hero’s very existence was a threat.

And, if I were the Emperor, after whacking Hero, I’d make up a story, full of romance and intrigue, which would confirm that Hero and even some potential assassins worshipped my authority, further confirming my – and the state’s - legitimacy.

Well, I’d never do that in real life :-). But for a Chinese emperor in that place and time, I'd guess that would be the most reasonable course of action.

That’s why I wonder if the story isn’t based on some real, historical tale – told by an Emperor, of course. If that had been the final ironic twist, I would’ve liked the movie more. But, irony wasn't the point.