Lover's whisper

One of the most sumptuously shot films in cinema, House of Flying Daggers wears its heart on the screen mixing outrageous action sequences with high octane romance. I saw the film when it was released and thoroughly enjoyed the cinematography and action sequences though failed to appreciate the romance. I certainly noticed the romantic narrative however they are rather de rigeur in action cinema. On this third viewing it moved into the foreground and I could appreciate more the terrific performances from Kaneshiro Takeshi and Zhang Ziyi. The love triangle is convincingly portrayed and the pain of the ‘cuckolded’ Leo (Andy Lau) is touchingly portrayed.

As is Jin’s (Kaneshiro) transition from ‘playboy’ to being genuinely smitten. At first Mei (Zhang) resists his advances but later, when she is keen, it’s his turn to demure; probably for the first time in his life. He’s experiencing conflicting emotions as he matures into someone who genuinely cares for a woman.

Similarly, Mei’s rejection of Leo is shown to be physical: she still loves him but Jin has taken priority in her affections. She tries to make love to Leo but her body refuses. Thus in love it is hard to know our own feelings as we can never be sure what the body might do (which is probably expressing our subconscious).

Daggers is a thrilling film, stunning action and offers a subtle presentation of the vicissitudes of love.

The Pang Brothers have always been known for making style over substance. The Storm Warriors is another by the book wuxia film that caters more to the eye candy than actual plot. Lead characters spend a lot of time explaining what and why they’re learning specific martial arts skills, but there is zero explanation on more critical plot points. All I kept thinking about after I finished viewing this film was that I had just seen an Asian version of 300’s fight scenes. Assuming that the gist of the story hasn’t been lost in translation, the movie feels as if half of its scenes have been accidentally deleted.

So this films plot is based on the works of Ma Wing Shing and depict a fantastical China, where the heroes Wind, and Cloud, attempt to defeat evildoers and overcome attempts to undermine their unity.  For the best part of the film’s two-hour running time, the screen is filled with big hair, vast, impressionistic CG landscapes and much heroic posing. Just as there is little excitement in the previous synopsis I just gave, there is little subtlety throughout the movie. The plot also involves Lord Godless & his evil henchman son Heart capturing the emperor and trying to take over China. Lord Nameless sends Wind, Cloud & Piggy King to Lord Wicked so they can learn how to fight better. Yup, Piggy King.

It isn’t all bad though. The physical fitness and prowess of the leads is at times truly stunning, and is amply matched by some seriously gorgeous effects work. It has quite good CGI, comparable to that of Hollywood standards. The photography & background are also quite astounding.  It’s all very broad strokes stuff, with journeys of a thousands days and epics philosophies reduced to quickfire scene changes and one or two lines of dialogue.

The twin directors were not bad when they directed Bangkok Dangerous, although with Bangkok they have the Oscar winning Nicolas Cage to carry the movie.  So, what happen to the dialogue? Well, expect very little conversation between all the characters. But, whenever these characters decided to break the silence, it’s usually the corny lines that can make you cringe. Adding to that is the inappropriate sound track, it actually distracts from the mood set by the scene, making the whole scene awkward. All in all, action junkies should be pleased, but its a forgettable affair that is barely worth your time. I hope the Pang Brothers can return to form as I am usually big fans of them. A mild recommendation.

Nearing the end of this list, I still find myself remembering movies that should have been included here. A recent Twitter chat about John Woo’s Red Cliff made me re-examine my decision to leave the first half of the two-part series out of the list. I loved it dearly last year, and it made me insanely excited for the second movie this year, but I couldn’t in good conscience include it. Part of that is because of my “nothing from 2009″ rule. As half of the complete tale came out now, it can be excluded, though that’s a bit mean. The main reason is that while the first part promised much, the second didn’t deliver.

Don’t get me wrong, it still features high drama, enormous battles, cool character moments, and intimate emotional interludes, but there is a terribly annoying sub-plot featuring Sun Shangxiang, and the final act runs out of energy before the final inconclusive moments. It’s a great deal of fun, and taken together with the first is still a remarkable achievement, but there is nothing to rival the Battle of Eight Trigrams from the first half. It’s possible I will enjoy it more on second viewing, but that’s not happening any time soon. This list is taking up a lot of my time right now and after that I’ve got a full couple of weeks. Something to do with this big Hexmass thing everyone is celebrating.

Getting down to the last ten movies, it gets harder and harder to rank them. I spent about an hour on Friday just moving numbers 8, 9 and 10 back and forth, agonising over the choice as if it were a grievous error to get this wrong. By now, the difference in affection for these movies is almost insignificant: I very nearly think of all of these movies as the best of the decade, and each viewing of them would push them towards the top of the list without causing much grief. It will probably always be in flux, but these ten will almost certainly remain in some capacity, with only maybe Ratatouille usurping any of them.

10. Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron’s thrilling adaptation of P.D. James’ novel came from nowhere and took me completely by surprise. With no advance word and only a hastily released trailer, I ended up seeing this cold and couldn’t believe my eyes. Commenting on topical concerns with an accuracy that must have been the result of some kind of supernatural prescience during its filming, this retelling of the myth of Christ’s birth says more about modern British life than any number of hand-wringing state-of-the-nation mini-series on UK TV, and certainly with more confidence than anything from the terminally ill British film industry. More than that it’s a bravura piece of cinema, with Cuaron trotting out numerous technically accomplished setpieces as if it ain’t no thing. It rewrites the rules of the action genre, strengthens the argument that SF is the genre best capable of commenting on contemporary issues, and restores your faith in humanity’s capacity for goodness.

Best Moment: Our hero (Theo, played by Clive Owen) and his pregnant companion Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) are trapped in the decrepit Bexhill-on-Sea concentration camp when a riot breaks out. As the British army moves in to quash the rebellion, the camera follows Theo through the carnage in a single shot. Cineastes everywhere had seizures of pleasure at the technical brilliance on display, but only the ones who don’t understand how sight works, of course. [/bitter]

9. Fight Club

Apparently this was the movie that was going to be responsible for the downfall of society. Upon release David Fincher’s adaptation of Chuck Pahlaniuk’s uproarious novel was famously treated like radioactive material by Alexander Walker, but embraced by almost everyone else as a breath of fresh air. On the surface it can be taken as a celebration of empty-headed machismo and fashionable nihilism, but the surprisingly wacky tone and endearing slapstick performances by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton expose it for what it really is: a satire on anarchic impulses and male narcissism, and an exploration of how paranoia can lead disaffected men into doing terrible deeds. Until Chris Morris’ Four Lions comes out, this is the funniest movie about terrorism made. Nevertheless, I’ll be honest. The thing I love most about it is the visual imagination, with Fincher gaily tearing apart the rulebook and treating his audience to an audio-visual collage of joyful unpredictability.

Best Moment: After the reveal of Tyler Durden’s true identity, our narrator gets to indulge in a panicky race against time to thwart his evil plan. For something as potentially dark as this, it’s amazing to think that Fincher manages to create such a fun movie, and the final twenty minutes of the movie are arguably the most entertaining. Edward Norton has never been as likeable as he is here, brandishing a gun while in boxer shorts and yelling about “lead salad!”

8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

When Ang Lee’s martial arts romance was released in the UK, there were complaints that it was nothing special. Just another wuxia movie, except this time it’s directed by a “respectable” filmmaker, which means critics suddenly suddenly take note of the genre. To martial arts fans in the West, Hong Kong productions were often rough and ready, and arguably part of their appeal was reconciling our cultural expectations with what — to us — seems like bizarre sidetracking (anyone who has seen a Chinese wuxia horror movie like Encounters of the Spooky Kind or Mr. Vampire will know what I’m talking about). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was, to some, a betrayal of that clumsy aesthetic, but that argument is borne of madness. This emotionally rich tale of duty and love would have been an exceptional historical romance already, thanks to Lee’s elegant visuals and his command of his superb cast. The breathtaking martial arts action was the cherry on top, and to see these beautifully choreographed fight scenes filmed with such care and reverence should have delighted fans of the genre. In his review, Peter Bradshaw said, “Frankly, this is what Phantom Menace was supposed to feel like.” This sums up my post-screening euphoria perfectly. If only all five books in Wang Dulu’s Crane-Iron series had been filmed like this, I would have been first in line for each.

Best Moment: When I first saw this movie, the earliest fight scene between Zhang Ziyi’s Jen and Michelle Yeoh’s Yu Shu-lien brought gales of laughter from a cynical London audience, enraging me so much I very nearly stood up to berate the hooting idiots around me. It’s a testament to the scene’s power that a moment later I was drawn back to the battle raging onscreen. Woo-ping Yuen excelled himself with what could be the most exhilarating and thrilling fight scene of the decade.

7. Being John Malkovich

A movie about people taking over a celebrity’s body, written by a former sitcom writer, and directed by a guy famous for making videos about talking dogs? I was certainly looking forward to seeing it, but I expected little more than a fun diversion with a John Malkovich cameo. The movie I saw was possibly the biggest surprise I’ve ever had in a cinema, one that detonated a bomb inside my head. What we were given was a complex, coherent fantasy unlike anything ever made before, something with a faultless internal logic that seemed to have been beamed in from another universe. Instead of a meta-textual pop cultural frippery we got a treatise on identity, love, obsession, celebrity culture, jealousy, and control, all while Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze told a hilarious and creepy story about a group of immortals using a metaphysical bridge to colonise new bodies. Describing the crazy ideas makes it sound like a game, but it was more than just intellectual trickery for the sake of itself. There was real reflection on what humans are, telling self-lacerating truths about how awful we could be, which built to a tragic finale. Even better than the rush of ideas driven to logical but unfamiliar conclusions, or its emotional fearlessness, was the sense that the rules had been changed. Any kind of story was now fair game, if it could be done as well as this.

Best Moment: Just the short description of the central idea — a portal allows you to control John Malkovich’s mind — could fuel a movie, but Kaufman is willing to explore every possible storytelling avenue of that idea, sending the plot in directions no one could have predicted. Part way through the movie, he gives us an utterly logical variation on the portal trick, but one that surprises right until it happens. Of course Kaufman had to send Malkovich into his own mind, but you only realise he had to do that after he has done it. It’s simultaneously hilarious and terrifying, and totally unforgettable.

6. Lord of the Rings

A cheat to combine the three movies as one, but a cheat that makes a kind of sense. Peter Jackson filmed all three films back to back, and stuck together they work as a complete movie, especially in their extended forms. Considering them in this way also mitigates objections about the length of Return of the King’s final act — with its endless goodbyes — and the compromises in structure necessary to make The Two Towers feel like a complete film. Not that those problems were ever in danger of overshadowing the successes of this project, which stands as possibly the most ambitious and thrilling movie trilogy ever made. Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens did such great work adapting Tolkein’s dry prose into a living, breathing vision that it’s tempting to say the books never achieved all they could until these New Zealanders came along.

It is to Jackson’s credit that he did the one thing necessary to make it all work: he had to take it seriously. Without a shred of cynicism, he portrayed numerous wrenching emotional moments with total conviction and treated his characters like the Middle-Earth heroes we always dreamed they would be. For that alone the trilogy would signify a welcome sea-change after years of half-hearted and jokey action men diluted the idea of noble heroism, but Jackson’s masterstroke was simple: he merely brought his usual intelligence and meticulous nature to the table instead of just doing the bare minimum to get the film made. He gave 100%, and 100% Jackson commitment is the nearest thing we have to a guarantee of total satisfaction. If you don’t buy into it, fair enough. If you do, the trilogy stands like the Eighth Wonder of the World. Can its spectacle ever be topped?

Best Moment: Jackson is the master of the big setpiece, usually by breaking these huge scenes down into smaller, still satisfying setpieces that add up to a greater whole. The Mines of Moria sequence features the superb cave troll fight followed by the race down crumbling stairs and then Gandalf’s showdown with the Balrog. The Siege at Helm’s Deep includes shenanigans with Aragorn and Gimli, the arrival of the elves, and Legolas going batshit. Best of all, the enormous Siege of Minas Tirith is followed immediately with the Battle for Pelennor Fields and then the Ride of the Rohirrim. When I saw this for the first time at Leicester Square Odeon, you could hear the sound of 1500 people sobbing over the thunder of hooves and clashing metal. It was a perfect moment.

A few minutes later, after Legolas did this, our cheering and applause almost brought down the roof:

And we’re almost there. If you have any complaints about my decision to take the Lord of the Rings trilogy as one movie, please address them to my ASS. (I’m kidding. The comment box beneath is just fine. Feel free to argue your cases: I welcome the debate.)

I’ve fixed up a truck and loaded it with a mega-watt soundsystem, titanic bass bins and searing upper end. The plan is to take the UK Samurai Revolutionary Force into the heart of Norwich, pumping out bushido-beat hip-hop, with foot soldiers walking beside the truck wielding fighting sticks, samurai swords and UZIs.

Once we all in the center of the city, we’ll burn down the market square. Torch it. Raise it to the ground.

Then we’ll hole up there, in the heart of Norwich…unload the sound system from our truck and set it up, along with weaponry to hold back the cops and the army.

We’ll be running the city and bringing its people freedom. Freedom from the agri-baron, big money farmers (read “muthafucker ku klan fascists”) who rule the city and surrounding county of Norfolk.

It’s the first stage in our takeover of Britain. The aim?

To free the people of Albion from their feudal oppressors, to take the money from the rich and give it to the poor.

Join the UK Wuxia burn down! Take it to the limit! Be all that you are!

En China el año nuevo o lunar se celebra tiempo después de lo que acostumbramos en “occidente”. Su designación “lunar” alude a que coincide con “la segunda luna nueva tras el solsticio del invierno boreal” . Por ejemplo nuestro agonizante 2009 es el año 4707 según el calendario chino e inició el 26 de enero (según Wikipedia). Es mucho más sencillo imaginar que el “año nuevo lunar” representa el inicio de la primavera. Y como nada más representativo de la primavera que el florecimiento, esa imagen -la del árbol en flor- inicia y finaliza una película que acabo de ver. Como imaginarán es “Chinese Odyssey 2002″ que fue estrenada hace siete años coincidiendo con el año nuevo chino. El productor es Wong Kar Wai, por segunda vez en mancuerna con el polifacético Jeffrey Lau (el director). Los protagonistas son Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Zhao Wei y Cheng Chan. Podríamos decir que se trata de una comedia “romántico-absurdo-melodramática” en la que la combinación precisa de esos tres elementos convence precisamente porque Lau y los suyos le faltan al respeto a cosas muy serias del cine chino contemporáneo. Sin ir lejos a la obra del mismísimo Wong Kar Wai (sus diálogos dolorosísimos en “Chungking Express” [1994] y el ambiente tipo “In The Mood For Love”  [2000] con todo y los protagonistas) y a una parte sustancial del cine Wuxia como ”Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (“Tigre y Dragón”, 2000)”.

El árbol que florece

Quizá pueda ayudar a entender de que va esta “Una Historia de amor en China” (el desafortunado título en español) si pensamos en una canción de Airport Girl llamada “The Foolishness That We Create Through Love Is The Closest We Come To Greatness” que no menciono por un arrebato súbito de euforia preadolescente sino pensando en lo que dice Orhan Pamuk en “Me llamo Rojo“:

“¿Es el amor el que vuelve estúpidas a las personas o es que sólo los estúpidos se enamoran?”

(puesto que nada más estúpido que el pop y sobre esa otra estupidez un himno…de estúpidos)

La película de Lau no atina a respondernos la pregunta de Pamuk. Sobretodo porque se ocupa de cupidos travestidos, peinados afro, inverosímiles coreografías de artes marciales, patos laqueados, duraznos en flor, estúpidos, estúpidas, toneladas de tensión sexual a lo “Ranma y 1/2“, el expresivo rostro de Zhao Wei, pruebas de amor que resultan terriblemente mal y amores a prueba de todo que no lo son tanto así.

Nuestra ciencia, nuestro descreimiento de todo e incluso nuestro cinismo nos preparan para aborrecer el virulento discurso de “Chinese...”. Y todo va bien hasta que llega la escena del durazno en flor. Y ahí -en el ocaso de la farsa- descubrimos que, sin embargo, (la cosa) se mueve.

‘Woochi’ eller “Jeon Woo Chi” blir den sydkoreanska succéregissören Choi Dong-huns tredje film. Den här gången blir det en högbudgetproduktion, en äventyrsfilm med inslag av ockultism och klassisk kampkonst. Det låter som en tvättäkta Wuxia, inte sant? Nå, hör då på resten:

Berättelsen/synopsis är som följer:  Under Joseon-dynastin blir taoistmagikern Jeon Woo-Chi felaktigt anklagad för att ha mördat sin mästare. Som straff blir han inspärrad i en tavla där han skall spendera hela evigheten. Men sedan blir han tillfälligt utsläppt när världen behöver honom för att bekämpa onda demoner. Han har svårt att finna sig  till rätta i det moderna Sydkorea…

Nå? Det låter som en trevlig blandning av “A Chinese Ghost Story” och “A Terracotta Warrior”, inte sant? Och ser man på trailern verkar det absolut vara något att se framemot. “Woochi”, eller “Jeon Woo Chi” har premiär den 23 december i år, 2009. När vi får chans att se den här blir bara en tidsfråga.

Like most people, I got duped pretty hard on this movie. I was under the impression this was a Jackie Chan and Jet Li driven vehicle film but in actuality, The Forbidden Kingdom follows the main character of Jason Tripitikas.  As Jason is heading out of Chinatown, he gets stopped by some local bullies. They make fun of him about his kung-fu movies and then show him some of their own fighting style. After they beat him down they tell him to rob a pawn shop and runs into an old man with a staff. Jason runs from the thugs with a staff that the old man hands him. As Jason tries to get away, he falls and lands in a different world in a different time. He comes across a man named Lu Yan who tells him about his staff. That it once belonged to powerful man named The Monkey King and how he was tricked into a non fair fight and before the King was imprisoned he sent his staff away so that someone could come rescue him with it.

Obviously, this white kid is his saving grace.  By now, you should know if this movie is for you or not as this film may be America’s tribute to Asian cinema.  Truly, what better way to capitalize on these two Kung Fu stars than by pitting them against each other and letting the film capture as much of this once in a lifetime chance of getting these two Masters together in the same movie. While the fighting scene involving these two megastars is a very minor part of the film, the scene is undoubtedly the best fighting scene in the film. Jackie Chan vs. Jet Li was truly fun to watch. We all know it could’ve been Much better though if they were probably 10 or 15 years younger than they are, but it was still a great fight scene. Praying Mantis, Snake, Tiger, Crane, all types of Kung-Fu was used. It was definitely something to witness.

As they all travel across China to the fabled Five Elements Mountain, both the Lu and the Silent Monk take it upon themselves to teach Jason the art of Kung Fu, which will be a long and arduous process. The film overall can be regarded as a kung-fu fantasy and a better made one than a lot of others over the years. I suspect the Asian market may not care for it, as America-Asia films cross the cultural border very poorly. I think most martial art film fanatics will be slightly disappointed by this film, but many will enjoy this movie for what it is – entertainment with a couple of excellent choreographed martial art scenes.

The Forbidden Kingdom may not be a Martial Arts flick for the ages, but I have to say I really enjoyed this one. The movie is just so much fun that any flaws that can be found are quite easy to overlook. This isn’t gonna go down in history as one of the greats, but due to the first teaming of Li and Chan it will go down for that. We have young people, old people, amateur fighters and pros, pretty girls with pretty moms, exotic locales and a lot of seriousness mixed with goofiness and Chinese mythology. So if you haven’t come to a conclusion about this film yet, it doesn’t live up to the caliber of the actors involved but its a fun way to spend two hours.

Har du hört talas om regissörsteamet bröderna Pang? Inte? Är du skräckfilmsfan? Då har du säkert, om inte sett, så i alla fall hört talas om skräckfilmen “The Eye”. Hollywoodversionen från 2008 med Jessica Alba är en helt okej, enligt personlig åsikt t.o.m. smått underskattad. Men filmen bygger på originalet från Hong Kong, 2002 av just bröderna Oxide Pang Chun och Danny Pang. “The Eye” var minst sagt en enorm exportsuccé för Hong Kongfilm.

Nu har bröderna gaddat ihop sig till “Fung Wan II” som får den internationella titeln “Storm Warriors”. En äventyrsfilm i bästa “wuxia-stil”. Handling? Inget sensationellt och inte det allra minsta originellt: Hjältarna  ”moln” (Aaron Kwok) och ”vind” (Ekin Cheng) tar sig an en hänsynslös japansk krigsherre som skall invadera Kina. 

Filmen har premiär den 10:e december, men i Singapore. Om den får någon internationell distribution förutom genom någon Hong Kong exportör har jag ingen aning om. Men det bör inte dröja särskilt länge innan den går att få tag på med engelska tester. Är du ett stor fan av asiatisk action så kan detta vara ett trevligt tips. Spana in trailern:

FilmMedia – Filmblogg

The Restless is a fantasy adventure film set in a world of souls that have passed away long before they are reincarnated. This latest Wuxia foray from South Korea combines the elements of love and romance, fantasy and terrific swordplay in an eternal battle between good and evil.  This film exhibits top-notch visuals to render their fantasy elements, and the abundant action are orchestrated with wire-fu and large doses of impressive CGI.

After battling a fierce group of demonic forces, Yi-Gwak collapses from the effects of a poisoned wine glass. He wakes up later to find himself in a strange and unusual city, a place that he has never seen before. As he talks with a friendly stranger, he slowly comes to the conclusion that he has awaken in a Buddhist purgatory, where spirits remain for 49 days until they are reincarnated back to Earth. So the story mainly revolves around love, which almost gets a moral coloration in this flick. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or evil, love is shared by anyone and therefore it’s also the ray of hope for mankind. The problem with the screenplay is that when there are no fights, the proceedings are slow-paced that it almost stops to a crawl. Strong characters are definitely needed to form an attachment to its viewers.

The astounding CGI effects and set designs, awesome action, superb martial arts choreography are the elements that carry this Wuxia swordplay fantasy tale. When a movie with high-flying sword duels and extensive CGI takes me three sittings to get through, something is very wrong. If you like fantasy martial arts films and don’t care much about a good script than you should certainly check out The Restless. Otherwise skip this one because you will feel extremely restless, no pun intended.

The Restless may not offer much in originality which would make it stand out, it makes the film a little forgettable. On the action-entertainment side of the coin, the film doesn’t disappoint. Despite being a love story, somehow it lacks emotion or attachment to all the characters. I didn’t feel any lost or sadness as these characters faced hardships and sufferings. Like Casshern, the plot is secondary to the visuals and moments into the film I grew worried, unsure if the film was going to be a comedy or try to play this scenario serious and I wasn’t sure which side I wanted to root for. A mess of a film, but it’s pretty to look at at least.

Oh jeez mama. No matter how many wuxia movies I’ve seen, the trailer of one never fails to get the old heart pumping again. And aww crap, don’t tell me Vicki Zhao is playing a vase (pretty but useless) role again, not when we know she can play a character like Mulan. Everyone else looks awesome, even Wu Zun, whom I never expected to pull off strutting and dreads without it being laugh-inducing. The film is set to release in the beginning of 2010.

L’Imperatore e l’Assassino é un film del 1999 diretto dal regista cinese Chen Kaige.

Cosa dire? L’ho visto questo pomeriggio e trovato meraviglioso. Nella classifica delle mie preferenze in quanto a film sul genere, si posiziona subito dopo Hero. Uno di quei film che alla fine della proiezione ti lasciano ammutolito per qualche istante, sino a che non sorge spontaneo commentare “che bello”.

La storia é quella del progetto di colui che diventerà primo imperatore della Cina, il sovrano di Qin, Ying Zheng. Il suo sogno è quello di riunire sotto un unico regno tutti e sette gli stati che formavano la Cina del periodo (III secolo a.C.), mettendo così fine una volta per tutte alle guerre incessanti che infuriano da più di cinquecento anni. Un sogno che passa per la guerra e la distruzione di tutti gli altri stati, anche se inizialmente il sovrano di Qin intende risparmiare la popolazione.

La sua concubina, una donna di Zhao che è sempre stata insieme a lui sin dall’infanzia, quando Ying Zheng non era altro che un ostaggio nel regno di Zhao, è affascinata dal suo progetto, in quanto porrebbe fine al terrore e alla violenza della guerra continua. Decide quindi di aiutarlo a far capitolare uno degli ultimi regni ancora liberi, quello di Yan, infiltrandosi come spia e organizzando il suo assassinio, che diverrebbe pretesto per muovere guerra anche a Yan. L’uomo prescelto per uccidere il sovrano di Qin é Jing Ke, un ex sicario che ha deciso di non uccidere più nessuno, e che vive come un vagabondo nel regno di Yan.

Ben presto tuttavia la violenza e il discostarsi sempre di più dai propositi iniziali del sovrano di Qin, che sfociano nella distruzione del regno di Zhao e con il massacro di tutti i  bambini per semplice vendetta, fanno decidere alla donna di rivelare il piano segreto e di operare in modo che l’assassinio divenga reale, e non semplice farsa.

Come sia andata poi la storia lo si sa. Ying Zheng riuscirà nel suo intento e diverrà il primo imperatore della Cina, unificata sotto un unico sovrano.

La storia è condotta soprattutto attraverso i rapporti tra i molti personaggi che animano questo film: più che l’insistere nelle battaglie, che pur ci sono ma come commento alle decisioni prese dai potenti, l’attenzione è focalizzata sugli uomini e le donne. Il sovrano di Qin é un uomo che appare inizialmente schiavo del suo ruolo, circondato da persone che non fanno altro che ricordargli il sogno di unificazione dei suoi predecessori. Il suo rapporto con la donna di Zhao sembra essere per lui l’unico modo per ricordare chi sia veramente, un uomo che un tempo era stato un giovane semplice e felice della vita, pur non avendo niente, qualcuno che inseguiva una speranza. Egli ricorda costantemente alla concubina quanto fossero stati belli i vecchi tempi, anche se si trovavano in condizioni di necessità. Il procedere del suo disegno, tuttavia, e la scoperta degli intrighi di palazzo provenienti dalla sua stessa madre, lo portano a non fidarsi più di nessuno e ad avere paura. Ed è la paura a farlo divenire violento e spietato nei confronti di coloro sui quali ha potere. In preda ad emozioni che non riesce a controllare, comincia ad agire non come un sovrano illuminato, ma come un pazzo che non sopporta di essere rifiutato da nessuno. Una figura tragica, che se inizialmente risulta convincente, diviene poi deprecabile, e quindi degna di pietà. Alla fine, egli rimane completamente solo: i suoi uomini non alzano un dito per aiutarlo, quando sta per avvenire l’attentato, e la donna di Zhao gli volta le spalle, senza indulgere nei ricordi che egli tenta di risvegliare nel suo animo ferito dalle illusioni spezzate.

La concubina è una figura di donna coraggiosa e dolce, che non esita a farsi anche del male pur di aiutare colui che ammira e che forse ama, sempre nella speranza di far cessare una volta per tutte la guerra. Ella sogna un sovrano che ami tutte le genti riunite sotto il suo comando, che le protegga, che renda il mondo un luogo sicuro. Il suo incontro con Jing Ke, tuttavia, farà vacillare le sue certezze. Si trova di fronte un uomo tormentato dal suo passato, che non vuole essere quello di cui la donna ha bisogno. Quando si troverà di fronte alla strage dei bambini del regno di cui è originaria, strage che aveva tentato di evitare pregando il sovrano di Qin di dimostrarsi magnanimo salvando i piccoli che il sovrano di Zhao aveva deciso di sacrificare, la donna di Zhao non esiterà nel non riconoscere più nel sovrano quel giovane pieno di buoni propositi che aveva deciso di seguire.

Jing Ke, l’ex sicario, è un personaggio rassegnato, al quale non sembra importare più nulla della sua stessa vita. Vive ai margini della società, colto da un rimorso inestinguibile per la sua ultima missione, lo sterminio di un’intera famiglia di fabbri che ha condotto al suicidio la più giovane della famiglia, una ragazza cieca. Finisce per affezionarsi alla donna di Zhao e ad instaurare con lei un rapporto di comprensione reciproca che sfocia nell’amore. Il desiderio di una vita normale, che possa riparare al passato, é il sogno che lo spinge.

Ci sono molti altri personaggi, tutti a loro modo interessanti e toccanti: il primo ministro Lu Buwei, la regina madre del regno di Qin, il marchese a lei legato, il principe del regno di Yan. La storia di ognuno di loro si intreccia con quella di tutti gli altri personaggi, creando un quadro perfetto. E’ un film di due ore e mezzo, dai ritmi lenti, eppure lo si segue con passione, alternando attimi di profonda commozione ad attimi di indignazione. Splendidi costumi, tema principale della colonna sonora toccante.

Una visione consigliatissima, per chi ama la storia della Cina e i film storici in generale. Questo film mi ha dato esattamente quello che mi aspettavo dal più recente La battaglia dei Tre Regni.

John Woos hypade Wuxia Jianyu Jianghu har startat filminspelningen i Shanghai. “Svärdsregnets Jianghu” som titeln lyder är enligt Woo det bästa wuxia-manuset han läst. Och han har länge velat spela in en film med Michelle Yeoh. Woos dotter Angeles Woo kommer också få en liten roll.

Producenten Terence Chang beskriver filmen som en kombination mellan  ”Face/Off” och “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” som utspelas i Mingdynastins Kina. Vad nu detta kan innebära väntar vi med spänning att få veta.

Läs mer om Jianyu Jianghu, vad i all friden Jianghu betyder och vad det nu är för film: John woo gör ny film -”jianyu jianghu”

Escena de Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Este género, quizá uno de los más famosos de Asia, ha sufrido una curiosa evolución no sólo en sus características, sino en su mismo significado, y es la muestra de que todos los idiomas son sumamente dinámicos.

El nombre wuxia viene del chino, y es una combinación de wu, que significa milicia, y xia, que significa honorable, caballeroso. Originalmente, era un género literario que narraba las aventuras de los guerreros del pasado, especialmente los solitarios. En los años veintes, el director King Hu adaptó muchos de ellos al cine, creando el género wuxia ya como parte de la cinematografía.

A la subida del Partido Comunista Chino, el wuxia fue prohibido, por lo que se siguió desarrollando en Taiwan y Hong Kong. Especialmente en este segundo, el término se amplio, pasando a describir las cintas de artemarcialistas solitarios, sin importar la época en que se desarrollaran, o si fueran o no guerreros propiamente dichos. Incluso, las cintas de Bruce Lee llegaron a llevar esa etiqueta.

En los ochentas, cuando se abrió la prohibición cultural en China, hubo un fuerte movimiento que intentó recuperar el nombre de wuxia para describir sólo las cintas de guerreros de la China antigua, tratando de rebautizar al otro como neo-wuxia. Pero ya se había popularizado demasiado, y el nombre se ha mantenido con su significado más amplio hasta la actualidad.

Det finns en massa wuxia-filmer från Hongkong och de flesta är riktigt dåliga, men så finns det även vissa speciella filmer. En av dessa är definitivt Iron Monkey. Det är en film från början av nittiotalet med ett tema som påminner om en viss brittisk hjälte som gömde i en skog och tog från de rika och gav till de fattiga. Ni kanske kan gissa vem?

Iron Monkey handlar om en doktor som har en alternativ identitet som “Iron Monkey”. Som Iron Monkey tar han från de rika och ger till de fattiga och på frågan om det här känns som en kinesisk Robin Hood är svaret “Självklart!”. Det här är nämligen en kinesisk Robin Hood-rulle, men istället för att gömma sig i skogen är han maskerad och kan därför ha en sjukmottagning utan några som helst problem. Varför tänkte inte Robin på det?

Iron Monkey blir med tiden ett stort problem för provinsherren och han vill därför fånga in Iron Monkey. Genom en rad incidenter ska Wong Kei-Ying (som spelas av Donnie Yen) fånga in honom. Wong Kei-Ying är en kinesisk historisk person som var kung fu-mästare. Han ingick i en grupp som kallas för “de tio tigrarna från Canton” och de sägs ha varit helt fantastiskt duktiga slagsmålskämpar. Wong Kei-Ying får ett barn med en kvinna som enligt legenden dog i barnafödseln av “Tigern efter de tio tigrarna från Canton”, nämligen Wong Fei-Hung.

Ett av alla slagsmål ... Riktigt snyggt!

Wong Fei-Hung porträtteras hur ofta som helst i Kina och det finns ett oändligt antal filmer om honom. Inget av det som berättas i de filmerna brukar vara sant och lika så är det i det här fallet, men det bryr man sig inte om som tittare. Tyvärr är manuset alltså sunkigt, om man ska vara helt ärlig. Det gör dock inget för en wuxia-film ser man bara p.g.a. häftiga scener när de slåss på ett övernaturligt sätt.

Filmen tog flertal månader att spela in, vilket varken är eller var standard i Hongkong, men regissören Yuen Woo-ping brukar alltid kunna få till en budget som låter honom få hålla på längre. Han behöver även den extra tiden, eftersom han kräver så enormt mycket av skådespelarna under actionscenerna. Yuen Woo-ping har en fantastisk karriär och det går att nämna massor av filmer som han varit med och gjort. Han har dock specialiserat sig på främst actionsekvenser och ligger bakom slagsmål i filmer som Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon och The Matrix. Det som gör honom så populär är dels att han lyckats kapitalisera på kvalité samt att han han älskar att filma är detaljer som att någon sparkar en pall och så snurrar pallen flera varv och landar elegant.

Det finns ett barn i filmen som spelar Wong Fei-Hung. Det brukar aldrig vara något positivt, men den här filmen spelas barnet av Tsang Sze-Man som är enormt duktig och Yuen Woo-ping har regisserat henne grymt bra. Det blir aldrig så det känns överdrivet när en tolvårig, spinkig kinesiska klipper till en fullvuxen människa. Att hon dessutom spelar en lillkille märker man inte heller av. Hon ser faktiskt manlig ut.

Välspelad skurk!

Något som självklart är häftigt och gör den här filmen sevärd är alla slagsmålssekvenser. Den är faktiskt packad med en hel uppsjö av dem och det är mycket flygande, olika kung fu-stilar (ormen och tranan osv) så variationen är god. Det är aldrig samma typer av rörelser (utom vissa coola och utmärkande) och det levereras i ett högt tempo. Något jag lade märke till efter tredje gången jag såg filmen (är uppe i fem, sex gånger nu) var hur man hela tiden trappar upp slagsmålen och ser till att tempot är högt. Först slåss de sämsta, sedan kommer något bättre och därefter någon ännu bättre. Det leder till att man hela tiden undrar vad som kommer härnäst.

När vi ändå är inne på slagsmålen kan vi behandla alla specialeffekter och alla trådar som används. Dessa har aldrig retuscherats bort för man lyckas hålla belysningen på ett sådant sätt att de inte syns. Man förstår ibland att det sitter en lina, men den syns inte. Nu har de en enorm erfarenhet av det här i Hongkong, men jag imponeras av det varje gång. Nu på senare tid, så som i Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon har man dock tagit bort dem digitalt. Kanske därför de nu gör filmer där de kan springa på vatten?

Bild från slutfighten!

Budgeten för filmen var på 20 miljoner USD, vilket var högt för en slagsmålsfilm. Det syns, genom att man har byggt upp en hel liten stad på riktigt som troligtvis hade kunnat fungera som boende och man har en fantastisk slutscen. Just den scenen är något som jag faktiskt inte sett i någon av de andra 100 filmerna från Hongkong jag sett.

Om man summerar det hela, bör jag säga är det en vacker film. Det är häftiga färger, vackra kameravinklar och bra skådespeleri. Sedan blir Robin Hood-liknande manus sällan djupa, men det duger och presenterar slagsmålen väl. Jag rekommenderar er att se Hong Kong Legends-utgåvan av filmen (skippa platinum-utgåvan om den kostar mer) och för guds skull, se den inte dubbad för det är ingen behaglig upplevelse.

(dove consiglio uno dei film in uscita nella settimana. Sì, anche se è brutto. Perché è il mio blog e chiusa lì.)

La battaglia dei tre regni (John Woo)

Che negli anni ‘90 John Woo era il mio dio e anche quello di un sacco di cinefili. Perché aveva girato The Killer e Bullet in the Head e la trilogia di A better tomorrow. Ed era riuscito a regalare dignità ed eleganza alle sparatorie, rivoluzionando le scene action nel cinema e dando un nuovo senso e modo d’uso al rallenty.
Poi è arrivato a Hollywood e, girato Windtalkers, si è perso. Ma perso di brutto, eh? Perso del tipo che non ne imbroccava mezza, a parte Face/Off e il non del tutto da buttare Broken Arrow.
Ora se n’è tornato in Cina a dirigere un wuxia storico ispirato alla guerra civile dei regni e ci sono le lance e la cavalleria e la storia d’amore e i figoni cinesi che svolazzano e bella lì. Da vedere.

History has been kind to Emperor Qian Long of the Qing dynasty, so much so that the very people whom his forefathers subjugated centuries earlier and whom he was ruling over as a foreigner, wanted to make him their own. Rumors have long circulated that Qian Long was actually Han Chinese and not Manchu, or at least had some Han ancestry in his blood. Jin Yong decided to take this theory and run with it in his debut novel Legend of the Book and Sword, which TVB adapted for television in 1987.

However, the true hero of the story is Chen Jia Luo, Qian Long’s flesh-and-blood baby brother (it’s a long story) and in the irony of ironies, the leader of a reactionary faction that is in direct opposition to Qian Long in their aim to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming dynasty who called themselves the Red Flower Society. They’re basically Jin Yong’s not-very-subtle reference to the real life White Lotus Society. What Chen Jia Luo lacks in experience and age, he makes up with compassion, superior martial arts, and instinctual leadership skills. In many ways he is the prototype to the character of Zhang Wuji in their personality, their reluctant acceptance of the burden of leadership,  and childhood experience as well as their taste in girls. That is to say, their indecisiveness in the romance department.

As much as I enjoyed watching this series, a couple flaws prevent it from becoming a favorite. First, the pacing was all over the place. The entire first half dragged on and on because it was mainly devoted to the rescuing of Wen Tai Lai, the Fourth Brother of the Red Flower Society, from the hands of Qing soldiers, and the redundancy of the RFS’s constant failures started to get on my nerves. The excessive amount of time spent on that plot line would’ve been better off being used to offset the rushed ending as well as further character development and the relationships between them (so that I wouldn’t despise Princess Xiang Xiang and Chen Jia Luo so damn much,  but I’ll get to that later). Legend of the Book and Sword lacks much of the  necessary character development  and epic-ness, for lack of a better word, of Jin Yong’s later works, but his ever present themes of nationalism, the individual’s responsibilities towards the greater good of the motherland, loyalty to one’s sworn brothers and the camaraderie they share can still be found even in his debut novel. He was still honing his storytelling skills in Legend of the Book and Sword, but for a first novel, this was an impressive and ambitious work of literature. If it was me, I would’ve just scrawled a romance novel and called it a day, but then again, I’m not the guy who’s still making millions off royalty fees each year despite not having produced any new material  in over two (three?) decades.

一对狗男女(yeah, that’s how annoyed I was by their love story)

Another flaw was the profusion of annoying characters that made me want to break something, or strangle someone. Hands down, Princess Xiang Xiang wins the award for the most useless, clingy girl in Jin Yong canon. Man, I haven’t been this annoyed by a fictional character in a long time. Chen Jia Luo initially had feelings for Ching Tong, a warrior princess in her own right, but when he accidentally dropped in on her sister Princess Xiang Xiang while she was bathing in a hot spring one day, it was mutual love at first sight. With a first encounter that reeks of carnal, not romantic desire, did Jin Yong really expect us to root for this relationship and believe that Chen Jia Luo would pick the beauty over the brains without coming off as an insensitive, superficial prick? If the only reason why Jin Yong created the character of Xiang Xiang was for Qian Long to break his vow to the Red Flower Society to be an advocate for the Han people because of his love for her, he could’ve just merged the characters of the two sisters together and still accomplish the same objective. It just seems kind of sexist of Jin Yong to think that a woman can’t be both beautiful AND intelligent at the same time and felt the need to separate these two characteristics into two different entities as if they’re mutually exclusive. Also, love triangles only works if I find reason to care about both parties,  but Princess Xiang Xiang was painted too broadly by Jin Yong and too blatantly Mary Sue for me to muster up any sympathy. Not exactly the most fortuitous way for someone to make their debut performance, which was the case for Fiona Leung, who had the thankless job of playing the princess.

Ah yes, finally the reason why I started watching this series in the first place. This time, Kitty Lai was relegated to a relatively minor role in comparison to her breakthrough performance as Zhao Min, but she was just as cunning and mischievous as Li Yuan Zhi, daughter of a prominent court official who forsakes her life of nobility when she falls in love with the 14th brother of the Red Flower Society. Man, they sure did love putting Kitty Lai in male attire back then, didn’t they? They’ve done so in all three series that I’ve seen her in so far. The absolute adorableness of her character and the prospect of a happy resolution to all her pining and longing after Lawrence Ng’s Yu Yue Tong was pretty much the only tether keeping me to this series whenever I was bored to tears and/or boiling with rage.

Overall, an entertaining series that’s worth a viewing, but definitely not the best representation of Jin Yong’s work.

Hehe, yeah, clearly I was biased towards Kitty Lai when I was screencapping, hehe.

Okay, so as of late, I have been watching the greatest version of the return of the condor heroes trilogy ever… NINTEENEIGHTYTHREE!! I tried to watch the recent, 2006 version but there’s just something about me and my prejudice towards Crystal Liu Yi Fei that I just cannot stand watching her! I don’t know what it is.. Maybe because everyone thinks she’s so pretty, but I don’t think she is that pretty.. and especially when they say she is prettier than Idy Chan? I mean, come on, you cannot compare her to Idy Chan. And the newer version has just a dark background to it. The whole beginning setting is like.. darkness. Of course, the tomb should be dark, but it just makes me rather depressed watching it.

Okay, so I won’t go on comparing it because I profess that I did not watch the 2006 version all the way.. not even half way.. I dont’ know where I stopped, but it got too boring for me. And I just could not help comparing every scene to the 1983 version. It’s just something that you do.., I guess. Although, I will post about Meteor Garden vs. Let’s Go Watch Meteor Shower later on, where my thoughts are exactly the opposite of this. I can’t quite understand it. Maybe because DOMOYJI is sooo hot. I forget his name in LGWMS. But he is just drop dead gorgeous. And it helps that the main girl is very cute also. I’ll save that for later, if I remember, though. Soo… SOME PICTURES of my beloved ROCH 1983 IDY CHAN & ANDY LAU:

(credits: ROCH1983)

I still love Idy Chan to this day, but I am getting rather disappointed of Andy Lau, I forget why now, but rumours put together I guess.. and that one movie “House of Flying Daggers” did not help his reputation with me too much either. Horrible movie. I hate Zhiyi Zhang also. But I digresssssss too much!!!!

Here the songs from the series. I don’t know the name of them… because I’m too lazy to figure it out. lol But I lovee the songs from this series. So great.

This one is the opening theme song: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9FNTTKY5

This one is the ending theme song: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8GECDNRM

This is one of the inserts: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=70MBA0ID

This is another insert.. I guess, I don’t remember when they played this: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q8A8LF1G

They’re all really pretty. Um, I think there’s a few more, but I don’t know them. Like the one where the guy sings, but I don’t remember. So if I happen to stumble on it, I’ll post it. Even though I prefer listening to Mandarin over Cantonese, these songs are still so beautiful.