Review of House of Flying Daggers (2004) by Edith N — 24 May 2009

Really, is there any film like this ever where the word "pretty" cannot be accurately applied? Even [i]Curse of the Golden Flower[/i] was visually striking, even if it was full of horrible, horrible colour combinations. [i]Hero[/i] is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. And [i]Shi mian mai fu[/i] carries on that tradition, or is part of it, really. I find some of the costumes a bit silly, though I'm sure they're also historically accurate--who says you can't have both?--and the fight scenes were, as this sort of thing tends to be, over the top. But there are some scenes that are filmed in such a way as to stay with you. I think Yimou Zhang is using different filters on the lights at different times and in different places. The scene in the field of flowers reminds me of a day a month or so ago where the pollen was hanging in the air like a veil--yes, all right, playing hell with everyone's allergies--but turning the light a shadowy gold.

Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) goes to the Peony Pavilion to see the new girl. He is a soldier, a captain, who must, among other things, seek out the Flying Daggers, a revolutionary movement. He hears rumours that the new girl may be part of it, so he goes after her. She is Mei (Zhang Ziyi), a lovely blind dancer. He watches her, then he tries to assault her. (While the Peony Pavilion is clearly a brothel, it is not as clear that Mei is a prostitute. She is an entertainer.) Jin is then arrested by Leo (Andy Lau), another captain, who says he will take Mei away too, but the madame (Dandan Song?) convinces him to watch her dance and see that she is what she claims to be. He watches her, and she is breathtaking--but she manages to steal his sword (with her long, flowing sleeves; this is that sort of movie) and she attacks him. They battle, and she is eventually taken away to jail. Jin rescues her, and they go to seek the Flying Daggers. Mei, after all, is the blind daughter of their dead leader.

I have to say, I did not, for the most part, find the relationship between Jin and Mei as fascinating and moving as I think I was supposed to. In the first moments where they are shown expressing attraction to one another, I was creeped out instead of drawn in. Maybe it was the look on Jin's face. However, he felt more like a stalker than a lover to me. Later events alter the dynamic a great deal; in a movie of any complexity, they'd have to. Even so, I never really got into them as a couple. Those later events felt forced. I also, frankly, have a hard time believing that anyone would so quickly and easily trust someone who had, let's face it, nearly raped her. It threw off a lot of the rest of the movie for me.

I also could have done without all the special effects shots of all those daggers and arrows and things, without the following their paths through the air. The fight in the bamboo forest is impressive, but the battle in the field distracts me with Mei's daggers flying all over the place, with Jin's arrows. There was also a scene at one point where something like eight soldiers had Mei and Jin in the center of their attack pattern, and everyone was moving exactly the same way. It felt more choreographed than the echo dance Mei did at the beginning of the movie. Oh, I know. Fighting in movies [i]is[/i] choreographed. And I am not, of course, complaining about the (actually kind of limited) wire work. But attackers and attacked moved with the same steps, and there was a perfect grouping of swords, and it just bothered me.

This would not be my first recommendation for a Chinese epic to watch. (And, of course, at 119 minutes, it only just barely can be called one.) The plot is complicated, needlessly so. There have got to be about six layers to half the characters' actions and motivations, and Mei is . . . Mei is more a series of reactions than a real person, no matter which level of her you're watching. It's another production where you can see the budget on the screen, and again, it is in many places worth it just visually. But I couldn't connect to any of the characters, and it's not because they are in a time and place that is foreign to me--there is a moment of anguish in [i]Hero[/i] that gets me every time as well. This movie just doesn't have the same impact. It is awfully pretty, though.