Photo: Zhang Ziyi as Mei in Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers
Color is an evocation of social and emotional unrest in Zhang Yimou's films, and though the vigor of Hero and, now, House of Flying Daggers may be different from that of the director's earlier works, both films tread political ground that should be familiar to fans of the director's work. In the orgiastic Flying Daggers, love isn't so much a fabulous extension of history as it is a colorful off-shoot. Set in the 9th century during the tail-end of the Tang Dynasty, the film concerns the exploits of two deputies, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau), sent by the state to infiltrate a guerilla group known as the House of Flying Daggers by winning the graces of a blind girl, Mei (Zhang Ziyi), who may be one of its members. The trio meets for the first time inside a brothel, where Mei seduces the men with a show of female force that hinges on a rhythmic spectacle of flying cloth, beating drums, jumping beans, and CGI swordplay. Ed Gonzalez
Color is an evocation of social and emotional unrest in Zhang Yimou's films, and though the vigor of Hero and, now, House of Flying Daggers may be different from that of the director's earlier works, both films tread political ground that should be familiar to fans of the director's work. In the orgiastic Flying Daggers, love isn't so much a fabulous extension of history as it is a colorful off-shoot. Set in the 9th century during the tail-end of the Tang Dynasty, the film concerns the exploits of two deputies, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau), sent by the state to infiltrate a guerilla group known as the House of Flying Daggers by winning the graces of a blind girl, Mei (Zhang Ziyi), who may be one of its members. The trio meets for the first time inside a brothel, where Mei seduces the men with a show of female force that hinges on a rhythmic spectacle of flying cloth, beating drums, jumping beans, and CGI swordplay. Ed Gonzalez
