Hero worship
I mentioned last week that my friend Brent and I were going to see Hero.
Man, am I glad I didn't succumb to the legion of bootleg DVDs I saw of it at Gen-Con. Never a disappointment visually, Zhang Yimou brings his "theatre of color" back to the big screen with a vengeance. I quoted that phrase because it's one of the themes I wrote about years ago in a paper for one of my film classes (though now that I've reread it, it never mentions that actual phrase). If you're feeling brave, you can read it here. The only other director I've seen with such a deliberate use of color in his films is Krzysztof Kieslowski in his Trois Couleurs trilogy. Though now that I've said that, I feel I should mention Steven Speilberg's decision to use pink in two scenes in Schindler's List.
By now, I'm sure everyone knows the basic plot. After besting the assassins (Sky, Broken Sword, and Flying Snow) who have haunted the King of Qin for the past ten years, Nameless (Jet Li) is summoned to the palace to tell the King how he accomplished his mighty feat. But as the story unfolds in flashbacks showing different accounts of Nameless' tale, it becomes clear there's more to Nameless than meets the eye.
What follows this introduction is a graceful, vibrant tale of love, betrayal, revenge, and the difficult decision to do what is best for all versus the one which mixes in with a bit of patriotism or perhaps nationalism is the better word. Along the way there's enough symbolism to fill term papers for years to come with examples like Broken Sword, the swordmaster who has learned to put down his blade for the calligraphy brush and Moon, his servant who wields crescent blades. What? I graduated already, don't expect me to get too deep.
You'll notice I've not yet mentioned the fight sequences. That's because although they are stunning, they are not the main attraction of this film. Sure, most of the tickets sold this past weekend were to fans of wu xia who had images of Iron Monkey or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon somersaulting in their heads. But those going into this film expecting a Hong Kong style kung-fu fest may be slightly disappointed. The fight choreography is more realistic than in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but the spiritual aspects of the combat are more prevalent. In fact, there is one duel that takes place partially within the minds of its combatants. Adding to this theme is the fact that each fight has its own color scheme. This is explained in this trivia entry from www.imdb.com:
In the flashbacks, the characters' costumes go from red (imagination) to blue (perceived reality) to white (truth). In the final flashback, the costumes are green (enlightenment/peace).
There are many more layers to this film which I won't attempt to dissect here. See it. Enjoy it. I don't think you'll regret it.
My only disappointment is at having to have waited so long to see it due to Miramax's decision to hold the release for two years. If this were a "new" film, I could easily see Tony Leung Chiu Wai winning a best supporting actor Oscar. I may have to re-up for Net Flix and queue all his films.
Man, am I glad I didn't succumb to the legion of bootleg DVDs I saw of it at Gen-Con. Never a disappointment visually, Zhang Yimou brings his "theatre of color" back to the big screen with a vengeance. I quoted that phrase because it's one of the themes I wrote about years ago in a paper for one of my film classes (though now that I've reread it, it never mentions that actual phrase). If you're feeling brave, you can read it here. The only other director I've seen with such a deliberate use of color in his films is Krzysztof Kieslowski in his Trois Couleurs trilogy. Though now that I've said that, I feel I should mention Steven Speilberg's decision to use pink in two scenes in Schindler's List.
By now, I'm sure everyone knows the basic plot. After besting the assassins (Sky, Broken Sword, and Flying Snow) who have haunted the King of Qin for the past ten years, Nameless (Jet Li) is summoned to the palace to tell the King how he accomplished his mighty feat. But as the story unfolds in flashbacks showing different accounts of Nameless' tale, it becomes clear there's more to Nameless than meets the eye.
What follows this introduction is a graceful, vibrant tale of love, betrayal, revenge, and the difficult decision to do what is best for all versus the one which mixes in with a bit of patriotism or perhaps nationalism is the better word. Along the way there's enough symbolism to fill term papers for years to come with examples like Broken Sword, the swordmaster who has learned to put down his blade for the calligraphy brush and Moon, his servant who wields crescent blades. What? I graduated already, don't expect me to get too deep.
You'll notice I've not yet mentioned the fight sequences. That's because although they are stunning, they are not the main attraction of this film. Sure, most of the tickets sold this past weekend were to fans of wu xia who had images of Iron Monkey or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon somersaulting in their heads. But those going into this film expecting a Hong Kong style kung-fu fest may be slightly disappointed. The fight choreography is more realistic than in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but the spiritual aspects of the combat are more prevalent. In fact, there is one duel that takes place partially within the minds of its combatants. Adding to this theme is the fact that each fight has its own color scheme. This is explained in this trivia entry from www.imdb.com:
In the flashbacks, the characters' costumes go from red (imagination) to blue (perceived reality) to white (truth). In the final flashback, the costumes are green (enlightenment/peace).
There are many more layers to this film which I won't attempt to dissect here. See it. Enjoy it. I don't think you'll regret it.
My only disappointment is at having to have waited so long to see it due to Miramax's decision to hold the release for two years. If this were a "new" film, I could easily see Tony Leung Chiu Wai winning a best supporting actor Oscar. I may have to re-up for Net Flix and queue all his films.