Hero & House of Flying Daggers
WOW!! Two stunningly beautiful films by Zhang Yimou. I'm a romantic and also very visual person, and can forgive a film quite a lot if it just looks very good. Both of these films seems to have been just tailor-made for me. Both of the bilms had very good actors (Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi, etc.) and good stories.
I guess the basic story in Hero is pretty much the same as in The Emperor and the Assassin, but while I thought the latter film to be too long, slow-moving and boring, Hero was very twisty and just perfect in every aspect. The actors, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, especially, were excellent, and the colour coding of all the different chapters of the story worked beautifully.
Most memorable scenes were the red sequence where Tony Leung "sleeps" with Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung kills him, and the fight in the forest betweent Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung in their deep red costumes and the golden leaves flying all around. Amazing!
While I think Hero is the more beautiful visually, I loved the story in House of Flying Daggers more. Even from the beginning you can sense that the love story is going to end tragically, but you just keep hoping that they will have their chance. I was bawling my eyes out during the final fight between Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau and Zhang Ziyi - and I'm not one to cry that easily.
Beautiful, beautiful films! If you haven't seen them yet, run and get them as soon as possible!
I guess the basic story in Hero is pretty much the same as in The Emperor and the Assassin, but while I thought the latter film to be too long, slow-moving and boring, Hero was very twisty and just perfect in every aspect. The actors, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, especially, were excellent, and the colour coding of all the different chapters of the story worked beautifully.
Most memorable scenes were the red sequence where Tony Leung "sleeps" with Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung kills him, and the fight in the forest betweent Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung in their deep red costumes and the golden leaves flying all around. Amazing!
While I think Hero is the more beautiful visually, I loved the story in House of Flying Daggers more. Even from the beginning you can sense that the love story is going to end tragically, but you just keep hoping that they will have their chance. I was bawling my eyes out during the final fight between Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau and Zhang Ziyi - and I'm not one to cry that easily.
Beautiful, beautiful films! If you haven't seen them yet, run and get them as soon as possible!