Not Coming to a Theater Near You
There are things you do hate, Lord. Perfume-smellin’ things, lacy things, things with curly hair.
There are things you do hate, Lord. Perfume-smellin’ things, lacy things, things with curly hair.
… vs. The Return of the Curse of the Creature’s Ghost!
Visually, Zhang Yimou’s new film follows a line of thought that extends all the way back to his DP work on Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earthat, vibrant symmetricality. The principal difference is that here the muted color pallette is blown out with downright psychedelic chinoiserie and blown up to Riefenstahl scale. I rather liked Zhang’s last overstuffed action epic, House of Flying Daggerss, if nothing else, tops that film with its wavy-gravy eye-candy. (Uh, my Chinese history is a little rusty, but which dynasty was into tie-dye and cleavage?) But here the plot is straight-up family drama (and not of a very credible variety), and all of the billions upon billions of soldiers, marching, lunging, and bleeding in dutiful synchrony, takes on a distinctly fascist (or state-socialist?) aspect that rather ruins one’s concern for Gong Li and her sewing.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Sony Pictures Classics DVD Screener
19 Dec 2006 11:49 AM | Submit Comment
