Hero...

[fajrdrako]

This is a movie that made me believe a man could fly.

I went to see it because I love movies about history - this is a good year for me. And because I find Jet Li really sexy. (Well, he is.) And also I suppose because the trailer looked good, though in retrospect, I don't think the trailer reflected the nature of the movie (or its quality) at all.

Colour and motion... it was amazing. It's more of an art movie than an action movie, but what art! Colour and swordplay and martial arts dancing and music and cinematography and timing.... A plot that works on several levels all at once, taking something that stoarts out appearing simple, and twisting it so that it appears as something else, and then something else, and then something else again. Kept me guessing till the very end.

And the swordplay! I have a thing for swords. It even has a broken sword, like Narsil. Many swords of various types doing amazing things in the hands of magically-included warriors.

The photography is poetry and the movement is dance and the costuming is stunning, but oddly enough the words - at least as conveyed by the subtitles - were terse and banal. That was okay, though the rest of it had me expecting amazing poetry.

It's dense. It has layers of meaning. Characters who are more than they seem. Heroic sacrifice for a purpose. Pacifist violence and violent pacifism. You can't take anything for granted because it's fluid in more ways than one - but it has meaning. Plenty of meaning.

I have talked, I think, about how I love scenes and stories set in libraries. A good part of this movie takes place in a school of calligraphy, with a wonderful fight sequence in a large room where the calligraphy is stored on scrolls of clay tablets. It combined all my love of swordplay with my love of library scenes.

It's unlike any other movie I've seen - the closest would be "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", obviously, but it's thematically very different. All the same I found myself thinking of other movies and comparing it to them.

The mounted armies, the huge troops of archers and horsemen with plumes in their helmets and pennons flying, reminded me of Gondorians. (I now want black armour with a scarlet plume. And pikestaffs. Yes! Just the thing for Halloween.) Then there was the broken sword, the old man with a beard in white, and the use of magical writing.

The plot reminded me in some ways of the last movie I saw - "The Bourne Supremacy". No, they have nothing in style in common, but both movies are about accomplished assassins; both movies interweave stories of truth and stories of falsehood, for a purpose; both movies play with violent death; both movies kept me guessing suspensefully as to what the protagonists were doing and why.

The specifics of the history reminded me of a movie I saw on Omnimax, made by the CBC and the Canadian Museum of Civilization and some equivalent group in China, called "The First Emperor". It had magnificent costuming - which I got to see in detail, because the originals were on display in the theatre where I work for a while. Presumably it was about the same man. I don't remember enough of the story/history to recognize things, and of course the style was extremely different. The costumes had been created for authenticity, not art, and were - well, authentic, but more barbaric, a little crude.

A question: was the Hero of the title actually the nameless man? Or the king? Or all of the characters?

Frankly, I went to see it because I like Jet Li. I left the movie feeling quite smitten by the incredibly sexy performance by Daoming Chen especially, but also Ziyi Zhang (who was utterly gorgeous in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and Tony Leung Chiu Wai.

Comments

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Saw the movie tonight and liked it. My shallow annoyances: I don't like the flying/fighting on water. For some reason it never works for me. It just ends up annoying me.

How many times did poor Broken Sword die? Ouch.

Anytime a sword got involved I got happy. I write swordfights - I love them. The fight with the orange and red leaves? Holy hell. I loved all the symbolic, however heavily painted on, because it really is an art movie more than a plot movie, to me. It has meaning, but in the forced, exaggerated way of art, not the subtle way of storyline.

[lilithlotr.livejournal.com]

It's brilliant, isn't it? I mostly went because I'm trying to get more into Quentin's influences, and even though I knew this wasn't traditional, I thought I'd see it. And it totally blew me away.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

don't like the flying/fighting on water. For some reason it never works for me.

Ah. It works for me - I can't help thinking "this is what superheroes look like". It's like dance. It isn't rational, but I like it.

On leaving the theatre I wished I counted how many times Broken Sword died. Many!

Magnificent use of swords.

The fight with the orange and red leaves?

Yes. Amazing. Especially the last moments of it. I think I might have gasped as the leaves changed colour.

it really is an art movie more than a plot movie

Definitely, although I enjoyed the plot. But it's so non-standard in its narrative that to some extent the plot is just a framework for the aesthetics.

It has meaning, but in the forced, exaggerated way of art

Yes, which makes it all the more legendary or myth or epic or whatever they were striving for - not a slice of potentially plausible reality the way most Western movies are.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Blew me away too, in totally unexpected ways. I've never seen a more beautifully photographed movie - not even LOTR, which was amazing.

[blackbyrde.livejournal.com]

I saw this a few months ago on DVD - I am told that the beginning of the release has been changed, and the movie shortened by half an hour. I wonder if it made a difference.

Anyways, I loved the use of colour in this movie too. The cinematography was captivating. I think some of the dialogue was lost in translation, though, which may be why you thought it banal. The actors were wonderful - Maggie Cheung is one of my favourite Chinese actors.

The thing I love most about Chinese martial arts movies is that women and older people are just as skillful as the younger men. It did have a positive influence on me, watching these movies while growing up.

Hopefully, next time a great movie like this is made, it won't take two years for it to make it to North American theatres!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

few books can maintain the pleasure if you've already read them before.

I wonder how? we must compare notes.

I think some of the dialogue was lost in translation, though, which may be why you thought it banal.

This wouldn't be surprising. The visuals and music were so mesmerizing and artistic that I kept expecting the words to be sheer poetry - and they were far from it. Totally functional.

The thing I love most about Chinese martial arts movies is that women and older people are just as skillful as the younger men.

Isn't that wonderful? Yes, in manga too. Western movies have a way to go to catch up in this regard.

Hopefully, next time a great movie like this is made, it won't take two years for it to make it to North American theatres!

At least it turned up. There are so many movies we just never see, and not all of them come all the way from China.