04/10/2005 An audition for a shampoo commercial at the China Central Drama College, is where Zhang Yimou alledgedly first saw 17 year old dancing girl Zhang Ziyi. She didn't get the commercial, but it seems Zhang regretted this. Anyway,
a tribute to the popular genre called 'kung fu' film, that's what this is about, partly.
I got pretty irritated by Chow Yun Fat as a 'master', moving with the elegance and speed of a potato sac in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger. Zhang Yimou knows better and turns a basic adventure story in an entertaining eye fest, at least for the first half of 'House of Flying Daggers'.
Then simple becomes complex, adventure becomes Shakespearian heavy,
and I lost interest, almost completely during the long Leone/Kurosawa inspired finale.
All the ingredients were there for a modern kung fu classic, but it seems hard to make a good simple movie.
Maybe it is the Kurosawa -a heavy Rashomon influence for example- that doesn't mix. It might be nobel to try to reconciliate Chinese and Japanese culture, it feels awkward in a tribute to a genre generally mystifying the Chinese resistance against Japanese oppression. Bollocks, also King Hu goes back to Kurosawa.
Speacking of which, if you want to be surprised by the esthetics of a true kung fu movie,
stay away from the big budget tributes/copies,
and try 'Wu Dang', China (!) 1983, also a Fall movie.
Or Tsui Hark's debut 'Die Bian' (Butterfly Murders), Hong-Kong 1979.
Or King Hu's original 'Long men ke zhen' (Dragon Inn), Hong-Kong 1966.
And if you really want to dig for the roots, go for King Hu's 3hr long Hsia Nu (A Touch of Zen), Taiwan 1969. An inspiring movie, you can ask Zhang Yimou.
