05-02-2019, 08:44 AM
Shadow is the latest from Zhang Yimou, a return to the Wuxia genre.
It was really beautiful although a little long-winded with the intrigues. All the sets, locations and costumes are black, white and shades of grey - it's a yin yang parable of it all, both visually and dramatically - which works as a symbolic device. Flesh tones and candle light appear especially bright and warm in contrast - so does the blood. It's sort of a sideways spin on Kurosawa's Kagemusha. Kage means Shadow, which is Ying in Chinese, and here, the meaning is the same. The fights were imaginative - Zhang is working those slow-mo rain fights, somewhat in the wake of Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster, but to good effect. Not one of Zhang’s greatest films but solid and somewhat redemption for the Great Wall. Zhang's best works weren't really Wuxia - there was Hero, which was awesome, but I've always felt House of Flying Daggers was overrated. His early dramas were groundbreaking and heartrending.
It was really beautiful although a little long-winded with the intrigues. All the sets, locations and costumes are black, white and shades of grey - it's a yin yang parable of it all, both visually and dramatically - which works as a symbolic device. Flesh tones and candle light appear especially bright and warm in contrast - so does the blood. It's sort of a sideways spin on Kurosawa's Kagemusha. Kage means Shadow, which is Ying in Chinese, and here, the meaning is the same. The fights were imaginative - Zhang is working those slow-mo rain fights, somewhat in the wake of Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster, but to good effect. Not one of Zhang’s greatest films but solid and somewhat redemption for the Great Wall. Zhang's best works weren't really Wuxia - there was Hero, which was awesome, but I've always felt House of Flying Daggers was overrated. His early dramas were groundbreaking and heartrending.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse