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Beijing goes Hollywood at "Hero" premiere
2002-12-15
BEIJING - The brat pack of China's silver screen trod the red carpet of Beijing's Communist sovereigns on Saturday as the star-studded martial arts epic, "Hero," made its international premiere at the Great Hall of the People.Party elites were among an audience watching director Zhang Yimou's cast try and fail to assassinate the brutal emperor Qin Shihuang, who united China in 221 B.C. and whose draconian methods were defended -- some say mimicked -- by Communist founder Mao Zedong. "Hero" is the acclaimed director's first go at the action genre perfected in Hong Kong and Taiwan. He is bidding to follow in the footsteps of Taiwan director Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which won four Oscars, set a U.S. box office record for a foreign film and whet audiences' appetites for Chinese historical romance. Zhang and his arsenal of assassins, acted by the likes of kung-fu king Jet Li and actress Zhang Ziyi of "Crouching Tiger" fame, met the media flanked by 200 guards brandishing halberds and body armour. One Western reporter dubbed the rare spectacle of movie glitterati at the home of China's legislature, easily the ritziest place to see a movie in the capital, "Commie-wood." "Hero," co-produced by Beijing New Picture Film Co and Hong Kong's Elite Group Enterprises, will hit screens in China next Friday. Release dates outside Asia, where Miramax will distribute the film, have not been made public. But the movie is already China's official nominee for the Oscar for best foreign language film after a seven-day qualifying run in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen. Zhang fell out of favour with Beijing in the early 1990s with tragic family sagas like "To Live" and "Judou" but has redeemed himself with works like the video that helped the city land the 2008 Olympics. Despite marquee billing at the Great Hall, Zhang looked past the hype. "I don't expect this movie to attain the achievements made by 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'," he said coolly. UNITY ABOVE ALL Shot against a kaleidoscope of settings -- the desert plateau of Gansu province, the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and the river gorges of Sichuan -- Zhang's $31 million film cost more than twice as much to produce as the $15 million "Crouching Tiger." Zhang exploits a range of special effects. Showers of Qin army arrows scream down like guided missiles. Swordplay is seen reflected in limpid pools. Jet Li plays the Nameless One, who kneels 10 paces away from a principled but paranoid emperor who dare not trust him. The story unfolds as the two tell competing accounts of how the emperor's assassins were foiled. Zhang, known for colouring scenes as a painter does his canvas, takes a heavy brush to the twists and turns of floating, surreal battle sequences: golden leaves fade to red as Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) draws blood against Moon (Zhang Ziyi). Those two form a self-destructive love triangle together with Broken Sword (Tony Leung). Cheung and Leung are the same duo who bowled over Cannes Film Festival audiences in 2000 by trading meaningful glances in "In the Mood for Love." Zhang binds the fates of all his knights errant to China's timeless code of conduct -- to "Unite All Under Heaven" -- an elusive comment on the passage of power from one authoritarian dynasty to the next, for better or worse. "Great production, convoluted plot, disturbing ideology," said Chen Guanzhong, a Hong Kong playwright and critic, after seeing the film. Leung, asked about the old call to unite, chuckled, "I would have taken love instead." Hard-core martial arts fans who prefer more slapstick fantasy were less than smitten with "Crouching Tiger," a box office disappointment in China. Short on hand-to-hand combat, "Hero" will face similar prejudices, some invited guests said. But Zhang's trademark tableaux and historical fodder akin to "Gladiator" were a winning draw for other moviegoers. All were forced to stash belongings in garbage bags and pass through several metal detectors to prevent piracy, rampant in China. Beijing tabloids warned of cheap counterfeits filled with trailers and clips of other movies, falsely advertised as "Hero." Reuters
Maggie Cheung Wins Best Actress Award at Cannes (2004-05-22)'Hero' Becomes China's Top-Grossing Film (2003-01-13)Beijing goes Hollywood at "Hero" premiere (2002-12-15)Yimou's ancient China martial-arts movie debuts (2002-12-14)Chinese 'Hero' Takes Aim at World Box Office (2002-08-03)
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