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Chinese director hailed for martial arts epic
2004-05-19
Chinese movie 'House of Flying Daggers' (2004): Zhang Ziyi and Takeshi Kaneshiro |
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CANNES, France - Celebrated Chinese director Zhang Yimou dazzled Cannes Wednesday with a spectacular martial arts epic that could match the success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."The eye-popping fight sequences in "House of Flying Daggers," including one set in a bamboo forest, were greeted with gasps of astonishment and spontaneous applause by critics at the renowned movie showcase. Zhang Yimou, who has three times been nominated for an Oscar, clearly loves Martial Arts films. "Martial Arts films are full of possibilities and I wanted to exploit them to the full," the director told reporters after the screening. "Every director in China is interested in Kung Fu films. Martial Arts are an extremely interesting genre as you find a mixture of action and emotion. For each director, this is a challenge," he said. And he also wanted to tell the love story of a doomed eternal triangle with his three main characters. "The love story is wrapped up in the Martial Arts package. I wanted to explore the modern possibilities," he said. Zhang Yimou shot 40 percent of his epic in Ukraine because it was impossible to find the right pristine landscapes in China as movie backdrops. "We also needed relatively cheap labor and Ukraine was ideal for that," he added. Critics lapped up the movie, set in the ninth century Tang Dynasty, in which two police captains are assigned to seek out the leader of the "House of Flying Daggers" rebel group. "The tangled tale of love and disguise is awesome in its action sequences," said the trade paper Variety. "Beyond a doubt, the most visually ravishing film on offer at Cannes is Zhang Yimou's return to the sword-fighting genre," said Screen International. The stunning heroine of the film is Chinese star Zhang Ziyi who was also in Ang Lee's Academy Award-wining blockbuster "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" which became a crossover worldwide hit. Zhang Ziyi, voted one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World and winner of the MTV movie award for best fight scene, plays Mei, the beautiful blind dancer at the Peony Pavilion brothel. To prepare for the role, she lived for two months with a blind girl. "When this girl was 12," Zhang Ziyi explained, "a brain tumor caused her to lose her sight. At the beginning, I had no idea that a blind person's world is so completely different. The film looks certain to be a smash hit across Asia as her two co-stars are Hong Kong's Andy Lau and the dashing Takeshi Kaneshiro, who is half Taiwanese, half Japanese. No Martial Arts movie would be complete without a fight in a bamboo forest. That is where Zhang Yimou's direction is at its most visually stunning. Faithful to the tradition, he concluded: "For the past 50 years, everybody has shot action in a bamboo forest. It is as though you have to fight in the bamboo forest before you can be considered a true warrior." Reuters
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