Saturday, August 07, 2004
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
Featuring: Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi
Brief Synopsis: Essentially a love story, it traces the case of a girl caught mid assassination and her escape from the Imperial army.
Comments: First rule when watching Chinese films is to check if they have English subtitles. Settling with my wife on a couple’s chair for the first time (she was excited about seeing it), I knew I was in trouble after the first conversation, and spent the rest of the film like one of my English language students – trying to figure out what the heck is going on (and how good looking Zhang Ziyi really is). If it was in Cantonese I would stand a chance but as a mainland Chinese film, it was all in Manderin and well I would have better chances as a defender against Michael Owen!
Fortunately the plot moves along a comfortable pace but not understanding the conversations made it impossible to know what was really happening. However the fight scenes made up for the lack of plot understanding and were of a high standard, impressing me. All the main characters come across well enough but it seemed that the storyline wasn’t as tight as could be (after discussing the film with my better half who could at least read the subtitles).
Thing to learn from this film: Bamboo shoots thrown really hard are pretty damned dangerous.
Rating: 5/10
Featuring: Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi
Brief Synopsis: Essentially a love story, it traces the case of a girl caught mid assassination and her escape from the Imperial army.
Comments: First rule when watching Chinese films is to check if they have English subtitles. Settling with my wife on a couple’s chair for the first time (she was excited about seeing it), I knew I was in trouble after the first conversation, and spent the rest of the film like one of my English language students – trying to figure out what the heck is going on (and how good looking Zhang Ziyi really is). If it was in Cantonese I would stand a chance but as a mainland Chinese film, it was all in Manderin and well I would have better chances as a defender against Michael Owen!
Fortunately the plot moves along a comfortable pace but not understanding the conversations made it impossible to know what was really happening. However the fight scenes made up for the lack of plot understanding and were of a high standard, impressing me. All the main characters come across well enough but it seemed that the storyline wasn’t as tight as could be (after discussing the film with my better half who could at least read the subtitles).
Thing to learn from this film: Bamboo shoots thrown really hard are pretty damned dangerous.
Rating: 5/10
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