House of Flying Daggers: 2004, dir. Yimou Zhang. Seen at Dobie (Jan. 4).
I am a terrible, cynical person. Some of the first words out of my mouth when this movie ended were, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Later on, I was heard to say, “Mongo only pawn in game of life.”
You have to take your cynical hat off if you are going to see House of Flying Daggers, which is a terribly sentimental and melodramatic love story disguised as a martial arts movie. I think this movie works only if you view everything in it as an allegory for love.
Taken on the surface, the plot seems a bit cliched and overwrought. Government officials discover Mei (Ziyi Zhang), a blind girl in a brothel who can possibly lead them to the head of a group of rebels (the House of Flying Daggers), and they plot a scheme in which Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) pretends to break Mei out of prison and lead her to safety. He even disguises her as a boy.
[spoilers in this paragraph] When Mei is returned to the House of Flying Daggers, it is revealed that Jin’s boss Leo (Andy Lau) is actually one of the rebels who staged the whole thing as a plot to lure the general’s men into a trap … and by the way, Leo and Mei were lovers. Oh, and Mei isn’t really blind, either. While the second double-agent twist is a bit of a surprise, the drama still seems to follow very routine lines. [end of spoilers]
And that’s an oversimplified summary. The heart of the movie is in the sequences after the escape from prison, in which Jin and Mei have to confront soldiers in some impressive fight sequences, and also have to deal with their feelings towards each other. Are they pretending in order to accomplish a greater goal, or are they truly in love?
House of Flying Daggers looks gorgeous, saturated with color. The set pieces for the echo drum fight sequence and the bamboo forest sequences in particular are stunning. This is definitely a movie to watch on a movie theater screen, as some of the detail would surely be lost on a TV set.
However, at least for American audiences, the ending seems a little too melodramatic, too reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet or, I hate to say it, Love Story. An field set in autumn colors suddenly turns into a blizzard as the three principal characters all face one another. The last actions of Mei seem almost ridiculous, and I noticed a few people in the theater laughing.
Before the movie started, I heard someone say that the director considers this a great love story, and that’s how I watched the movie. For every fight sequence or every peril that the two main characters faced, I wondered how this would represent some aspect of a relationship. At first he guides her by giving her the scabbard of his sword as a guide, but then later they hold hands. She stabs someone in the back. She seems to be blind, and then revealed as pretending … or was she, emotionally? In other scenes, the men are blindfolded. We never see the outcome of the battle between the General’s army and the House of Flying Daggers, because that’s not important. The characters who told each other they were only pawns in the battlefield are the focus of the movie.
However, do you want to watch a martial arts movie on a symbolic level? Aren’t you there to enjoy the fight scenes? When I told my boyfriend my theory about watching the movie on a symbolic level, he looked at me like I was crazy.
I haven’t seen any of Yimou Zhang’s other movies, which is a handicap in reviewing this film. A friend who saw this movie with me recommended Hero very highly. He felt that the themes that are central to Hero—self-sacrifice for higher causes—were more complicated and interesting than the themes in House of Flying Daggers. Love, you know, it’s been done so many times before, it’s too easy a subject matter, right? I don’t know if I agree.
I liked House of Flying Daggers and would recommend it. I wish I knew more about Yimou Zhang’s other movies and about Chinese cinema generally. Is the heavy-handed melodrama at the end of the movie a trademark of a genre of Chinese film? I can’t say. But I can say that I’m glad I saw the movie, and would like to see Hero soon, and perhaps Raise the Red Lantern.
Jette, I am not listening to you. I know it’s going to be the most awesome movie in the whole world.
DON’T LIE TO ME, JETTE. DON’T LIE!!!
Jette! How could you fail to mention that Takeshi Kaneshiro is the prettiest boy ever to walk the earth? My heart pitter-patters at the mere mention of his name. I will go to this movie just to sit and grin and swoon before his lovliness.
I thought Hero was a better film, for what it’s worth. I also think it’s got the most intriguing use of color since The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.
I enjoyed House of Flying Daggers right up until the last 15 minutes of the film — I just couldn’t suspend disbelief enough to buy the ending. Still, as I said to Todd on the way out of the theater, even when the film made no sense, it was beautiful to watch.
By the way, we had people snickering at the ending at our showing too. (Todd overheard one of them saying “It’s only a flesh wound.” Heh.)
I really liked Raise the Red Lantern when it came out. It was hard to watch because of the level of claustrophobic intensity, but very compelling in its visuals, story, and emotional affect.
That said, I’ve recommended the film to others who hated it. My taste isn’t universally transitive.
I totally just bought this on DVD for $14 in Chinatown in L.A. — not a bootleg, either, but the DTS, English-subtitle version from Hong Kong. Although if the subtitles for “Shaolin Soccer” is any indication, I imagine the love story will be rendered even more, uh… silly.
Got “Battle Royale” too. Thinking of making it an Asia DVD-watching weekend.
also, I bad with grammar.