By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Chao Deng | Jingchun Wang | Jun Hu | Li Sun | Qianyuan Wang | Ryan Zheng | Xiaotong Guan
Original language title: Ying
Country: china, hong_kong
Year: 2019
Running time: 116
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6864046/reference
Michael says: “Who knew Zhang Yimou had a new movie out this year? Certainly not me (thanks, Bob!) I’ve loved a lot of Zhang Yimou’s films, both his gorgeous, epics, and his tiny character films. SHADOW is one of the former, and as expected, he captures the beauty, the grandisosity, and the sweep that an epic deserves. The two great kingdoms of the Pei and Yang family have settled into a comfortable coexistence, but when The Commander challenges the Yang King to a personal duel, the impetuous young kind to he Pei dynasty is outraged. There begins a complicated set of machinations where secret plots a plentiful, and just when you think everything has been uncovered, a further layer is revealed.
Zhang is known for his colorful palette, and with SHADOW he drips everything in carefully painted shades of grey, save for skin tones and splashes of blood. The wuxia choreography is stunning as usual, with an interesting introduction of masculine vs. feminine fighting styles. Also evident is the sweeping melodrama Zhang so masterfully uses in such films as JU DOU and RAISE THE RED LANTERN. SHADOW is visually glorious, but also a powerful melodrama that will grab you from the get go. 4.5 cats”
Chris says: “I’d say this is Zhang Yimou’s best film since HERO, maybe even since his seminal ’90s work (if I’d seen anything else of his from the past decade.) The color palette here is really stunning–offhand, I can’t think of anything else that looks quite like it. The battle scenes manage to be visceral and graceful, but what I respond to most is the intimacy that’s more dominant here than in his other historical epics. All the scenes focusing on just two or three people are highly effective in pulling the viewer in, so that when it reaches all the carnage, the individual blows carry a greater impact. If Zhang’s done anything else like this since HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, I’d like to see it. 4 cats“
Brett says: “Visually speaking, SHADOW is yet another reason Zhang Yimou soars as a director, and this film contends as possibly his best work from a visual standpoint since HERO. As others have said before of this film, you would be hard-pressed to find a film that captures a look anything similar to what this film does. In fact, it is yet another example of a near criminal-level expose on major motion picture awards circuits and how films like this can be overlooked and put on the hype backburner for more star-driven and politically motivated selections. Objectively, you will not find a full slate of production design nominees elsewhere that surpass the work on set design, costumes, and staging as what SHADOW offers.