Review: The Laughs And The Corpses Pile Up In The Chinese Blockbuster 'Full River Red'
Out comes the knife, followed by a hilarious "cold-knife-knife" exercise by Chinese director Zhang Yimou of "Full Red River." Set in a long, dark and bloody night in a military palace of the Zhang Dynasty, this 12th-century comic detective story begins with a Macbethian twist - a visiting chief is killed in his bed, suspicion immediately falls on the guards, even before he is exposed by a band. An enigmatic Agatha Christie-style trick followed. But Zhang's authorial touch is evident in the complex court intrigues, phalanxes of armed soldiers and furious action, as well as the climactic depictions of nationalism, the will of the few against the fate of the empire.
That fate hangs in the balance throughout the film, which takes place during the conflict between the Zheng and Jin dynasties and begins with violence that erupts night after night. The victim is a Jin diplomat who arrives to negotiate with Prime Minister Song Qing Hu (Lei Jia), and his death immediately kills the soldiers assigned to protect him. What survives, fortunately, is a comic buffet named Zhang Da (comedian Shen Teng), who somehow reluctantly comes to the focus of the story. Danny was ordered to find out who it was before dawn and was only given a two hour ride. He faces the death penalty.
So at a solid, not entirely inaccurate 157 minutes, the entirety of Red River takes place in something close to real time. Zhang Dai and I are interrogating him and his tough second-in-command Sun Jun (Jackson Yee, a wonderfully effective background) almost every minute, including the night watchman and the film crew, one of the last people to see the diplomat alive. ) are being asked. Artists. Among the latter is Chief Sitter (Wang Chiayi, excellent), a beautiful dancer who proves to be as formidable an opponent as any high-ranking official, including He Li (Zhang Yi) and Wu. Yichun (Yu Yunpeng).
Much of the investigation is brutal and bloody. Even by classic detective standards, Zhang Yimou and Chen Yu's tight screenplay has plenty of personality. Charges are hurled left and right, throats are slashed and stabbed, and much is done with a jeweled reversible knife. Anachronism. Maybe (the hints of punk and electronica are a bolder departure from the strict precision of Han Hong's traditional music). , countless complex reversals of weapons.
The director's fans occasionally go back to 2015. You might think back to the 2002 martial arts hero, a brilliant and thoughtful drama, in which the characters are turned into living chess pieces as they conspire to defy the imperial authorities. However, the similarities are more thematic and structural than statistical. In contrast to the retina-striking flash of color of "Hero," "Red Flood River," like all of Zhang's works, has a more practical, less glamorous feel to it when it's impeccably edited. Before the film's action-packed finale bids farewell, Dark Curtain's cinematography (directed by Zhao Xiaoding) fades everyone into an eerie blue, with only occasional flashes of red. (At times he leans toward the monochrome intensity of Shadows , the elegant edge of the director's recent cinematography.)
Monotony isn't just visual. Despite the violence and sense of humor, whose often goofy and impulsive behavior is repeated as blush ten Zhang Da, thanks; The film deliberately induces a kind of claustrophobia. It is very comfortable. Although the tension gradually decreases and the story threatens to collapse under the weight of many twists and turns, you have to feel that the nose is tied around the neck of each character in turn. The pace is set by the random and forceful shooting of the characters as they run from one castle to another, sometimes shooting from above, which allows you to imagine how they will fare in the physical and psychological turmoil.
What's at the center of the maze is best left unsaid here, though it's a box office hit (more than $600 million domestically) and may be the greatest commercial success of its rich, alternate charm and storm. Qara "Red Flood River" is the name of a famous poem, a lament and a battle cry ("There we take the flesh of the barbarians and cheer"), believed to have been written by the Song Dynasty general Yu Fei, about whom almost everyone has spoken. In China, he knew by heart. Go above and beyond jingoism with this fun trick that creates a wave of emotions that will make your heart spin or soar.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
