Flying Daggers
Posted Wed, 01/22/14
The other day, I happened on House of Flying Daggers being shown on Movie-Plex. My first impression was to switch channels because I thought it was nothing more than a wuxia (chop-chop) movie. It was also being broadcast in it's original foreign language, so I had to read the bottom of the screen to follow the dialogue.
But after a few minutes, I couldn't stop watching. The visuals in House of Flying Daggers are stunning, the vivid colors drawing me in like a magnet. Even when I didn't glance at the subtitles, I knew exactly what emotions the characters were trying to portray by their facial expressions. It's an amazing movie from director Zhang Yimou.
House of Flying Daggers is basically a love story. It begins in deceit when medieval police captain Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) frees a seemingly blind prisoner known as Mei (Zhang Ziyi). Mei is a member of the declining Tang Dynasty, who Jin has been ordered to kill. Jin decides to release Mei and portray himself as being on her side in order to obtain information about the Tang Dynasty leader. They flee together, hounded by soldiers who are apparently in on the charade. Another police captain, known as Liu (Andy Lau) is also deeply in love with Mei unbeknownst to Jin.
Mei is quietly tentative, unsure whether to trust Jin. In due course, Jin finds himself falling for Mei. He struggles with conflicting emotions, which are brilliantly displayed in his eyes and facial expressions. There were a few other surprises along the way as well.
I won't give the ending away, but the final scenes took place in a snowstorm as Jin and Liu battled over Mei. One of the three dies.
I missed the first twenty minutes of the film, so I'm dying to see it again. House of Flying Daggers is highly recommended.
Even the late Roger Ebert gave the movie a thumbs-up!