Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Another beautiful picture from Zhang Yimou – an artsy martial arts tale of a few centuries back complete with a dramatic love story and incredible scenes of beautiful landscapes.  Similar but more intimate than his film ‘Hero’, we see Ziyi Zhang again as a sort of double agent,  Takeshi Kaneshiro as a policeman who falls in love with her and another suitor Andy Lau who also is a policeman.  Behind them are bands of rebels and police, all typical of the time.  The photography is superb – Zhao Xiaoding being responsible here and the music accompanies perfectly the grand scenes. 

The criticisms may relate to the unreal nature of the martial abilities and the slightly complex nature of the politics but there is no denying that this is an extremely watchable piece of cinema which gives you a satisfying feeling at the end and includes some superb set pieces.

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