Re: Hero

[Ann_Li <Ann_Z_Li@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

With all due respect, the 'doubly' articulated version of a critique of
Zhang's film would show that the message is more complex. 'Hero' has the
interpretive quality of his earlier films appropriate to an appreciative
active audience used to his critical practice of political filmmaking
critiquing feudalism and class conflict in subtexts often using gender
divisions as the narrative instrument. It is more than adapting Lee's
methods, CGI and other mainstream special effects. 'Hero' reveals the
strategic nuance of Chinese historicized politics appropriate to the art(s)
of war and in particular to the use of assassination in metaphor; you're
right that the fight in verbal discourse is the rhetorical core of the film:
the interpretive dialogue between assassin and emperor evokes Roshomon and
is yet still a historically located, collective affirmation for every
citizen to help unify the nation as "our land", so necessary now as then for
the PRC. Zhang has always coded his films regardless of its distributional
constraints and compromises. The recent events in the Ukraine have similar
strategic paths yet to be uncovered. Would that our CIA should work as
subtly as its filmic pastiches.

Ann
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Hoover" <HooverM@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 1:26 PM
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Hero


> >>> lnp3@xxxxxxxxx 12/9/2004 12:27:27 PM >>>
> Zhang Yimou is one of China's most talented film directors. He has also
> run
> afoul of the authorities over the years for making films that pushed
> the
> envelope of what was politically acceptable.
>
> Nowadays Zhang is making films that are a retreat from the earlier
> films.
> Dispensing entirely with themes that challenge the status quo, "Hero"
> and
> "House of Flying Daggers" seem very much influenced by Ang Lee's
> "Crouching
> Tiger, Hidden Dragon." My comments here are directed toward "Hero,"
> which I
> saw recently in DVD.
>
> During the 1980s and 90s Hong Kong studios churned out film after film
> starring Jet Li or Jackie Chan as itinerant swordsman standing up to
> evil.
> These films were marketed to a mass audience and made no pretenses to
> high
> art. They also relied on combat scenes that relied strictly on the
> acrobatic and martial arts skills of the stars. Unfortunately, first
> Ang
> Lee and now Zhang Yimou decided to use the sort of computer-assisted
> special effects that were found in the Matrix films where characters
> defy
> the laws of gravity routinely.
> <<<<<>>>>>
>
> most of zhang's films were not made for mainland chinese audiences...
>
> he has long worked with overseas producers and had his films
> distributed internationally, mostly aimed at western film festivals and
> so-called art house circuits...
>
> zhang's work is less cultural critique than transnational commodity, as
> such, status of his films in west stems from their reception by
> intelligentsia/culturati as authentic 'chinese'
> repsentations...
>
> in contrast, *no* hk films had u.s. distribution deals until jackie
> chan's 1996 'rumble in the bronx' which bypassed art-house theatres for
> mainstream multiplex release, west's limited perception of hk cinema as
> "action" meant that hk films were  not 'foreign' enough, they didn't fit
> conventional "exotic/ erotic" marketing of imported films...
>
> as for hero, it's not martial arts film (with exception of early
> scene featuring donnie yen and jet li), beautifully shot but that is
> characteristic feature of zhang's films - eye candy,
> most important 'fight' in film is battle of words between jet li's
> character and emperior...   michael hoover
>
>
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