House of Flying Daggers
Directed by Zhang Yimou.
Acted by Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Ziyi Zhang.
Following the short lived Sui Dynasty, which had reunified China, the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) became China’s most prosperous and creative time. It was then that the infamous Chinese examination system was universalized to bring the best and the brightest into the service of the emperor. All of the arts flourished.
Shi Mian Mai Fu, this film’s Mandarin title, translates literally as Ambush From Ten Sides. Both titles describe an uncommonly perilous state of affairs.
It is 859AD and the Tang Dynasty is disintegrating, civil unrest is on the rise. A changing of the guard. And it is from the perspective of the guards that we experience this film.
Policemen don swords and head out of the precinct for another hard day on the beat. Police deputies Jin (Kaneshiro) and Leo (Lau) discuss a plan to infiltrate the House of Daggers. This elusive band of terrorists is rumored to have planted one of its members in a newly established house of pleasure. The beautiful Mei (Ziyi Zhang) is the top showgirl in the House of Peonies. She might also be the blind daughter of the recently assassinated leader of the House of Daggers. The handsome Jin is chosen to enter the house incognito and investigate.
Very quickly the charge of “government running dogs” is made and sides are drawn.
Again Zhang Yimou’s cinematographic art dazzles. The Echo dance, the fight scenes and the bamboo shaft stonewalling are breathtaking but it is the clasping of hands in the face of the enemy that touches the heart. This is a love story that transcends political alliance.
As the lovers travel the land waiting for the skilful dagger throwers to make their move, layers of intrigue are revealed and bottom lines are established. Character strengths and weaknesses ultimately drive the plot to a spectacular finale which almost negates all that precedes it.
Lou Crow
