Shadow

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

During the Chinese martial arts movie craze of the early 00s, Yimou Zhang (“Raise the Red Lantern”) directed two of the best, “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers.” In fact, “Hero” was my favorite of all those films. I found its use of color to be visually stunning. Now, Zhang returns with the almost as stunning “Shadow” (“Ying” is the Chinese name for the film). Where “Hero” was divided into chapters, each represented with a primary color, “Shadow” is almost entirely in black and white. That is not to say it is entirely black and white. Skin tones and blood and in full color, such that it feels like a color film taking place in a black and white world. It is quite an accomplishment. The set’s were stunning and virtually every scene was worth pausing and just taking it in. This theme also weaved well into the story, which was about dichotomies: black/white, good/bad, yin/yang, light/shadow, female/male. The film uses all of those dichotomies to tell a story of rivals out-maneuvering each other to gain control of a city-kingdom. The plot is convoluted and full of betrayals within betrayals, all leading to some gorgeous battle scenes and a what-just-happened ending. The action here is not nearly as prolific (or as engaging) as in the previous films mentioned. This one was more about complex social maneuvering than physical fighting, but there are definitely some action scenes. Also, many in my audience laughed uncomfortably at fight scenes that were clearly meant to be serious. I think the film was trying to explore the mixing of dichotomies in interesting ways. One way it did that was to explore a “feminine” or “yin” style of fighting. That looked like nothing the audience has seen before, and I think it made people uncomfortable, because it seemed “silly” or not “tough”/”dominating” enough. That’s just a guess, but I found the way it pushed buttons (including my own) to be interesting. I see an underlying message in the film about the value of having the combined energy (hence the “Yang” title), whereas the title “Shadow” may appear to put too much emphasis on one side (or maybe not. See the movie and we can discuss). But, whatever else you take from this film, it is gorgeous to look at and quite entertaining. It won’t likely be a classic, but it is one of the better films I have seen this year so far.