Filmmakers
Zhang Yimou is a great filmmaker, whether doing Wuxia (martial heroes) such as Hero (2002) or drama such as Raise the Red Lantern (1991). Last night I watched his most recent release, Shadow (2018). It is the story of an ancient Chinese kingdom that is about to be attacked. I found it hard to follow, which is in part due to how easily I drift off in this my 69th year. The build up to the battle is rather long, saved in part by a tense argument between the weak-willed king, who favors appeasement rather than war, and his generals. The principles of yin and yang (all things exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites, for example, female-male, dark-light) are integral to the plot, as is the playing of zithers, which are similar to harps though lay flat. The latter seemed bizarre. I did not get what was being conveyed. Confused by the storyline, I googled it this morning and found a review by Carlos Aguilar at thewrap.com in which he states: “the duality of existence, more explicitly the balance between yin and yang and all the opposing binary forces they represent.” That helped. For his visual motif Yimou chose to mimic Chinese Ink Wash paintings, using mostly black, white and gray, in line with the title. As usual, the cinematography is gorgeous, many of the scenes occurring during heavy rain, which was perhaps created by CGI. The battle is magnificent. Yimou makes it different from that of other films by incorporating metal umbrella weapons and an incredible sequence of female warriors catapulted along the ground like large discs. This is probably the type of film that becomes greater and more clear at subsequent viewings. It is violent, featuring more splatter than I’d seen in a while. It runs short of two hours. 5000+ users at IMDb have rated it, forging to a consensus of seven on a scale of ten. Here’s a still of the scene that blew me away:
And here’s a Dugu Qiubai ink wash painting:
RIP Peter Fonda, 79, who had a great career despite being under the enormous shadow of his legendary dad, Henry. There are 116 titles listed under his name at IMDb. Of course, he will remembered most for the counter culture classic Easy Rider (1969), which he co-wrote with Terry Southern and co-star Dennis Hopper, the film’s director, and which brought the three a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. He was also nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Ulee’s Gold (1998), for which he won a Golden Globe. He also won a GG for the miniseries The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999), which also garnered him an Emmy nomination, and he was nominated for GG’s for The Victors (1963) and The Tempest (1998). He also directed three films: Wanda Nevada (1979), Idaho Transfer (1973) and The Hired Hand (1971). Here’s a quote attributed to him: “Civilization has always been a bust.” I don’t know how old he was when he said that or if he was simply caught at a bad moment, but he obviously didn’t let the thought keep him from impressive accomplishments. Well done, sir.
Oh the irony, from an article at nypost.com, edited by yours truly: Researchers discovered that leading AI models for the processing of hate speech were 1.5 times more likely to flag tweets as offensive or hateful when written by African-Americans and 2.2 times more likely to flag those written in the variation known as African-American English — commonly used by black people in the USA. Some might say that last sentence is racist. On and on the absurdity goes.
My thanks to the kind folks who bought books in English and Russian today on Bay Parkway, and to ATTMP, which sent a royalty check for the online sale of one copy of A Hitch in Twilight.
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