Director: Zhang Yimou
Notable Cast: Deng Chao, Betty Sun Li, Ryan Zheng Kai,
Wang Qian-Yuan, Hu Jun, Wang Jing-Chun, Guan Xiao-Tong, Wu Lei, Feng Bai
Zhang Yimou made a bold choice to deviate away from his
usual artistic ways to make The Great Wall. Now, I’m not sure I’m to the
point where I want to fully defend what he was attempting to do in creating a
popcorn flick, but it was a bold choice to make that film. It alienated most
people and many of his fans were ready to throw him under the bus almost
immediately. With that in mind, it’s not shocking that he would try to make
amends to his fans and supporters by making another film that’s relatively consumable
for a worldwide audience and still heavy on the artistic and symbolic side. One
that could easily be sold as “from the director of Hero and House of
Flying Daggers.”
The result is his latest artsy wuxia, Shadow. Yimou
gets to once again struts his knack for visual flair and dynamic storytelling in this
high brow genre flick and he once again plays around with the nuances of right
versus wrong within its narrative. Shadow is a film that establishes a slow build for most of its
run time, methodically placing its characters and plot in ways to create a sense
of unease in the audience. By the time it reaches its finale, Shadow swiftly
and elegantly pierces through the narrative with heavy questions and weighty
themes. It’s not his most exciting film from a thrills and spectacle stand
point, nor does it quite hit the emotional character strides of many of his
early films, but Shadow has a rather unique balance that provides an
entertaining conspiracy film, a wuxia epic, and an intimate character study.