Seraphic Secret (Free subscription) | 11/27/2009
... are crisp, jelly bean bright hues set against the muted grays of the massive castle. Director Zhang Yimou is a master of scale. Like the best of silent directors, he understands how to convey worlds of emotion by placing his characters against vast spaces and overpowering architecture. Too many modern writers and directors rely on exposition when silence and geography are far more...
BLDGBLOG (Free subscription) | 11/27/2009
According to the New York Times , there is, in Beijing, "a secret network of detention centers used to prevent aggrieved citizens from lodging complaints against the Chinese government." [Image: "Bunk beds are seen in a room in a black jail in Beijing in August 2009," the New York Times explains. Apparently, "more than a dozen illegal detention centers known as black jails...
Londonist (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
... Discover sumptuous, impressionistic, innovative and epic cinematographic styles from Chinese Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers, Hero), Bhutanese Neten Chokling and Taiwanese Yu-Chieh Cheng. Amid the treasures the festival brings are two UK premieres: Those Three - a beautiful atmospheric debut feature by award winning Iranian Naghi Nemati and Bakal Boys (pictured) directed by acclaimed...
Not Coming to a Theater Near You (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
... surface like a disappointingly impersonal take on the bloated martial-arts blockbuster of which Zhang Yimou is the reining king. But I’d argue there’s more going on here, particularly in the way Woo pitches dashing HK and Taiwanese superstars like Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro against a Mainland mustache-twirler like Zhang Fengyi. As the unscrupulous Cao Cao,...
