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Released in 2004, House of Flying Daggers falls into the category of action/romance. It’s different to other Wuxia films as it is not so much a Martial Arts Film per se, it is more of a love story. Directed by Zhang Yimo, it is one of the most visually striking films I have seen.

-Synopsis -

With the Tang Dynasty in decline, rebel splinter groups were forming, the largest of these being a secret society called ‘House Of Flying Daggers’. They become a powerful force and their philosophy being ‘to steal from the rich to give to the poor’. The Authorities capture and kill the leader, and when a new mysterious leader is chosen, new orders are issued to kill him within ten days. Two police Captains named Jin and Mio arrest and imprison Mei, a beautiful, blind dancer who is the daughter of the previous leader.

They devise a plot to release her, and the Police Captain Jin poses as a lone warrior called ‘Wind’ who will feign friendship and assist in her escape. He gains her trust, and becomes her travelling companion, his ultimate plan being for Mei to lead him to the House Of Flying Daggers. But the revelations that unfold, and what occurs upon their troubled journey was not what Jin had anticipated.

The film is set in 859 AD, and it opens with a breathtaking Chinese solo dance scene when Mei participates in a game where beans are thrown against giant chinese drums. Dressed in traditional dancing costume with long sleeves which drag along the floor Mei gives a spectacular dance display in which her sleeves are extended and thrown against the drums which the beans have hit. It is a stunning visual performance of traditional Chinese dance.

You immediately warm to the character of Mei, who has a delicate fragile quality, she also has a strength and stubbornness, which endear you to her even more, because even though she is blind, she is warrior through and through. Actress Zhang Ziyi lived with a blind girl for two months before undertaking the role, and she gives a captivating performance as the blind Warrior.

The storyline moves at a gentle pace, but at no time was I bored, or wanting it to speed up a little. The joy of this film lies in the scenery, and Landscape, and breathtaking quality of the camera work. I was totally enraptured throughout at the beauty I was witnessing within this film. Every second was a work of Art, and I was lost to the authentic capture of this age in time.

I was grabbed by the very opening sequence by the sheer beauty of this film.

The Cinematography was superb, the decorations, costumes and props for this film were based on Chinese Artwork of the period, to give the film an air of authenticity, and even though computer generated imagery was used in the fight scenes, it blended well and only heightened the visual display. The fight scenes were finely choreographed, and filmed and acted out like practiced dance routines. The landscape shots were stunning, in fact the Cinematography was possibly the best I have seen. The film won many awards including Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film, Best effects, and Best Cinematography.

The Dialogue in House of the Flying Daggers was to a minimum, as this film is mainly visual. So if you are after a fast moving, action packed film, this will not be for you. If on the other hand you enjoy a gentle, beautifully crafted love story, with stunning choreographed dagger and sword fight scenes interspersed throughout, then watch this film, it will not disappoint! I also have to mention the musical score, it is well worked to mood and scene and beautifully arranged throughout.

The thing I liked about the film was it’s clean cut lines. It was precise and perfect in every way, and very much as I perceive the Chinese culture and way of life to be. I suppose the main reason that it held me spellbound, was for it’s sheer visual beauty, and immediately after watching it, I wanted to see it all over again. I particularly liked the use of strong colours in the film. One amazing scene is set in a Bamboo field, where the green of the bamboo was enhanced to a vivid shade, it was striking and gave the fight scene a 3d quality. Another use of opposing colouring was a scene towards the end where there is a beautiful stark white snowstorm, and the contrast of blood upon snow was absolutely breathtaking.

Possibly the only negative thing I would have to say about House Of Flying Daggers, was it’s lack of message. It is basically a love story, and a hugely moving one too. But at the end I was left wondering what moral was to be learnt from this tale. The only slight disappointment was at the very end when I felt they had included something that simply wasn’t necessary, and which detracted from the impact of the scene. It was a Poem which Jin recited to Mei, and in it’s translation from Chinese to English it seemed to lose somewhat any real meaning that it was trying to portay and it sounded totally out of context in the scene. I think the only reason they included it was because this film was based upon the theme from this Poem.

In Director Yimou Zhang’s previous films, including the critically acclaimed ‘The story of Qiu Ju’ and ‘Raise the red lantern’ the message normally contained within his films would be one of huge sacrifice or of a similar importance. This was basically a love story woven around fight scenes, with no real depth of storyline, but somehow this didn’t matter. Director Zhang was criticized that the making of this film was heavily aimed at Western audiences and not of his usual mould.

A fact that troubled me was that tripwires and other tricks were used on the horses in the film to aid weight to the fight scenes, a practice which is legal in The Ukraine and China where this film was shot, but brought further criticism to Zhang. In some scenes the continuity leaves a little to be desired, though I am always very aware of continuity, and probably something someone else may not even notice. But these things are minor, and measure for measure I still think this is a film of Excellence.

There are strong supporting performances by Takeshi Kaneshiro as Captain Jin, and Andy Lau as Captain Leo. House Of Flying Daggers was Released to the general public in 2004. It is subtitled and the spoken language is Mandarin. This Film is one of very few to be released on EVD. (Enhanced Versatile Disc). The BBFC rating is 15 as it contains some sexuality, and Martial Arts Violence. It has a running time of 119 minutes.

The Main Cast are as follows:

Takeshi Kaneshiro~Captain Jin Andy Lau ~Captain Leo Zhang Ziyi ~ Mei Song Dandan ~ Yee Crew
It was Directed by Zhang Yimou~ Written by Feng Li, Bin Wang, and Zhang Yimou~ Music by Shigeru Umebayashi ~

Cinematography is by Xiaoding Zhao.