Movie Crush Monday: Little C & Hero
Hello readers,
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about perceptions in story telling. About the fact that who tells the story colors the details. That all relates to another project but in the mean time it brings us to our Movie Crush Monday for the week:
The plot is that this warrior who calls himself Nameless kills the three biggest threats to the emperor and is invited to sit with the emperor to tell him the story of how the assassins died. Like I said, that's the plot. The story is a fluid concept. Nameless lies, and when the emperor contradicts him the story changes. Nameless is the ultimate unreliable narrator and literally the only time that I've liked the way an unreliable narrator was used.
And while this really cool story is unfolding, you are treated to some of the best fight scenes in film. Ever. The choreography is stunning, and engaging and so well shot that you never lose track of who is where or who is getting hit. So much was made of Crouching Tiger when it came out (with good reason) but I feel like this movie is so much more engaging in how it handles the epic battle sequences, and part of that is due to the cinematography.
Ok, I'm not a film nerd. I don't generally care if something is pretty in how it's shot. Most days I barely notice framing and lighting because I'm more interested in the story and the dialogue. And it probably helps that I first watched this movie in art class in high school where we were specifically supposed to focus on the way the film looked. This film is a painting. It's an art piece. It's visual poetry.
Every frame is carefully composed using color and lines to be as pretty as it possibly can. The director Yimou Zhang went so far as to ship a batch of dye from England because the costumes in one scene weren't coming out the right shade of red. Proving that demanding directors are an international concept.
So prepare to be dazzled, readers. And I hope you're as enchanted by this movie as I was.
Watching as ever,
Little C
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about perceptions in story telling. About the fact that who tells the story colors the details. That all relates to another project but in the mean time it brings us to our Movie Crush Monday for the week:
The plot is that this warrior who calls himself Nameless kills the three biggest threats to the emperor and is invited to sit with the emperor to tell him the story of how the assassins died. Like I said, that's the plot. The story is a fluid concept. Nameless lies, and when the emperor contradicts him the story changes. Nameless is the ultimate unreliable narrator and literally the only time that I've liked the way an unreliable narrator was used.
And while this really cool story is unfolding, you are treated to some of the best fight scenes in film. Ever. The choreography is stunning, and engaging and so well shot that you never lose track of who is where or who is getting hit. So much was made of Crouching Tiger when it came out (with good reason) but I feel like this movie is so much more engaging in how it handles the epic battle sequences, and part of that is due to the cinematography.
Ok, I'm not a film nerd. I don't generally care if something is pretty in how it's shot. Most days I barely notice framing and lighting because I'm more interested in the story and the dialogue. And it probably helps that I first watched this movie in art class in high school where we were specifically supposed to focus on the way the film looked. This film is a painting. It's an art piece. It's visual poetry.
Every frame is carefully composed using color and lines to be as pretty as it possibly can. The director Yimou Zhang went so far as to ship a batch of dye from England because the costumes in one scene weren't coming out the right shade of red. Proving that demanding directors are an international concept.
He was right... That red is popping right out the frame
So prepare to be dazzled, readers. And I hope you're as enchanted by this movie as I was.
Watching as ever,
Little C
Comments
Post a Comment