Customer Reviews

House of Flying Daggers

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Here's one word that sums up this film: Beauty. The plot of "House of Flying Daggers" (original title: "Shi mian mai fu") is lacking, but in a way it's made up for with the intoxicating sets, costumes, and exquisite love story. Zhang Yimou backs away from the grandeur of "Hero" in favor of a more intimate story.

It's 859 A.D., near the end of the corrupt Tang Dynasty. A guerilla rebellion called House of the Flying Daggers (who are able to throw knives at great distances) has sprung up against the government. Despite the loss of their leader, the rebels are thriving. Deputy Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) decides to go undercover to infiltrate the House, and he tries to get the trust of blind courtesan Mei (Zhang Ziyi), daughter of the House's dead leader.

But soon he begins to fall in love with Mei, which jeopardizes his loyalties while Mei herself is experiencing confusion. But government officials want Mei dead because of her sympathies -- and even worse, they don't realize that Jin is undercover. To make things worse, Jin is not the only rival for Mei's love -- his best friend is as well.

Director Zhang Yimou apparently said that "Hero" was the warm-up to "House of Flying Daggers." It does seem more polished and fully realized, without the "Rashomon" storytelling. Instead of a war movie, it's a mixture of fairy-tale romance and beauty, and spies and guerilla warfare. The final half-hour is the stumbling block, where some plot threads come unravelled. Things get pretty confusing, and.

Zhang doesn't drop the ball as far as stylism goes -- color and exquisite details are in every frame. They have an almost intoxicating effect, and so do the action sequences. One of the most memorable scenes is Ziyi performing the "echo game," where she strikes drums in a particular rhythm with her flowing clothing. Not to mention a balletic, dreamlike fight in a bamboo forest, with the participants soaring and dipping like Cirque de Soleil dancers. It's all completely unreal, but there lies its beauty, like a painting of the sky that focuses on the sun and not the clouds.

This is entirely Zhang Ziyi's picture -- since her debut in "The Road Home," Ziyi has proved herself a wonderful actress. "House of Flying Daggers" focuses mostly on Ziyi, and she gives a truly exquisite performance, particularly as a blind woman -- watch her face. The two supporting actors, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, do a solid job in their roles, particularly Kaneshiro, who brings plenty of life to what could have been another cliched bad-cop-turned-lover.

"House of Flying Daggers" is worth seeing just to see -- it's visual ecstacy packed around a fairly typical love triangle plot and a slightly disappointing final half hour. But the sights alone in this intimate love story are exquisite.

"House of Flying Daggers" brings you a wonderful tale you can delight in, and the opportunity to watch a movie where the use of color is so impressive that it is almost surreal, poetry in motion. Notwithstanding that, I think that you probably won't like this film unless you are prepared to suspend your disbelief at least for 119 minutes, the duration of this movie. Personally, I did exactly that, and I don't regret it at all :)

The story is set in 859 AD, when a corrupt dynasty held power in China. There is an organization called "House of Flying Daggers" that is trying to change things, but the government won't allow that. Two officers, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau) are ordered to stop the rebels, and so they devise a plan to infiltrate the "House of Flying Daggers". They capture Mei (Zhang Ziyi), the blind daughter of the previous leader of the revolt, who had been posing as a courtesan. Jin rescues Mei from the jail, and tries to convince her that he would like to join the rebels, when in truth his objective is to destroy the "House of Flying Daggers". But even if everything started as a plan, will Jin be able to remember Leo's advice, "Don't fall in love for real"?.

I want to point out that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The story was great, with enough twists to keep you entertained, and plenty of outstanding fighting scenes. Chinese director Zhang Yimou made such a great use of the elements at his disposition (great actors + inspiration + music + choreography + use of colors) that many sequences seem directly out of a dream, and the spectator feels as if he were bearing witness to a real story that happened a long time ago. In a word, the results are impressive... Watch "House of Flying Daggers", and decide whether you share my opinion :)

Belen Alcat

I think Yimou Zhang has made the two most visually beautiful films I have seen in the recent years, with "Ying xiong" ("Hero") and "Shi mian mai fu" ("House of Flying Daggers" but literally translated as "Ambush From Ten Sides"). The common denominator is not the martial arts action couple with the Hong Kong wire work but Zhang's use of rich colors. I know that Akira Kurosawa pained a field of grass gold for a scene that ended up being deleted in "Ran," and for all I know Zhang painted all those bamboo trees green in this 2004 film. But Zhang has been paying attention to color for as long as I have been watching his films, which goes all the way back to 1991's "Da hong deng long gao gao gua" ("Raise the Red Lantern"). The man is an expert at creating scenes of spectacular visual beauty on a motion picture screen and this time he is really into blue and green big time.

This is a movie where you do not really care about the plot beyond its ability to move us from one beautiful set piece to the next. Mei (Zhang Ziyi) is the blind daughter of the former leader of the Flying Daggers, a secret group that is combating the corrupt Tang Dynasty of the 9th century in China. The name comes from the fact that they throw daggers, and there are some daggers that are followed by the camera in this film the same way George Lucas followed the X-fighters in the trench during the attack on the Death Star. Mei is a dancer at the Peony Palace, and Captain Leo (Andy Lau), a local cop, sends his young colleague Captain Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to investigate the mysterious blind dancer who is suspected of having ties to the Flying Daggers. While you know this is the beginning of a romance, because who could not fall in love with the beautiful and talented Mei, what matters is that we are up to the first spectacular set pieces, the Echo Game, played between Leo and Mei where the blind dancer shows she definitely knows how to play the game (and strike a pose).

The battle in the bamboo forest is the most impressive of these sequences, but I liked the choreographed battle in the field of grass with the two lovers encircled by swordsmen and the part in the final fight where it starts to snow. I understand there are homages in this film, but while I get the link to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" going back to the bamboo forest scene from "A Touch of Zen" is beyond me because I do not watch too many of these films. But, wow, the ones I have seen make me wonder why I am not watching at least one in a week and the answer is I know in my heart they cannot all be as beautiful as this one. What will Zhang come up with next? We cannot but wait to find out (he is currently filming "Qian li zou dan ji," which literally translates as "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" and is apparently about a Japanese father her take his ailing son to China's Yunnan province to learn opera).

Granted, "Shi mian mai fu" has flaws despite its great beauty. The political backdrop of the film seems to matter at the start, what with the emperor being weak and the officials being corrupt and all, but all that really matters is that Mei starts off on the opposite side of Leo and Jin, who best laid plans are going to go astray in ways too tragic for them to forsee. That is because the story is an excuse to get us from one spectacular set piece to the next and the sides exist simply for one lover to cross over to the other. The swordplay is more stylized than I have seen in other films of this genre and seems to involve less wire work as well, which is fine with me, because I would rather see it used selectively as it is here. There is also a song that Mei sings early on where you need to pay attention because it will come back more poignantly later on. The film has an English audio track, but you are obviously advised to go for the sub-titled original audio track because dubbed always sounds dubbed and that means tacky. Gorgeous films do not deserve tacky audio tracks.

We got the DVD, and have seen the movie more than 8 times since we bought it. It's an excellent movie. From the dancing and music part, the political sacrifices and revenge, the love trial and betrayal, breathtaking sceneries - this is my thing.

Better than "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" this story gradually reveals an unexpected love triangle which contains amazing martial arts choreography woven into a stunning visual masterpiece of epic proportions. The unusual love-triangle is heart-stopping ... the fight scene at the conclusion of the film is a gut-wrenching and powerful. The close-up scenes of pure emotions reveal both artistic cinematography as well as superb acting: whether it is desire, bliss, lust, rage, doubt, torment, suffering or other emotions ... the visual effects are absolutely amazing.

This film has it all: gorgeous period costumes designed by Emi Wada, spectacular landscapes like delicate water colors and oil paintings on canvas and visually pleasing actors and actresses ... They are fairy-tale like in their magnificence. The mountain scenery is breath-taking as the fall foliage paints a collage of orange, red, fading green and brown leaves which are exceptionally stunning from a distance. The field of wild flowers where Jin and Mei playfully discover the depth of their true feelings for each other is a natural wonder. They express their feelings gently at first and then with passionate abandon ... The martial arts fighting scenes in the bamboo forest where the government soldiers ambush Jin and Mei during their escape is exceptionally creative and well filmed ...

This enhanced DVD has a great interview with the director Yimou Zhang who explains that bamboo forests have been symbolic of martial arts in films from long ago and he felt it must be included. Watching the interview, the viewer learns to appreciate the amount of planning and background work which is painstakingly done to perfection to film this artistic masterpiece ... Ziyi Zhang who plays Mei, lived with a blind girl for two months to learn the proper body and head movements in order to play a blind girl accurately. Also, she had studied traditional Chinese dance when a young girl which helped her learn the choreographed dance and martial arts movements in her outstanding performance in the scene for General Leo at the Peony Pavillion. The original music in the film is fantastic, Kathryn Battle sings the theme song which is sung by Mei during her dance performance for Captain Jin. It is a totally heart warming performance that captivates Jin and wins over the viewers ...

The story begins in a brothel called "Peony Pavillion" where government officers visit for a tryst with the ladies and to be entertained ... The visual effects of the establishment are extraordinairily authentic, the set design, bright colors, flowers, and weapons on the wall are all extremely balanced and harmonious ... After Mei, the blind dancing girl does a magnificent martial arts and dance performance for General Leo, she is taken prisoner. She is believed to be the blind daughter of the dead leader of a clandestine organization, called "House of Flying Daggers" who are resisting government authority and creating unrest and rebellion against the Tang Dynasty. General Leo's plan is to flush out the covert operatives ... but unexpected emotional relationships develop to confound his plans. How the love triangle is revealed and resolved is the stuff of which great films are made. The story line itself is deceptively simple ... but its execution is thoroughly unequalled. The film expresses how in the short time of three days true feelings of love can develop with unequalled depth and passion. It can grow into becoming one of the most complex human emotions ever put on film. Erika Borsos (pepper flower)

This Blu-ray movie can be bought at amazon.com for 14.99 so why is it 32.00 at amazon.ca?????

Wake up amazon.ca and lower your prices! Even 19.99 would be reasonable!!!

Here's one word that sums up this film: Beauty. The plot of "House of Flying Daggers" (original title: "Shi mian mai fu") is lacking, but in a way it's made up for with the intoxicating sets, costumes, and exquisite love story. Zhang Yimou backs away from the grandeur of "Hero" in favor of a more intimate story.

It's 859 A.D., near the end of the corrupt Tang Dynasty. A guerilla rebellion called House of the Flying Daggers (who are able to throw knives at great distances) has sprung up against the government. Despite the loss of their leader, the rebels are thriving. Deputy Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) decides to go undercover to infiltrate the House, and he tries to get the trust of blind courtesan Mei (Zhang Ziyi), daughter of the House's dead leader.

But soon he begins to fall in love with Mei, jeopardizing his loyalties, while Mei herself is experiencing confusion. But government officials want Mei dead because of her sympathies -- and even worse, they don't realize that Jin is undercover. To make things worse, Jin is not the only rival for Mei's love -- his best friend is as well.

Director Zhang Yimou apparently said that "Hero" was the warm-up to "House of Flying Daggers." It does seem more polished and fully realized, without the "Rashomon" storytelling. Instead of a war movie, it's a mixture of fairy-tale romance and beauty, and spies and guerilla warfare. The final half-hour is the stumbling block, where some plot threads come unravelled. Things get pretty confusing.

Zhang doesn't drop the ball as far as stylism goes -- color and exquisite details are in every frame. They have an almost intoxicating effect, and so do the action sequences. One of the most memorable scenes is Ziyi performing the "echo game," where she strikes drums in a particular rhythm with her flowing clothing. Not to mention a balletic, dreamlike fight in a bamboo forest, with the participants soaring and dipping like Cirque de Soleil dancers. It's all completely unreal, but there lies its beauty, like a painting of the sky that focuses on the sun and not the clouds.

This is entirely Zhang Ziyi's picture -- since her debut in "The Road Home," Ziyi has proved herself a wonderful actress. "House of Flying Daggers" focuses mostly on Ziyi, and she gives a truly exquisite performance, particularly when she pretends to be a blind woman -- watch her face. The two supporting actors, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, do a solid job in their roles, particularly Kaneshiro, who brings plenty of life to what could have been another cliched bad-cop-turned-lover.

"House of Flying Daggers" is worth seeing just to see -- it's visual ecstacy packed around a fairly typical love triangle plot and a slightly disappointing final half hour. But the sights alone in this intimate love story are exquisite.

I enjoyed the music in the movie more than the movie itself. The theme music is truely outstanding. I bought the sound truck CD instead of the DVD movie! The story is far better than Hero, the famous movie produced by the same director. Also, Ziyi Zhang acted very well here and she is just so beautiful!

Yimou is a true artist of cinema. Hero and House of Flying Daggers are beautiful and spiritual adventures in Asian cinema. Both films are remarkable acheivments that are lost on the reviewer who gave this film one star. True art is often missunderstood by the masses.

The package came in good condition. The company delivered it on time and in great condition. THanks very much for everything. I will for sure buy from you again!