| Chen Kaige's (Farewell My
Concubine) latest film has a lot going for it.
This gorgeous, sweeping epic is reportedly the most expensive
Asian film ever produced. It won a technical award at the
Cannes Film Festival. And it reunites Kaige with his Concubine
and Temptress Moon star Gong Li, one of Asia's greatest
actresses. But despite this, The Emperor & The Assassin is
still a tough sell because of its running time and its subject
matter - a nearly three-hour film about political turmoil in
3rd century B.C. China. And it ain't in English either.
Doesn't exactly scream crowd-pleaser, does it?
According to history, there
was a 200-year period of unrest between the many kingdoms that
composed China. There were seven major territories, with the
strongest, called Qin, ruled by Ying Zheng (Li Xuejian, The
Blue Kite). Ying was fixated on the unification of the Chinese
territories so that he could rule the cohesive land as its
first Emperor. He destroyed everything he viewed as a
potential obstacle, slowly conquering the other kingdoms and
eventually realizing his goal. But Ying died only one year
into his reign, and his Qin dynasty dissolved within nine
years, leaving the original Emperor a casualty of his own
ambition and voracity.
The film, which is divided
into five acts, focuses on Ying's attempt to defeat China's
other states without appearing ravenously bloodthirsty. His
concubine, Zhao (Li, Chinese Box) hatches a brilliant scheme
involving a phony assassination attempt on Ying, whose
attempted elimination would appear to be the doing of Yan, a
neighboring kingdom that has proven to be the biggest hurdle
for his plans to integrate the country. But in the process of
setting up the assassination, Ying learns something about his
ancestry that causes him to go unhinged, killing anyone that
could either know or find out his secret, as well as turning
against Zhao's native soil (which, just to be confusing, is
also called "Zhao").
Zhao, horrified at Ying's
actions, is forced to support the Prince of Yan (Sun Zhou),
intending to make the phony assassination attempt on Ying into
a very real threat. In Yan, she meets Jing Ke (Zhang Fengyi,
The Blue Kite), an ex-killer who returns to his brutal ways in
order to help Zhao. The double-crossing is reminiscent of
Shakespeare, while the surprise heritage is suggestive of Star
Wars.
Kaige's direction (he also
wrote the script with Wang Peigong), especially of the
intensely gruesome battle scenes, is tremendous.
Cinematographer Fei Zhao (Sweet & Lowdown) bathes the film
a warm light and Li delivers her best performance in years.
Costumes and design teams add to a top-notch production.
2:46 - 
for intense battle violence
|
