Watching Dragon, Hidden Growler

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Many Chinese and East Asian films are very successful due to their fantastic creativity and innovation.

Here are a selection that deserve your attention.

Rawle Austin presents...

Seven Swords (Qi Jian)

I’ve seen a few of director Tsui Hark’s movies including ‘Once Upon a time in China’ and while enjoyable, they haven’t totally thrilled me. Until now. Seven Swords. Wow. What a movie. This is the most ambitious take on the whole wuxia genre I have had the pleasure to watch.

‘Wu’ means valiant in combat and ‘Xia’ means a chivalrous person.

Ambitious in style and scope. Epic in scale. In one fell swoop Hark has created, in my humble opinion, one of the finest wuxia movies to date. Just surpassing Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, which for me had been the recent watermark of quality.

Wo hen xi huan kan zhe ge dian ying! (I really enjoyed watching this movie!)

Why was it so good? Let me tell you.

Seven Swords is adapted from author Liang Yusheng’s classic wuxia novel “Seven Swordsmen from Mount Tian”.

It is set just after the Manchu invasion of China in the 1660s, which ended the Ming Dynasty and established the Qing Dynasty. The new government has imposed a blanket Martial Arts ban to quell the numerous uprisings against it’s rule.

One place has the greatest concentration of rebels. Martial Village. The ruling Qing have sent the fearsome Fire-Wind to crush this resistance. In the midst of this chaos come a group of legendary warriors. The Seven Swords. Director’s quote “The most intriguing and important weapon in wuxia culture is the sword. The wielding of a sword and the art of swordplay unifies a person and a weapon.

It creates a distinguishable identity, and gives a simple piece of metal a spirit of it’s own.”

Tsui Hark is the director, producer and screenplay writer for this film. He was born in China and grew up in Vietnam. At age 16 his family moved to Hong Kong and three years later he moved to Texas, USA to study film at University.

This sowed the seed of his genius and he directed his first feature Die Bian (The Butterfly Murders) after moving back to Hong Kong in 1979. He has since directed over fifteen films to date.

In 1984 he and his wife Nansun founded the production company Film Workshop which went on to produce films by John Woo among others. In 2004 he was the first Hong Kong director ever invited to join the jury of the Cannes Film Festival.

His pedigree is unquestioned and all his skills are on display throughout Seven Swords.

The way the relationships between the swords and their owners are explored throughout the film and the coming together of the group is Tsui Hark’s own vision in adapting the novel.

The films success in my eyes is underpinned by it’s stellar casting. Some of the main characters who caught my eye included actor Donnie Yen is on top form here. He plays Chu Zhaonan, holder of the Dragon Sword. Allowed to cut loose in both action scenes and quieter moments I was impressed by his on screen presence and gravitas. The air of mystery surrounding his character is perfectly portrayed.

Donnie Yen was born into a family of martial–arts masters in China and he began training as a child.

At the age of 18 he met his mentor, the world famous action choreographer Yuen Wu Ping, and embarked on a career in the film world in Hong Kong.

His first role was in the 1984 film Drunken Tai Chi and has since starred in numerous movies including Blade 2 and Zhang Yimou’s Hero.

Another joy to watch was Korean actress Kim So-Yeun cast as the princess Green Pearl. She has an interesting subplot in the movie, which elevates it to another level.

This is her first appearance in a non-Korean film. Her performance will make you sit up and take notice of her acting talent and her stark beauty only serves to enhance the elegance of her character.

I also have to mention Sun Honglei, who is Fire-Wind, the main villain of the piece. With a cruelty that knows no bounds he injects a fearsome menace into his character and gives a great performance. Sun Honglei was born in Harbin, China and graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. He recently starred alongside Gong Li in Sun Zhou’s film ‘Zhou Yu’s Train’.

The rest of the supporting cast were simply fantastic and together have pulled off an incredible testament to the versatility of Chinese cinema.

All the character moments have a depth and feeling which quite literally puts the meat on the bones of the story.

One of the first things that struck me while watching this film was the deliberately muted colours that permeate throughout, adding to its gritty, raw feel. This is credited to Keung Kwok-Man, the Director of Photography.

His excellence in cinematography is on full display when you see the mountains of Xinjiang Province, China in the background.

He really captures the natural beauty and sense of danger of these majestic landscapes. Mount Tian, a pivotal location in the movie, looks truly awe inspiring.

I was also impressed by the period dress and credit has to be given to Poon Wing-Yan, the costume designer. Her designs for the whole movie are almost like a character itself and plunges you head first into that era. She wisely chose not to go for a new shiny look but a worn and realistic visual and this really complements the story.

The action sequences were flawless and truly outstanding. Swashbuckling swordplay runs rife throughout. This is a quality film that you have to see.

Running time: 140 mins, Certificate: 15

Released by Contender Entertainment Group it’s told in the Mandarin language with English subtitles.

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Check out Dianying.com for an extensive database of Chinese films.

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