Julie and Scott make it to within ten paces of the Emperor. Will they take action? Which way will the candles blow? Episode 96 is a discussion of Hero, a 2002 movie directed by Yimou Zhang.
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Hero is most definitely a "Pool Room" film for me. Own it, in fact. ...which is not that common an occurrence. Because I'm cheap. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWatch Rashomon. Soon. I consider it a great film, but even if you don't love it in its own right, experiencing it will make Hero even better. (And I'm with Scott on Crouching Tiger. In spades.)
Have either of you sees Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War? Far more Western-ized (including Christian Bale as its star), and a tough, tough film to watch. But beautiful, both visually (as are all of Yimou's films) and in terms of "the traces of the one reality."
Thank heavens that I now don't have to try Crouching Tiger again just to be fair to it! :-D
DeleteHaven't seen Flowers of War ... will put it after Rashomon on my "to watch" list. Thank you!
Thanks to films like Calvary, In Bruges, and The Mill and the Cross, my husband is now interested in exploring some of the tougher movies to watch which promise a deeper payoff. So we've got Tsotsi and Children of God on our 2015 list. Just fyi.
Fantastic, Julie! Hard-films-with-payoff are my favorite kinds. (Still haven't seen CALVARY, because Wyoming. Soon, though; soon.)
ReplyDeleteI love this film, it's definitely gorgeous to watch and interesting to see a different cultural perspective. I had noticed on IMDB that actual Chinese soldiers were used as extras and it was funny to hear that brought up on the show. There are some other interesting facts about the film you should find interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://imdb.to/1y1CxRK
If you want to check out more of the genre, another martial arts movie I saw a while back and enjoyed is True Legend, available on Netflix
http://nflx.it/1y1D5Hi
Thanks for the show!
I can't believe I forgot to check IMDB for the trivia. I usually go by there after watching any movie, much less for this podcast. Thanks for reminding me of it! Some fascinating facts were there, most of all about the 18,000 soldiers used for filming and the color black being Qin's preferred color. I will definitely check out True Legend. :-)
DeleteYour discussion convinced me I really need to watch...300! I'd written it off as a mere exercise in style but you've brought out new possibilities. Hero is of course great and I am glad for an excuse to see it again.
ReplyDeleteI'd second the sentiments about Rashomon. It brings out a lot about the nature and importance of truth.
If the story of the 300 interests you, I recommend Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire. I listened to the audio book narrated by George Guidall earlier this year and it was outstanding. A little slow in the beginning for me, but all the stuff about the Battle of Thermopylae was enthralling.
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