After mediocre Stateside reception for THE GREAT WALL/’16 (not seen here), Yimou Zhang’s followup, a stunningly realized Ancient China War epic, caused little stir in these parts. A pity, since this twisty tale of a ‘pretender’ Feudal Commander (our eponymous ‘shadow’) challenging a neighboring kingdom to a duel over disputed territory without bothering to get the King’s okay, is involving on every level, and leads to superbly rendered (if backloaded) war action where swords & sabre spears battle razor-weaponized umbrellas . . . which also serve as sleds. (Ya gotta see it to believe it.) For a change, you can tell the players without a scorecard in combat; action full of surprises & reversals, grounded in strongly drawn narrative & character arcs. But what really sets this apart is the physical production, a gorgeous restricted palette that has this color film playing out largely in monochrome, the black & white stylization boldly standing out against natural skin tones, the blush of verdant forest green, and the dark red blood of war. Breathtaking, especially in court scenes where drapes and silk dividers are lightly touched with calligraphy & chalky figures. And check out the Yin/Yang mat of the climactic mano-a-mano fight. (See poster.) You can easily tire of such painterly effects, dulled by overuse. Not this time. Rapturous. Great gory fun as well. It may get you to check out GREAT WALL in spite of the naysayers.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Director William Wellman tried a b&w visual scheme touched with dabs of high color in TRACK OF THE CAT/’54. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2013/01/track-of-cat-1954.html
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