Sunday, Dec 19, 2004
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By Jonathan Watts
BEIJING, DEC. 18. In the West, critics have hailed the House of Flying Daggers as the most beautiful martial arts film ever made. In China, the home of its director, Zhang Yimou, the epic has been given a Raspberry. A big budget, furious-fighting, lush-coloured fantasy set in the Tang dynasty, the House of Flying Daggers cost renminbi 100m, making it one of the most expensive films ever made in China. Its cast has Asia's three biggest stars: Zhang Ziyi of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame; Andy Lau; and Takeshi Kaneshiro. The rich cinematography, a hallmark of the work of Zhang, a former photographer, led audiences to break into spontaneous applause at its European screening at Cannes this year. The film is tipped to win the Oscar for the Best Foreign Film. One British reviewer enthused: ``Can this film get any more dashing or beautiful without being arrested?'' The view from China, home of the kung fu genre, has been not just cool, but glacial. Although the House of Flying Daggers grossed a reasonable renminbi 150m at the box office, newspapers and internet bulletin boards said that it was a triumph of cinematic style over plot substance. "Powerfully soporific" was the headline of a review in the Beijing Times; "Zhang should go back to photography," suggested the Information Times. The harshest was the Beijing Star Daily, saying it "struggled to pass the test of a real kung fu movie." Li Erwei, an influential critic, said: " House of Flying Daggers has an illogical plot and weak characters. Such a celebrated and well-financed director really ought to have done better." © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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