House of Flying Daggers, this year's heavyweight in
Chinese cinema, hit the big screen on Friday, and was shown to
almost full houses in Beijing.
After a celebrated showing at the 57th Cannes Film Festival in
May, the film is expected to attract Chinese moviegoers of many
different ages, a touching story about the love and hatred between
two men and a blind prostitute.
"Love is ruleless," Zhang said. "Some couples have lived under
the same roof for 30 years, but never had that heart-breaking
feeling of those who might have just been together for three
days."
"While Hero revealed social topics, House of Flying
Daggers portrays a tale of love," he said.
On May 19, when House of Flying Daggers was premiered
out of competition in Cannes, it won the audience's thunderous
applause, which lasted 20 minutes. A few days later, the US-based
Sony Pictures Classics announced it had purchased the rights for
distribution in North America, marking Hollywood's first purchase
of a foreign movie from Cannes this year.
Around the same time, China's State Administration of Radio,
Film, and Television orally notified film distributors that, on
principle, any import of foreign films would not be encouraged from
the end of June to the beginning of August. This suggests the
dominance expected of House of Flying Daggers over
domestic theaters this summer.
As the most anticipated Chinese film of the year, House of
Flying Daggers has dazzled the audience with exquisite
production and breathtaking audio and visual impact. People tend to
compare this movie with Zhang's Hero, looking for the root
of his enthusiasm for martial arts.
"While Hero was all about a swordsman's righteous
cause, House of Flying Daggers is more devoted to
emotional tangles, which are well suited to both Eastern and
Western audiences," Zhang said. "The most important element of a
martial arts movie is imagination. A film can be criticized for
10,000 reasons, but whether it impresses the audience with certain
scenes or scenarios counts, and this is what I have pursued. Dozens
of years later, when most people have forgotten the exact stories
in House of Flying Daggers, they might still remember the
classic scene where Zhang Ziyi plays a game with Andy Lau by
long-sleeve dancing."
Zhang, who once said that he would not repeat a subject in his
films, finally presented a martial arts epic for the second time.
This won't be the last, according to Zhang himself.
"At an interview with Times magazine, Zhang said that
House of Flying Daggers is his hail to martial arts
films," said Zhang Weiping, producer of the movie. "His confidence
comes partly from his wisdom and experiences and partly from his
innovative concepts of martial arts films."
While storytelling comes first, Zhang also sought to present
astonishing pictures, as he always has. The director chose Chinese
traditional colors mostly used in grotto paintings as the film's
major hue.
"Zhang Yimou gave play to the essences of Chinese kung
fu and Chinese culture to the utmost," Zhang Weiping said,
"and these are rarely seen in Hollywood movies."
Two years ago, Zhang Weiping helped Hero sell a
near-mythical 5 million box office tickets. This time, in May,
Zhang's distribution of House of Flying Daggers in North
America brought in 115 million yuan, and the distribution in Japan
earned 85 million yuan. The strong opening was nearly enough to
recoup the 290 million yuan total investment in the movie.
Zhang Weiping said that through Hero, he felt Chinese
audience's heartfelt support for domestically produced movies. Many
Hollywood hit "Deven Gladiator" failed to meet half of the sales of
Hero. Zhang is also confident in protecting the film from
being pirated.
"Thanks to the support from governmental departments concerned,"
he said, "House of Flying Daggers will certainly score a
success in fighting against piracy in Chinese film history."
According to Zhang, the Cannes Film Festival was just a platform
to showcase Chinese movies to global audiences. Can House of
Flying Daggers stir up a windstorm in domestic market?
"As a film distributor for more than 20 years, I have seen
countless movies," says Michael Barker, co-President of Sony
Pictures Classics. "House of Flying Daggers is one of the
most touching movies I have ever seen. I believe that it will
succeed and will be qualified for Oscar nomination."
Audiences are waiting.
(China Pictorial July 17, 2004)
