House of Flying Daggers
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| Shi mian mai fu House of Flying Daggers |
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| Directed by | Zhang Yimou |
| Produced by | William Kong Zhang Yimou |
| Written by | Feng Li Bin Wang |
| Starring | Takeshi Kaneshiro Zhang Ziyi Andy Lau |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics (USA, Singapore) Focus Features (Australia, France) Warner Bros. (Japan, Philippines) Pathé (UK theatrical) 20th Century Fox (UK DVD) |
| Release date(s) | July 16, 2004 (China) December 3, 2004 (USA) |
| Running time | 119 min |
| Language | Mandarin |
| Budget | CNY 100,000,000 (est.) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
House of Flying Daggers (Chinese: 十面埋伏; pinyin: shí miàn mái fú), is a 2004 action/romance movie directed by Zhang Yimou. The movie is in the wuxia genre, similar in style to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and Warriors of Heaven and Earth. House of Flying Daggers differs however, in that it is more of a love story than a martial arts film.
Use of strong colors is again a signature of Zhang. Several scenes in a bamboo forest completely fill the screen with green. Near the end of the movie, a fight scene is set in a blizzard. The actors and blood are greatly highlighted on a whiteout background. Another scene uses bright yellow as a color theme. The costumes, props, and decorations were taken almost entirely from Chinese paintings of the period, adding authenticity to the look of the film.
The movie opened in limited release within the United States on December 3, 2004, in New York and Los Angeles, and opened on additional screens throughout the country two weeks later.
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[edit] Title
The Chinese title derives from a Chinese four-character idiom literally meaning "ambush from ten sides", but figuratively meaning an "ambush from all sides". It is also the name of a famous traditional Chinese music piece for the pipa that describes the battle between the Chu general Xiang Yu and the Han forces prior to the formation of the Han Dynasty (a very short version of the music played on the guitar is in the soundtrack). The English title, House of Flying Daggers, refers to a secret society (飞刀门) within the movie.
[edit] Plot
The film is set in 859 AD. The once great Tang Dynasty is now in decline. Numerous rebel groups have formed, the largest of which is the House of Flying Daggers, based in Feng Tian county. The Flying Daggers steal from the rich and give to the poor, gaining the support of the locals.
The local deputies have managed to kill the leader of the Flying Daggers, but the rebel group only becomes stronger, due to a mysterious new leader. Jin and Leo, two police captains, are ordered to kill the new leader within ten days.
In order to accomplish this, they arrest Mei (小妹: pinyin: Xiǎo Mèi), a blind dancer who is suspected of being the daughter of the old leader. While Mei is incarcerated, Jin and Leo decide to let her go to track the mastermind; Jin will pretend to be a lone warrior called Wind, and break her out of prison. This will gain her trust, and hopefully, Jin will be lead to the headquarters of Flying Daggers. The plan works, but Mei and Jin fall in love on the way. They are followed at a distance by Leo; Jin and Leo meet secretly to discuss their plans. Jin jokes about his seduction of the girl; Leo warns him sternly against getting involved.
To add authenticity to the deception, Leo and his men ambush the pair: the fight is, however, a fake. Further on, they are attacked again, but this time their assailants are apparently for real: Jin and Mei battle for their lives, being saved only by the intervention of an unseen knife-thrower. Furious, Jin confronts Leo: Leo explains that he has reported the matter up the chain of command and his general has taken over the pursuit. Jin realises that he is now expendable.
Once again, Jin and Mei are attacked by the General's men. They are hopelessly outnumbered; at the last minute they are saved when the House of Flying Daggers reveal themselves. Jin and Leo are captured and taken to their headquarters.
At this point, a number of surprising revelations are made. Mei is not blind, nor is she the old leader's daughter - she was merely pretending to be. Leo is in fact an undercover agent for the House of Flying Daggers, who have engineered the whole chain of events in order to draw the General into a decisive battle. Furthermore, Leo is in love with Mei: he has waited for three years for her whilst working undercover.
Mei, however, cannot bring herself to love Leo: over the last few days she has fallen for Jin. But as Jin is now a liability, she is ordered by Nia, the leader of the House of Flying Daggers, to kill him. Instead Mei takes him away then frees him: Jin begs Mei to flee with him, but she is torn between her love and her duty to the House, and he leaves alone.
In the final tragic scenes, Mei decides to ride after Jin, but is ambushed by Leo who is embittered by her rejection and consumed by jealousy for Jin. As Mei lies dying, Jin returns to find Leo, and an epic battle of honour begins. Eventually each is mortally wounded: at the finish Jin cradles Mei's body whilst Leo staggers away into the woods.
[edit] Literary origins
The movie features the theme of a beautiful woman who brings woe to two men. This theme is borrowed from a famous poem written by the Han Dynasty poet Li Yannian (李延年). The poem reads as follows (note: these are Chinese characters with pinyin transcription added using ruby annotations; if you see words in parentheses such as "(guó)", instead of on top of the characters, then your browser cannot handle ruby text):
| Traditional Chinese | Simplified Chinese |
|---|---|
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北方有佳人，絕世而獨立。 |
北方有佳人，绝世而独立。 |
| Pinyin transcription | English translation |
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Běifāng yǒu jiārén, juéshì ér dúlì. |
In the north there is a beauty: Surpassing the world, she stands alone. |
(See also external site with characters in images: simp. trad.)
[edit] Box office
House of Flying Daggers opened in North America on December 3, 2005 in 15 theatres. It grossed $397,472 USD ($26,498 per screen) in its opening weekend. Expansions into wide release were somewhat less successful, although the film's total North American gross of $11,050,094 USD was respectable for a foreign language film.
The film made an additional $81,751,003 USD elsewhere in the world, bringing its total worldwide box office gross to $92,801,097 USD.[1]
[edit] Responses
Despite receiving great acclaim from film critics in the U.S., the film and its director were fairly heavily criticized locally in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Many Chinese critics felt that the film lacked a strong storyline or message, that the dialogue was poor, and that Zhang was simply trying to appeal to Western audiences with heavily choreographed fight scenes and extensive use of computer-generated imagery. Zhang's previous films, including the critically acclaimed Raise the Red Lantern and The Story of Qiu Ju, were insightful and tragic dramas about the lives of everyday peasants in modern rural China, and even his previous foray into a martial arts film, Hero, had a strong underlying message about sacrifice and national identity.
[edit] Awards
[edit] Won
- Boston Society of Film Critics Awards:
- Best Cinematography (Xiaoding Zhao)
- Best Director (Yimou Zhang)
- Best Foreign-Language Film (China/Hong Kong)
[edit] Nominated
- Academy Awards:
- Best Cinematography (Xiaoding Zhao)
- BAFTA Awards:
- Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects (Angie Lam, Andy Brown, Kirsty Millar & Luke Hetherington)
- Best Cinematography (Xiaoding Zhao)
- Best Costume Design (Emi Wada)
- Best Editing (Long Cheng)
- Best Film not in the English Language (William Kong & Yimou Zhang)
- Best Make Up/Hair (Lee-na Kwan, Xiaohai Yang & Siu-Mui Chau)
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Ziyi Zhang)
- Best Production Design (Tingxiao Huo)
- Best Sound (Jing Tao & Roger Savage)
- Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA:
- Best Actress (Ziyi Zhang)
- Best Costumes (Emi Wada)
- Best Director (Yimou Zhang)
- Best Fantasy Film
[edit] Trivia
- Anita Mui was originally cast for a major role, which was to be her final film appearance. She died of cervical cancer before any of her scenes were filmed. After her death on 30 December 2003, director Yimou Zhang decided to alter the script rather than find a replacement. The film is dedicated to her memory.
- The scene in the snow was filmed in Ukraine. It actually snowed so early (October) that the makers had to change the script and the film. They did not want to wait because the leaves were still on the trees. Zhang Yimou was very happy with how it turned out, however, because it set the perfect tone.
- To prepare for her role, for two months Zhang Ziyi lived with a blind girl who had lost her sight at the age of twelve because of a brain tumour.
- Andy Lau portrays a similar character in the film Infernal Affairs: an undercover Triad agent who infiltrates the police department.
[edit] Cast
- Takeshi Kaneshiro — Captain Jin (金捕頭)
- Andy Lau — Captain Leo (劉捕頭)
- Zhang Ziyi — Mei (小妹)
- Song Dandan — Yee
[edit] Crew
- Directed by Zhang Yimou
- Produced by Bill Kong, Zhang Yimou
- Executive Producer — Zhang Weiping
- Story by Zhang Yimou, Li Feng, Wang Bin
- Screenplay by Li Feng, Zhang Yimou, Wang Bin
- Director of Photography — Zhao Xiaoding
- Action Director — Tony Ching Siu-Tung
- Production Designed by Huo Tingxiao
- Sound Designed by Tao Jing
- Original Music Scored and Produced by Shigeru Umebayashi
- Theme Song Performed by Kathleen Battle
- Costume Designed by Emi Wada
- Edited by Cheng Long
- Associate Producer — Zhang Zhenyan
[edit] Production notes
Mandarin dialogue, available subtitled in English.
Running time: 119 minutes
An Edko Films, Zhang Yimou Studio Production in collaboration with Beijing New Picture Film Co., Ltd.
Released by Sony Pictures Classics.
MPAA rating: PG-13, for sequences of stylized martial arts violence, and some sexuality.
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- Zhang Ziyi House of Flying Daggers fanpage — Fanpage with articles, pictures, video clips
- House of Flying Daggers at the Internet Movie Database
- House of Flying Daggers at Rotten Tomatoes
- House of Flying Daggers at Metacritic
- Zhang Ziyi CSC: House of Flying Daggers Synopsis, pictures, wallpaper, reviews, news, discussions
- theme poem in the movie.
- House of Flying Daggers at Box Office Mojo
| Films directed by Zhang Yimou |
|---|
| Red Sorghum (1987) • Codename Cougar (1989) • Ju Dou (1990) • Raise the Red Lantern (1991) • The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) • To Live (1994) • Shanghai Triad (1995) • Keep Cool (1997) • The Road Home (1999) • Not One Less (1999) • Happy Times (2000) • Hero (2002) • House of Flying Daggers (2004) • Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005) • Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) |
