House of Flying Daggers Redux
Submitted by dgeiser13 on Mon, 09/13/2004 - 12:27
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David Poland ratchets up my expectation for Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers with today's column.
"Zhang Yimou has, on the timeline of film history, gone backwards, not forward, this time out and made one of the greatest Shaw Bros. grind house films of all time. And that, for me, is not in any way a restraint of affection."
I don't think it's possible for my expectations to get much higher. I've heard few criticisms, and most run along the lines of this being Zhang's most commercial effort to date (as if that were inherently a bad thing).
Next summer, look for me to post this same message verbatim, except for subtituting "Zhang's" with "Nolan's"
And you know, 10 years from now and after I've actually seen more of his acclaimed films, Zhang has a good shot at making my list of '10 greatest directors of all time.' Just look at his track record so far, going all the way back to 1990.
I certainly hope you get a chance to check out his work - you can get most of his stuff on DVD, but oddly not his most acclaimed early films (as you know).
These thoughts may also get you quite excited.