Word: kaneshiro
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...quickly as possible to the fightin' and the lovin' of Daggers. The new film is all that it was designed to be: superbly crafted eye candy starring Zhang Ziyi and a pair of hot male stars: Hong Kong pop idol Andy Lau and Taiwan-Japanese pinup boy Takeshi Kaneshiro. Zhang Yimou's former fans may decry a lack of depth, but Daggers ultimately hits its mark...
...Narrative has never been Zhang's strong suit, and Daggers' plot meanders like the Yellow River. Kaneshiro and Lau play police officers for a corrupt imperial government and are charged with eliminating a mysterious rebel group called the House of Flying Daggers, which derives its name from its members' knuckleball-like throwing knives, which dance and weave toward their targets. The pair concoct an elaborate plan to use a blind bar girl (Zhang Ziyi) as rebel bait, and Zhang, a trained ballerina, shows off her skills in a dance sequence that turns into an elegant, then vicious, duel...
...With such glorious motion sequences, the plot hardly seems to matter, particularly when you're watching two actors as physically uninhibited as Kaneshiro and Zhang run, fight, run some more, fight, fight again, and finally roll around in the wildflowers making sweet, uninhibited Tang-dynasty love. There is a hint of the divided and redivided loyalties that drove the heroes of Hero, but in Daggers the heart overthrows all. This is the kind of movie where a postcoital Zhang whispers to her lover?who's still technically on the other side of their nearly forgotten war?"If we meet again...
...also perfumed by the haunting musk of death, but it's a jauntier piece, shot in luscious autumnal colors and with fabulous stunts supervised by Hong Kong-based action guru Ching Siu-tung. This time, renegade killer femmes do fantastic battle with 9th century cops (Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) who pursue and fall in love with them. Daggers would be an excellent adventure even without its leading lady. But as the new embodiment of Chinese beauty and resilience, she gives the film a kind of buoyant gravity. Daggers is serious and it soars...
...Still, in Daggers Lau's character plays second fiddle to Zhang Ziyi's blind brothel singer, whose affections he competes for against Kaneshiro in a bitter love triangle riddled with Shakespearean twists and aerial spin kicks. Lau was willing to accept less-than-top billing for a chance to work in a major mainland production?it's his first?with one of Asia's most honored directors. "In Hong Kong the camera is always moving," says Lau. The cinematic trick can distract an audience, providing cover for weak or halfhearted acting. "Zhang Yimou will put the camera...