Word: schamus
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...mythic epic narrative which has as its center a female consciousness," says James Schamus, one of the film's writers and producers. "In all the great epics, from the Iliad on, the protagonists have been masculine, their destinies a masculine destiny. Now a real shift is taking place, in which some collective identities - those created for the whole culture regardless of gender - are female...
Based on part of a Wang Du Lu novel from the 1930s, the script by James Schamus, Wang Huiling and Tsai Kuojung concerns the theft of a sword, the Green Destiny. This is the holy weapon of Li Mubai (Chow), a legendary warrior looking for peace in his later days. He entrusts the sword to Yu Shulien (Yeoh), a gifted martial artist with whom he shares an unspoken love. Then Jen (Zhang), daughter of a political bigwig, arrives, and everything tips off-balance. The wiser, more cautious adults sense Jen's avidity for rare and dangerous toys like the Green...
...Unfortunately, the plot and screenplay detract from the film's artistic merit. James Schamus' screenplay might reflect the language of the Civil War, yet the dialogue is entirely self-important and melodrama destroys any stake the viewer might have in the plot. Lee wishes to establish the North as a human presence, so Roedel reads some found union letters to the camp. Similarly, Lee has Roedel and Chiles talk under the stars to emphasize the characters' brotherhood...
...Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman) to Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm. His characters' failure to achieve an artificial ideal makes the films both comedies of manners and bourgeois tragedies. Especially this one, thanks to a superb script by Lee's frequent collaborator James Schamus. When Janey joins Elena in her kitchen to help with the dishes, the hostess whispers a steely, "Don't touch them!" It is Elena's amusingly fierce marking of her turf; it is also a socially acceptable way for her to bark at her husband's mistress and uncork...