Word: whats
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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The opening moments of The Emperor and the Assassin are breathtaking for their bravado and finesse: Ying Zheng, the soon-to-be emperor of China, overtakes a fleeing enemy army on horseback, one soldier at a time. Leaping onto a fresher horse in mid-gallop and disposing of its hapless...
Certainly, there is great potential here for a genuinely moving epic: Lady Zhao, caught between two powerful men, must choose between loyalty and justice, old love and new love; Ying Zhang and Jing Ke must decide between ambition and conscience. But though all the right ingredients are assembled, the equation...
The rest is a mess of slow-paced courtly intrigue and gory battle scenes, albeit gorgeously shot. Not even the radiant Gong Li, who too often proves the saving grace in other overly-serious cinematic efforts, is unable to rescue the titanic The Emperor and The Assassin from sinking under...
In their pursuit of the truth, the films Morris has produced over the years do not feel bound to a traditional documentary notion of validity of sources. Once his interviews are completed, he works with sets, storyboards, and the rest of the production elements associated with feature filmmaking. Nevertheless, the...
This approach, of using the interview itself in the way that most directors use a screenplay, may be the key to what sets Morris' films apart from others, fiction and non-fiction. He effectively combines the elements of reality of documentary film with the studio shots, props, and visual artistry...