So let me tell you about something. Once in a while, as a creative individual, you come across something that, some way or another, alters your perceptions, makes you reevaluate the way you think about a medium, or just plain blows your mind with its beauty. Tonight I saw a film that succeeded in amazing me like no film has ever been able to do.
Hero has got to be the single most beautiful film I have ever seen. Period. I’ve never seen anything with cinematography that approaches what is seen in it. To that end, Christopher Doyle is the single most skilled and perceptive D.P. I have yet been exposed to. And I have a feeling that position will hold up for some time, as I don’t see how visuals like those in Hero could be surpassed without doing something truly remarkable.
Every shot in the film is exquisite. Well calculated and perfectly executed. The dialogue was well written and delivered. The direction was wonderful. All in all, I must say I only have one gripe about it. And what was that one gripe? I’m glad you asked…
Physics. Or rather, the lack thereof, as delivered in an annoying post-Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon kind of way. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the effect, per se, and applied properly it can be very very effective. However, it is now all too often mis-applied. It worked for the Matrix. You know why? It worked for the Matrix for two reasons, as I see it. First off, it was brand fucking new and it all blew our minds. We’d never seen anything like it, and it just added another dimension to what is still the only mainstream cyberpunk film outside of Blade Runner, which I still wouldn’t call mainstream. Anyhow, the second reason that it worked was that it fit in with the subject matter. Matrix was cyberpunk, and as such it falls in with a functionalist perspective and the illusion theory as described by philosopher Nick Bostrom. And so, if we are following the rest of the film well enough, it’s not much of a stretch to accept that the laws of physics can be bent into unconventional/unexpected forms. It just goes along with the whole mood, etc of the film.
With Hero, though, it just didn’t fit. Here we have a film set at the beginning of the very beginning of the Qin Dynasty, about two thousand years ago for those of you keeping track. The scenery is stunning. The palace is breathtaking. Every last detail speaks in beautiful and precise tones about that time. It is nearly perfect in its portrayal of the setting, etc. Given this, having characters flying through the air, standing on the perpendicular, etc just doesn’t fit. It doesn’t work. The effect is extremely well executed – perhaps better than in the film where it originated. But no matter how well it was done, the fact remains that it was distracting.
I will grant you that there were a few scenes where it may have enhanced things. The one that comes to mind was a fight scene that took place in a grove amidst proliferating autumn leaves that rained down continuously. But even then, the effect seemed incongruous. And for the film as a whole, it just stuck out as an element that I never got comfortable with. I don’t believe it detracted from the film so much as limited it. It didn’t take away from the film so much as it prevented it from beign something even more amazing. It wasn’t necessary. I feel like had they done without the effect and let Chris Doyle’s camera work expand to accomplish the same things, it would have been even better. The fight scenes could have taken even greater advantage of the great nature of the martial arts and they could have stood out by virtue of the fights alone. They didn’t need “enhancement” and I think they would have been better without them.
One might argue that it was critical for the inclusion of Nameless’ “special technique” or whatever you want to call it, but I say realistic (but still spectacular) exploitation of the marial arts and the film concept could have more than made up for any descrepancy that might have come about through the elimination of this technique in the production of the film.
And as a final note, I have a number of new favorite actors tonight. The cast of Hero is truly top-notch. Tonly Leung (Broken Sword) and Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk (Flying Snow) in particular are the shit. Zhang Ziyi, though more of a minor character, also did an excellent job. She’s also just plain adorable to look at. And Jet Li? Well, it’s Jet Li.
Time to end this and post it lest it get too drawn out. Possibly another post coming later tonight after I get some work done on a new side project.
