"House of Flying Daggers" follows "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero" in the peculiar genre of ponderous and excruciatingly precious, but beautifully filmed, Chinese wuxia movies produced for Western consumption. In the theater I was in, people were lavishly praising the film after it ended, despite the fact that many of the same people had burst out laughing at what was intended to be the most moving and tragic part of the film. Perhaps the current interest in China and the novelty of Chinese film, coupled with the lush, saturated colors and exotic whiny music, overwhelms many Western viewers, who are distracted from the absence of plot and the ludicrous miscasting of Andy Lau. One hopes that as the novelty wears off, Western audiences will be more receptive to the many truly excellent Chinese films, such as the work of Gong Li, Tony Leung, Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, and others.
Review of House of Flying Daggers
