The Banquet [Part 2 of My Chinese Film Fest]

Rating: 4 of 5
Directed by Feng Xiaogang
Starring
    * Zhang Ziyi as the Empress Wan (a modified "Gertrude")
    * Ge You as the Emperor Li ("Claudius")
    * Daniel Wu as Prince Wu Luan ("Hamlet")
    * Zhou Xun as Qing Nu ("Ophelia")
    * Ma Jingwu as the Grand Marshal ("Polonius")
    * Huang Xiaoming as the Grand Marshal’s son ("Laertes")
–from wikipedia.org
Viewed on DVD

For its elegance, The Banquet gets a four-star rating. Loosely based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it tells the story of suspicion, conspiracies, revenge and a tragic love…er… square between a recently widowed Empress Wan [Zhang Ziyi], her power hungry brother-in-law Emperor Li [Ge You], her stepson and former flame Wu Luan [Daniel Wu] – the rightful heir to the throne, and Wu Luan’s betrothed Qing nu [Zhou Xun].

It
has a very intriguing presentation and I found it to be very carefully
paced – much like its source material (or at least the American film
version I saw, which starred Mel Gibson). The story takes time to
unravel itself and may seem to lumber at times – with camera movements
seemingly taking a leisurely pace – but that only serves to let the
drama sink in and take root in the consciousness of the viewer.

For
its aesthetics, The Banquet gets a four-star rating. As always, I fall
in love with these Chinese period films for their artistic profusion –
elaborate costumes, stunning cinematography, exuberant action
choreography, and gorgeous and talented cast members are the elements
that made this film attractive to me.

I enjoyed watching Zhang
Ziyi’s numerous costumes as much as I was entertained by Daniel Wu’s
action scenes – both exuded elegance. I loved the locales and sets used
in the movie, from Wu Luan’s lush forest hideout to the intricacies of
the royal palace. They were stunning. Beauty and artistry was never in
short supply here.

For its story, The Banquet gets a four-star
rating. And it’s here where the film falls short of getting a five from
me. The story is actually good and is told well. However, I felt it
could have been presented much better than it was – or perhaps I was
just looking for something more. I guess I wanted more intrigue, twists
and dramatic flair in the story. I felt the film was lacking in these
areas.

However, it was engaging trying to figure out what
Emperor Li was really all about, just as it was intriguing to see where
the multi-angled love story would go. I loved watching the character
dynamics between Empress Wan, the brother-in-law and Wu Luan, and how
each connection with affect the other players in the story.

The
Banquet will be on my list of favorite Chinese epic films, which
includes Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying
Daggers [review to come soon]. As for this movie being another Zhang
Ziyi starrer, all I can say is this lady is on a winning streak!

Hero [Part 1 of My Chinese Film Fest]

Easter 2007 Cantata

How Great Is Our God
2007 Easter Cantata
featuring the New Life Sounds ChoirMarch 31, 2007 - Saturday

Matinee @ 4 p.m.

Gala @ 730 p.m.

SM Cebu Cinema 1

You are invited

Admission is free

300

Rating: 5 out of 5

Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring:
Gerard Butler as King Leonidas: King of the Spartans
Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo: Leonidas’ wife
David Wenham as Dilios: Narrator
Dominic West as Theron: A conniving Spartan politician
Michael Fassbender as Stelios: Young & spirited Spartan soldier
Vincent Regan as Captain Artemis: Leonidas’ loyal captain & friend
Rodrigo Santoro as King Xerxes: King of the Persians.
[from Wikipedia.org]
Viewed on the big screen

A graphic movie based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, 300 tells the story of the brave Spartan soldiers, led by their courageous warrior king Leonidas, who held back the invading forces of the Persian god king, Xerxes.

I know little of the source material other than the fact that the name Leonidas, his 300 soldiers and the battle of Thermopylae has made the rounds in discussions about military tactics. The brilliance of their battle plan – funneling the multitudinous Persian warriors into a strategic location that gave them advantage over the numbers of their enemy – has amazed historians and military tacticians alike. I’m sure it has also amazed the graphic novel readers and the viewers of the movie – me included.

The film started out really well with a brief account on the process of "creating" a Spartan warrior – teaching a young boy how to fight for his life, toughening him up by throwing him out in the wilderness to fend for himself and learn survival skills first hand. The opening sequence captivated my attention from the appearance of its blood-spatter-ish title – which represents the bloody nature of the movie – to the appearance of the Spartan king, Leonidas [Gerard Butler]. At this point in the film, I got the sense that it was going to be an engaging tale based on the quality of the prologue.

300 succeeds as a film because it is so multi-layered and has so many nuggets of wisdom strewn here and there [if you're astute enough to find them] and it becomes not only an entertaining piece of silver screen pastime but also an enriching epic narrative. Of course, kudos has to go first to Frank Miller, who wrote the source material, then to Zack Snyder for his brilliant vision and direction of the film and finally to the scriptwriters who did an excellent job translating the novel into film. They had a very solid script and they told the story well.

I like the cinematography in this film – remarkable stuff. The close-ups of the warriors’ faces, the wide shots of the [digitally created] scenery and certain camera panning were exceptional and made the movie even more fascinating.

I also like the casting of Gerard Butler as King Leonidas – I think his performance gave depth to the character and the film. His improvement as an actor is evident here and I foresee more roles coming his way because of this performance. It’s about time he stood out!

Just about everything else in 300 impresses – the visual effects; the production design; the costumes and sets; the script and how it was interpreted on-screen; the actors’ performances; the action sequences – everything!

This is the second film I’ve seen on the big screen this year and I wasn’t disappointed by it. I’m willing to bet that this will end up on my top 10 films of 2007 for its solid storytelling and undeniable entertainment value. Movies like these should be made more often.