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April 23, 2006

Wu ji (The Promise)

David Jeffers

Sunday, April 23, 7:00pm The Seven Gables
Opens Friday, May 5

"Every man you ever love, you will lose."

A starving girl makes a promise to the mystical Goddess Manshen (Hong Chen) giving up true love and happiness for a life of wealth and power. Years later, as the beautiful Princess Qingcheng (Cecilia Cheung) she finds herself in love with the Master of the Crimson Armor, General Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada) who she thinks has saved her life. It is in fact the slave Kunlun (Dong-Kun Jang) who committed the act while wearing the armor and golden mask. Director/screenwriter Chen Kaige uses lurid, contrasting color to create this highly stylized fantasy adventure. The Promise does have shockingly beautiful moments but offers nothing new to the genre and commits every CGI faux-pas possible from rubber-stamping immense battle scenes to creating all manner of airborne flotsam constantly filling the screen. A vivid world of ghostly apparitions and a breathtaking final scene can do little to justify the overall quality of the film.

Afterthoughts ...

Chen Kaige was on hand for the post-show Q & A with Helen Loveridge. There were actually a few good questions this time:
Is the film a comment on contemporary China?
"I don’t want the film to be seen as an allegory."
What is the theme of this story?
"You will always have the freedom to change and improve your destiny."
Is there any use of traditional folklore in the story?
"The running man is from a Chinese myth."
Does the use of color have any particular significance?
"Red is passion."
" The black cloak is protection from death."
" I see snow land as the good world. Snow can cover something ugly."
"We open our eyes like a baby to see this very colorful world."
What does the Chinese title mean?
"It is Taoist, the beginning of the World."

Posted by David Jeffers at April 23, 2006 11:21 PM
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