Shadow

Shadow is one of if not my favorite movies of all time. I have watched this either 4 or 5 times now and it never disappoints me. Every time it just reaffirms why I love this film and why I think it’s the masterpiece it is. I know why people don’t like this movie as much as I do, or why people like Zhang Yimou’s other works more. But I think if you can handle slow buildup to a very effective conclusion, then, you’ll like this film. The first thing that should be talked about is the best thing about Shadow; the look of the film. Even though I think this movie is almost perfect, just taking a look at the direction and cinematography that they went for is amazing. They were going for an ink-wash painting look, so it’s not black and white. It leads to some amazing cinematography that highlights the set design or moments of battle where the blood is contrasted against the overall look. It’s just an amazingly unique-looking film with excellent direction. The next thing is the plot. Where to begin on the plot? This is why I think people won’t like this movie as much as the director’s other works. As much as the action is amazing (which I’ll get to), the plot is the real focus of this movie. If you are expecting a martial arts movie with crazy action scenes every 20 minutes, you’ll not enjoy this movie. The build-up is slow and tense. There are a lot of characters at play, all with different motivations, and goals, and all trying to outwit each other. It’s rewarding watching it all play out, following along, and understanding why the characters are acting the way they are. But it’s slow and a lot of talking. Even so, you have to pay attention to the character’s emotions, otherwise, you’ll be confused as to some of the things they say. For example the first scene in the movie. It opens with around a 15-minute scene of the Commander and the King. It’s fascinating cause there is tension between the two characters, especially when they bring out two instruments called the zither. You are questioning why the Commander is refusing to play. It should be no problem for him to play something since he and his wife play all the time. Only afterward it’s revealed that the Commander was actually a fake, a shadow if you will. With that new information, you look back at the previous scene with a whole new context. It also makes a rewatch of the movie very worthwhile. You begin to understand why the previous scene was so tense. The King was trying to deduce the intentions of Jing, the shadow, and to find out who he really was. Jing is trying to keep his identity a secret and to continue playing the role of Commander. It’s so fascinating as movies don’t typically build up suspense in this way. You realize that the scene you watched before was this super intense scene that you didn’t even realize, or at the very least didn’t know why. This is just one scene, but a great example of how well this movie handles its plot. There are plenty of more scenes like this that can be analyzed, talked about, and more. But the point is that this movie is incredibly well written, and if you like political intrigue in your movies, then this is some of the best you can get. Now for the 0 percent of people who are still reading this, the main reason why you probably watched this movie is because of the action. Although there is barely any action through the first half of the film, there is a lot in the second as all the setup gets paid off. Firstly, who could have ever thought an umbrella could be one of the coolest weapons ever?!? Second, the scene where they are going down the steps in the umbrellas is one of the coolest and most rewarding action scenes. It feels like that for most of the action scenes. You see Jing train for an upcoming duel he has a very slim chance of winning. So when the duel comes up and delivers on the action, it makes all that came before very rewarding. Characters, if you can guess, are all great too. Tying back to the plot, almost all the characters have some goal they are trying to achieve. The Commander wants to take back a city and become king. The King wants to maintain peace. Jing wants to be free and see his mom again. Madam has a conflicting loyalty to the Commander and Jing. The Princess doesn’t want to be married off as a concubine. The one that surprised me the most was the enemy commander General Yang. For all these characters you would expect someone like him to be a one-note antagonist so we can continue with other more important characters. But no, even General Yang has character depth and goals. He wants to continue having control of the city. But he is also a caring and honorable person that you can’t hate. All the characters have such astounding depth that’s so difficult to do in such a short period of time. But this movie pulls it off excellently.  The soundtrack, music, and sound design of this film are incredible as well. As someone who can’t necessarily describe music and sounds well, let me just say how amazingly it fits in with the movie. Sometimes it feels like it’s paying homage to old samurai movies with the blood squirt sound effect. Really, it’s something you just have to experience with this movie. This was more like an essay than a review, for the negative percentage of people still reading, but it shows just how much I love this film. There are things I could go into more detail about. I didn’t even talk about the themes, acting, or romance which are both done very well of course. This is just a movie that absolutely should be experienced and watched. Finding movies like this is the reason why I watch movies. The hidden gems you can fall in love with, even if other people don’t agree to the same extent. You will know you have your special movie.