Shadow (2018)

Shadow (2018)
Original Title: 影
Translation: Shadow

Starring: Deng Chao, Betty Sun, Ryan Zheng, Guan Xiaotong, Hu Jun, Wang Qianyuan
Director: Zhang Yimou
Action Director: Ku Huen-Chiu (credited as "Dee Dee")

Shadow marks acclaimed director Zhang Yimou's fifth action-oriented film, and fourth wuxia film (should you consider Curse of the Golden Flower to be one). Once more, the man has proved himself to be a powerful visual storyteller, a master of deliberate pacing, and a great filmmaker in general. While those who crave action that pushes the actors' physical skills to their limits may be left cold with this one, there's no denying Zhang's endless imagination for both visual tics and doing different things with action than your average sword hacking and spear poking. While not my favorite of his wuxia films, it's still a piece of art and should be appreciated by most fans of the genre.

The movie begins by telling us that in Ancient China, court intrigue and frequent assassinations made it necessary for important officials to use surrogates and body doubles, known as Shadows. Their lives were expendable and for the most part, are completely forgotten by history. Our story, set in the Three Kingdoms era  (I think, according to the end credits) tell the story of the Commander (Deng Chao, who played Andy Lau's eunuch partner in Detective dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame), who has arrived at the palace of the King of Pei to inform his highness that the city of Jing, located in Pei territory but occupied by enemy forces, is to be fought over in a gentleman's duel between the Commander and Yang (Hu Jun, of Bodyguards and Assassins). If the Commander wins, the opposing forces will withdraw from the city. The problem is two-fold: first, the Commander lost a duel to Yang a year before, and still hasn't completely recovered from the wound he sustained. Second, the King of Pei (Ryan Zheng), isn't too thrilled with his Commander's decision. The kingdom isn't particularly strong at the moment, and the uneasy alliance with the neighbors is the only thing keeping Pei from getting trounced. So he has the Commander demoted and reduced to commoner status.

What the King of Pei doesn't know is that the Commander is actually a shadow. The real Commander was indeed injured in battle, but not only hasn't recovered from his wounds, but has gotten progressively worse. So he hides in a cave-like cell accessible from a hidden passage in his quarters, where he bides his time and directs his Shadow as needed. Things quickly grow complicated for the kingdom, with the shadow determined to fight the duel with General Yang, despite lacking the martial prowess to win; an insulting marriage proposal made to the King's sister from Yang's son; and the Machiavellian schemes of the Commander, still hiding in the shadows. Blood will be spilt, and very quickly.

First off, the film is as beautiful to look at as any of Zhang Yimou's other movies. In contrast to Hero's vibrant reds, blues and white; House of Flying Dagger's greens; Curse of the Golden Flower's golds; and The Great Wall's color-coded armor, Shadow goes with black, white, and grey. The entire movie is set in overcast and rainy weather, which actually is a plot point and not just an aesthetic choice. Palace decorations, robes, armor, and everything else is black, white and grey. And yet it never tires the eye or seems drab and ugly, thanks to the men in charge of lighting (Zhao Xianzhang) and cinematography (Zhao Xiaoding). Moreover, he doesn't go for that stark, washed-out look in which *everything* looks like it's in black and white, which can get old and boring quick if not used in the right film. You can see the color in the actors' faces, and when they bleed, it's as red as it *should* be; it's just their surroundings that stick to the color scheme.

The acting is fine, avoiding the usual pitfalls of people being so stoic that there's no way to relate to them, or so full of treachery that it's hard to root for anyone. For the most part, Zheng Dao's Jing is a compelling character, a man raised with no purpose other than to impersonate someone else and have no real identity. His only wish is to see his mother again, whom he hasn't seen in decades since he was plucked from his hometown for training. Betty Sun's performance is subdued, as in keeping with the character of most married women of the period, but she still projects both pity for Jing, devotion to her real husband, and a growing passion that she (guitily) feels for Jing. The Commander, also played by Zheng Dao, is the real power behind the kingdom of Pei, realizes it, and the months in isolation have allowed those feelings (and his wounds) to fester into madness. The King comes across as being weak for most of the film, not too much unlike the Emperor in The Assassins and The Lost Bladesman.

Speaking of blades, the action here is quite different, although not quite as compelling as I'd hope it was. I think House of Flying Daggers  had the best action for a Zhang Yimou film, with Hero coming in second place. It was solid in Curse of the Golden Flower, but took a backseat to court intrigue. The Great Wall was more about spectacle than actual choreography. This one seems to be somewhere in between Curse and Great Wall. Most of the fighting in the first two acts are brief training duels. The point of interest here is that the signature weapon is the Pei kingdom is the umbrella. That strikes me as being an odd touch, especially in those early scenes where they train with paper umbrellas. But then you get to the big action sequence in the third act, and the paper umbrellas are replaced with umbrellas made of flexible blades. There's a great image, similar to one in New Legend of Shaolin (1994), in which the forces of Pei slide across the watery streets of Jing, sitting in one bladed umbrella while using a second one as a shield. The umbrella becomes a symbol of both water and soft styles, in comparison to the hard style of the Yang's signature weapon: the Kwan Do.

Ku Huen-Chiu, best known for 14 Blades (2010) and The Four trilogy, does the action direction here. The choreography isn't particularly complex, which is a shame. One-on-one duels are over almost as quickly as a typical samurai duel, in few, economical movements. What I liked about this is the idea of bringing back the philosophy of countering hard with soft. While the umbrella is a soft weapon, the people of Pei insist on using it as a hard one. Therefore, they can never fight past the Yang's kwan do skills. It is through Betty Sun's character that they apply a more feminine apprach to their movements that they can best their enemies. While the idea of hard defeated by soft is common in any film that deals with tai chi, the effectiveness of feminine movements is interesting and reminiscent of classics like Clan of the White Lotus and Daggers 8. I just wish more, choreography-wise, was done with that idea.  

I loved the visuals, liked the story and the characters, and thought that the action was pretty good. It's enough to make me consider Shadow (2018) to be a minor classic and hope that Zhang Yimou continues making wuxia films in the future. It may not have been his original genre as a director, but he's proven to be rather adept at it and can turn anything he touches into a visual masterpiece, at the very least.