Shadow (2018) is an interesting movie. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of cultural context that makes perfect sense from a Chinese perspective that I'm missing for it all but it's an absolutely gorgeous film that effectively uses its black-and-white ink-and-paper influenced aesthetic. It looks like brush strokes in real life, especially with the flowing clothing and hair. The story can be a bit of a slog in the beginning, and there's a lot to get through, but it's worth it for the battle scenes that start when we finally get to the duel they have been talking about for the entire movie. The choreography and clever use of weaponized umbrellas (it makes sense in context) is a wonder to watch.
The themes of duality and harmony are obvious and front & center in it, with the most blatant stuff being the color scheme, the main character living two lives, the tai chi symbols repeating often, and the masculine/feminine fighting styles coming into play being the klaxon blaring style of obvious. I think this is the kind of movie that requires another watch to really take it all in. Don't expect a martial arts extravaganza but more of a political drama with palace intrigue with a very cool martial arts set piece.
Don't watch Edtv (1999). It's not good and it's so very dated. I watched it 20 years ago in the theater and time has not been good to it. It hammers its point in over and over clumsily and without adding anything new to the discourse. I don't know why I felt like watching this one again but I regret it.
The themes of duality and harmony are obvious and front & center in it, with the most blatant stuff being the color scheme, the main character living two lives, the tai chi symbols repeating often, and the masculine/feminine fighting styles coming into play being the klaxon blaring style of obvious. I think this is the kind of movie that requires another watch to really take it all in. Don't expect a martial arts extravaganza but more of a political drama with palace intrigue with a very cool martial arts set piece.
Don't watch Edtv (1999). It's not good and it's so very dated. I watched it 20 years ago in the theater and time has not been good to it. It hammers its point in over and over clumsily and without adding anything new to the discourse. I don't know why I felt like watching this one again but I regret it.