‘Shadow’ ('Ying') is a visually arresting spectacle that tells a version of the Three Kingdoms story, a period of history known as China’s bloodiest. Palace intrigue, corruption and royal indolence are the themes here and to escape these machinations many noblemen employ “shadows” or lookalikes to do the dirty work. The acting performances are consistently good, although it is the film’s stunning black-and-white set design, inspired from inkbrush painting, that steals the show.
The first act is replete with breathtaking imagery, full of poetry and chiaroscuro. The second act features jaw dropping action sequences that use the monochrome palette and incessant rain to great effect. It is in the third and last act that the energy drops and the film begins to be weighed down by melodrama. Even so, the film remains a stunning work of art that deserves to be studied for the ways it balances masculine and feminine, yin and yang, light and dark—ultimately combining the two kingdoms of Pei and Jing into one. A fitter ode to the foundation myth of Beijing and China’s rich fine art tradition would be hard to find.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Language: Chinese Runtime: 1h 56min Year of release: 2018 Streaming Platform: N/A
Hot take is a series in which I offer my first impressions of films from India and around the world.
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