Shadow - a movie review
Shadow , the latest film by Zhang Yimou, won't appeal to American audiences for the same reasons that the Peking (Beijing) Opera has never found an appreciative American audience, except, of course for the comedy and acrobatics. Jackie Chan who started off in the Peking Opera, took those two aspects of Peking Opera and added American themes and did quite well. The high pitched voices and twangy musical instruments are too alien. I suspect, Mr. Yimou, who is getting older, was very pleased with this film. With it he has created a truly classic Chinese film. I suspect the film will be very successful in China and not just to an audience of thrill seeking, martial arts aficionados, but people who appreciate the ancient opera tradition of China much in the way that a lot of American still appreciate Shakespeare. The long Chinese classic novel The Dream of the Red Chamber tells the story of the Chinese social system much as Shakespeare told us about western society. Shadow is a cinemat...