Not just a Martial Arts Movie

This review credits Hero with a stunning use of colors and artistic style. If it wasn't for the use of color, and the film was left in its most "elemental state" it would have not nearly come the distance it has. Although it took 2 years to finally be released to American audiences it has gained awards and an increasing status. The symbols were noted as symbolic, each referencing a different type of mood or story. Red was said to be for imagination, blue for reality, and green for peace. The review also points out the excellent job the film did of showing the strong resemblance between calligraphy and swordsmanship. Even if your not a fan of martial arts movies, this one will be enjoyable.

Hero, visually spectacular but slight on story

This review by Nev Pierce describes the film as being "slightly unsatisfying." He talks about the film being to communist and simply a Chinese take on "whiz-bang" Western cinema. He does recognize that there is some good acting present but believes the story is predictable enough that subtitles aren't needed. I disagree with his stance and think that the choreography and three different story lines adds a great deal of suspense and the color schemes are also simply amazing. Pierce believes that if you liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon then you would defiantly enjoy this film. This gives me the feeling that he is not a fan a Chinese cinema.

Qin Dynasty and the Warring States

I've linked to Historical about the Qin Dynasty and Warring States in China. This is the period which Hero takes place. I linked to wikipedia but because its information is still up for review I also liked to Britannica Encyclopedia (LINK BELOW). The Warring States Period was a time in China's history when the country was divided into six or seven smaller kingdoms all competing for leadership in China. In the Film Hero, there are assassins from these different kingdoms trying to kill the leader of the Qin Dynasty. Historically, it is the Qin Dynasty who unifies China in 221 B.C.

http://search.eb.com.proxy.cc.uic.edu/eb/article-9076139

Director Zhang Yimou

Zhang Yimou was born in Xian, China, in 1950. He attended school there but the Cultural Revolution quickly postponed his schooling. He began to work at a mill, but was very interested in photography and pursued it as a hobby. When he heard of the Beijing Film Academy he quickly applied and was enrolled but later rejected because he was 5 years too old. After writing letters to the Director asking to be let in, he was finally accepted and went on to work as a cinematographer on films such as One and the Eight, Yellow Earth, and The Big Parade. He then went on to become a director with his debut film Red Sorghum.

2001: A Space Odyssey

This article by Robert Poole, which appears in the journal History Today, discusses in detail many aspects of our film 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. Poole goes into detail about the very mixed reactions of many different movie critics and the impact the film had on the audience. He talks about how the movie reflects the space exploration of the time, not in the sense of technology but in the way that the space age was advancing quite rapidly at the time. He also goes into detail about important scenes and cuts in the movie, like the jump cut from Kubrick's opening scene "Dawn of Man" to the main portion of the film. He describes this cut as "the longest cut in all of cinema: millions of years of human evolution in a single frame." Overall, this journal article seems to work very well for our major project.

American Beauty (1999)

American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes, is centered around the suburban life of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) who is going through a mid-life crisis that not only affects him but his family and neighbors as well. He begins fantasizing about one of his daughters high school friends and can't keep his mind off her. His psychotic wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) is too obsessed with her job as a real-estate agent to care about her husband's problems and starts having an affair with one of her own rivals. Lester's daughter Jane, who hates her father, becomes friends with Ricky Fitts, her new and quite strange next door neighbor who starts selling pot to Lester. Ricky's father, Col. Frank Fitts, is a homophobic ex U.S. Marine who abuses Ricky and mistakes one of Ricky's drug transactions to Lester as a sexual act. American Beauty is a very smart and funny look at mid-life crisis', family, and life in the suburbs.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Q3ltyPJJMQ
http://www.dreamworks.com/ab/