Gong Bell

from the maker of red sorghum, ju dou, and raise the red lantern. i have impossibly high expectations. any film of his is an event. not always a happy one. after the impossibly shallow the forest of the flying daggers, i was in near tears wondering why oh why he was jumping on the crouching tiger hidden dragon bandwagon. Many have noted that his recent efforts seem to eschew the kind of scathing social criticism that got him fashionably in trouble with the chinese authorities and made him the darling of western critics. many say that his latest movie, is just the latest example of his recent trend: the triumph of style over substance. his decision to shoot the official 10-minute promotional film for the Beijing 2008 olympics bid was just further proof, for some, that the master has been lobotomized in some way. (afterall wasn't leni riefenstahl forever associated with Olympia 1938).

well? bollocks to all that. I LOVED IT.