Wang de Shengyan

First of, since 'The City of Life and Death' and 'Kekexili' I have become a fan of mainland China director Lu Chuan. I did not know about this film but somehow, through indirect references, I found out about it and decided to purchase a DVD to see it.

And a good thing I have a DVD, for I needed to watch it more than once to truly grasp the gist of the film. The story line is based on a piece of history in the period of around 200 BC, toward the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is a story of allies turned mortal enemies, trust, mistrust, and the deadly outcome when a woman, here a queen, got involved in the King's decisions.

There are no epic battles and brutal action here, although there are a couple of scenes of torture and execution. The plot and pace are both slow. So I can see why many people will not like it. But if you have the patience, this is a visually impressive film that told a complex story. DVD is the best medium as you can pause, backtrack or watch it for a 2nd or 3rd time to fully understand the plot.

Wanted to just "play it in the background" while I work at night after my kids sleep. I stopped work halfway and became immersed into the movie.

It's a similar story as told by historians, but from a way different perspective.

Impactful, grossly underrated, and made me think about the entire movie again the next day.

Don't believe the low rating here, just watch it.

The movie is beautifully shot and is drastically different to the many iterations about this classic eternal tale. The shots are crude, gritty and dirty. You can almost say it's akin to the spaghetti take on western with the catch that there is no action here whatsoever and the entire movie is about a delirious dying rascal who found himself an emperor because of chance (arguably luck ? His ability to endure and survive ?) and a wife that is trying her best to survive the currents after she finally became an empress but having to resort to cruelty (and the historical records spare no time telling of this).

There are some great shots that left me staggering like when the empress' shadow looms and covers prime minister Xiao, then there are some cheap CGI that are just outta the place, but when taken with the fact that Liu Bang is on his deathbed and delirious does do the job.

There is a general lack of ambition that I respect. It almost feels like the movie concedes that the emperor and his ministers are just a punch of rascals from a small county who lucked out, but again the scenery is just amazing for what it shows.

You can watch this after you do King' War tv series to have a conclusion. It does it better than the show. Qin Lan plays Liu Bang's wife Lady Lu in there as well.

I actually wonder if there are similarly shot movies now...

Obvious, it is a beautiful film. For admirable cinematography, for the great political lessons, for atmosphere, for the wise way to remind old, fundamental truths. So, just delightful, for a sort of grace of storytelling, for profound moral, for the portrait of conquest of power and its not real reasonable price, for the manner to write history . And for the truths behind apparences.

In fact, the atmosphere and the beauty of scene may be the best among films about this topic. The first emperor of Han Dynasty Liu Bang and his wife told us a golden rule in politic: kill your politic ennemy as soon as possible if you could. Another from Xiang Yu: Never overestimate morality.