Hero (2002)

A visually stunning film filled with colour and grace that was unfairly compared to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) upon release. Both films are about honour and sacrifice, but beyond that they're very different.
While Hero is technically a part of the martial arts genre, there's much more to it than mere spectacle. The feelings and motivations that fuel the fighting are of more importance, so if you choose to ignore that side of it, then you'll be getting less than half of the full story.
It gathered together some of the best actors in China, all of whom gave subtly different performances for each of the interconnected stories.
Composer Tan Dun's score is as beautiful as Yimou's imagery.

5 flickering flames out of 5

Cause: The Birth of Hero (2002)

A documentary by Gan Lu about the making of Zhang Yimou’s Hero (2002) that’s almost twice as long as the film it documents. It’s a tedious, amateur film with no thought put into construction or presentation. The audio drops in and out frequently and the organisation is appallingly bad. It fails to capture the essence of its subject. It feels instead like a cheaply made wedding video, replete with wind noise and half-assed framing. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch it more than once.

1 wrap party out of 5