Shadow (2018)

A written intro tells of how two Kingdoms, Pei and Yang, joined forces to defeat a powerful third, and peacetime followed. But for some in the Kingdom of Pei the loss of their beloved Jing City is too much to bear - one such warrior orchestrates an elaborate plan from his cave to reclaim the lost territory.
It’s as beautiful as Dir. Yimou's previous period films, but in Shadow he paints with tones of grey, inspired by ancient Chinese ink art, with colour reserved mostly for skin tones and blood. The latter respects the cinematographer's dedication, too; it’s suitably red but mercifully not Hollywood super-red.
Establishing the political standings and cowardly and/or resentful attitudes of the main players makes much of the first two acts feel needlessly drawn-out, but the Shakespearean drama in the closing third helps to balance it out.

3 feminine moves out of 5

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

It was marketed as a wuxia film in the style of Yimou's Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004), but that was a lie. Okay, there is some martial arts action, but Flower has more in common with a plodding soap opera. It looks expensive but it's terminally boring. Truly, all that glitters is not gold.
Personally I found the colour palette of Hero to be beautiful in its simplicity, with Flower being the direct opposite. And while details in costumes and sets are gorgeous, they're overwhelmed by gaudy golden hues.
If the plotting was up to snuff it would compensate, but it fails there too. Chow certainly looks the part as a moody Emperor, as does Gong Li as his bored housewife Empress, but the drama between them is flat, barren and uninteresting. When something eventful happens it feels hollow. The only memorable character was the Imperial Doctor's wife (played by Chen Jin).

2 threaded chrysanthemums out of 5

THE GREAT WALL [2016]

Director Zhang Yimou stinks up the screen with the Chinese fantasy war epic The Great Wall.
Placed around the 1000's AD in China, All-American good ol' boy Matt Damon saves The Great Wall from an army of vicious creatures, all while checking every box with the usual clichés familiar to this type of film.
There's plenty of gorgeous visuals and creative battle techniques but none of that matters when every single character are soulless dummies.  In the end, it really feels like a whole movie based around the Helm's Deep battle in The Lord of the Rings only without a single character to give a rat's ass about.  In the past 10 years or so, it seems Yimou has had more stinkers than winners, so perhaps he needs to rethink his approach to film-making or just call it a day.

1 meal on a bungee cord out of 5

Chacun son Cinéma (2007)

(Eng: To Each His Own Cinema)

An anthology that contains over thirty short films by as many different directors, commissioned to celebrate six decades of the Cannes Film Festival. Each work is approximately three minutes in length and was supposed to represent the director's "state of mind [...] as inspired by the motion picture theatre." As usual with this kind of thing, I'll put the full list in comments.
My 'Admit One' was for Kitano and Cronenberg, neither of which were essential. The ones that moved me most were Alejandro Iñárritu's 'Anna' and Abbas Kiarostami's 'Where Is My Romeo?', both of which had more emotion than the others combined. Also, I really liked Chen Kaige's 'Zhanxiou Village'.
A lot of them take place inside a theatre with crucial scenes from actual films being projected onscreen, so expect some spoilers.

3 light shows out of 5

Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

Zhang Yimou's controversial adaptation of Tóng Zhōngguì's novel is the story of a concubine's daily trials in 1920s China. Her position means she must share her needs with a number of other women, most of whom are hungry for the master's attention and the benefits it brings. The treatment of the women is justified by tradition even when it's clearly immoral and outdated.
The film is pure art. Every shot, particularly the external locations, aren't just eye candy, they're imbued with a real sense of history and a richness of character. It helps that Chinese period architecture is so beautiful, but it takes someone like Yimou to translate the hidden depths to the screen.
Gong Li plays nineteen-year-old Songlian, the lead role, and delivers the best performance I've ever seen her give.

4 power struggles out of 5

House of Flying Daggers (2004)

HoFD excites because it has Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro acting side by side, but repeated viewings reveal a film that’s less than it seems. When it ceases trying to seduce your eyes with colour, splendour and physics bending CGI weaponry it remembers that your heart also needs to be moved, and it’s there that it comes up short. It’s primarily a love story, but the romance that’s supposed to tie the threads together lacks spark and is only really believable in a short scene near the end. It's still an enjoyable film, but it could have been so much more.
Zhang Ziyi is convincing as a blind girl; it’s not often I get to praise her.

3 bamboo ninjas out of 5

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