Mark Reviews Movies: SHADOW

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 9, 2019

The story of Shadow was inspired by history, but through the eyes of director Zhang Yimou, the film plays more like a fable or some half-remembered legend. The characters exist here, not as fully formed people, but as archetypes, prone to melodramatic flair in word and gesture (Within the film, only a select few are even given names). The story is straightforward in how it moves inexorably toward a great battle for the possession of a walled city of key strategic and political importance. Its complexities, though, are in how almost every single character has a hidden agenda, on which they might be acting the entire time or which they might only realize when pushed by fate or the machinations of others.

It's a broad narrative canvas, and one might expect a similarly broad approach in the story's telling. In terms of the acting and the action, Zhang certainly allows the actors, the stunt players, the fight choreographers, and the designers of the characters' weapons and accoutrements indulge on those instincts. The build-up to the battle features scenes of palace intrigue, in which every statement and motion is played with heightened significance.

A couple playing a pair of zithers pound on the instruments, and their arms almost explode with certain strums. The early, defiant retirement of a military leader is met, not only by the king's outrage, but also by his bow. When the king's arrow lands planted in the ground at the soldier's feet, the intended target snatches it and stabs it into his shoulder. There is a secret passageway, leading to the cavernous home of a mostly unseen and unknown schemer, with long and unkempt hair, who insists that he's working for the benefit of his kingdom. Clearly, he has other things in mind.

Given these details of the plot and the characters, one might have an idea as to how the backdrop of this tale might look. One expects bold and colorful designs, perhaps, or intricate interiors and lush exteriors. Zhang, who is no stranger to such spectacle, completely subverts those expectations.

Here, the story is not provided a lavish backdrop, adorned with vibrant colors and elaborate set decorations. The characters are not dressed in clothes and, later, armor that serve to highlight something about their natures or their passions. In a rather bold creative decision in its own right, Zhang goes in the opposite direction.

This is a world that seems to have been washed of all color. Indeed, the costumes, the sets, the buildings, and even parts of the environment all appear in shades of black, white, and gray. Zhang and cinematographer Zhou Xiaoding did not shoot the film in black and white, though, as one can tell from the actors' skin, the copious amounts of blood that start flowing when the battle commences, and even the browns of bamboo stalks and the dullest of green that emerges from the gray rocks and between the dampening drops of rain, which seems to be a constant in this world.

No, the color palette is achieved entirely by means of design, and the result is both strikingly beautiful and eerily unnatural. It feels, not like reality, but like myth. The look both heightens the melodrama of the scenario, since it emphasizes so much of the actors' faces, and serves as an underlying statement about these characters. They seem to exist in a world of black and white—right and wrong. Within that, though, are shades of gray, as well as the constant intermingling of dark and light.

As for the specifics of the plot, the celebrated commander (played by Deng Chao) of the Pei army has sought a rematch against the overly proud general (played by Hu Jun) of the Yang family after his previous defeat—one that cost the Pei family the walled city of Jing. The king (played by Zheng Kai) of the Pei clan is, in the eyes of many, a fool. He strips the commander of his rank, making him a commoner and leaving the now-former commander free to engage in his duel.

The tricky part is that the commander we first meet is not the man himself. He is a double—a shadow. The real commander (also played by Deng) is living in an adjoining cave, having been wounded and almost magically aged after his fight with the general. The double, named Jing after the city where he was born and from which he stolen by the commander's father, is a means for the real commander to set forth a plot to reclaim the city without the approval or knowledge of the king.

There are other complications (The commander's wife, played by Sun Li, starts to have feelings for the man pretending to be her husband, while a princess, played by Guan Xiaotong, is promised as a concubine as a peace offering, and behind the king's back, a Yang spy is lurking and an entire army of convicts is being trained), which all come together and tear the kingdom apart throughout a complicated denouement. At a certain point, though, one simply has to accept that Zhang and his co-screenwriter Li Wei have created a plot, characters, and an entire world that exist as a promise of unending conflict (The film itself says that even the final shot, which is also the opening one, is simply the beginning of the story).

The film indulges in everything, especially when it comes to the fighting, which is fast and fierce and, at least in terms of its weaponry (The Peis are masters of the umbrella, and yes, you read that correctly), unique. The climactic battle here is a multi-leveled onslaught, featuring a duel between the shadow and the general, as well as the army of convicts infiltrating the city. Bodies fly through the air. Umbrellas spin and shoot out deadly blades, while also serving as sleds for a downhill assault.

It's dynamic and, admittedly, a little silly (All daring things are, when you think about it), but Zhang has prepared us so well for such audacious deeds that only the first quality matters. Shadow is itself a fearless gesture of high emotions and spectacular action, set against a gorgeous lack-of-color palette that only makes us appreciate its boldness all the more.

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