This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
ok look.
you get:
insane fight choreo,
michelle fucking yeoh,
sophisticated blocking,
freaky weapon paraphernalia,
but most gosh darn importantly,
you get an ascending pirouette. sword in hand. cmon.
as one of the wise benson boone predecessors once said:
my favorite thing about the movie is like it feels like a movie.
that about sums it up.
it allows itself to behave like a movie and does it WELL.
ridiculous.
awesome.
no punches pulled literally and cinematically.
gff 2025 #4
…
each frame — a pleasant painting.
yup, pleasant is the word and so is entrancing. maybe hypnotic even.
it is commanding in its stillness and in its environmental scenery. would luv to know what the location scouting process for this looked like.
there’s a profound understanding of color theory here, and it interplays extremely well with the diasporic themes.
the sound design is wonderfully meticulous,
and soul-touching in a way that i can’t really explain, nor do i want to.
spoke to the writer-director afterwards and she mentioned harmony. that too is the word.
hanami, i believe, is what a poem looks like.
gff 2025 #7
…
okej jag ljög — när jag fick en fin sista-minuten-rekommendation (tack nona), fick det bli en till sista sista festivalfilm. blev såld när jag fick reda på att det här är samma kompositör som i in the mood for love.
det är dock mycket mer än den behärskat placerade musiken som får föra filmens talan. landskap, texturerat filmfoto, skådespel, dynamiker karaktärerna sinsemellan etc.
kanske i och med att den hämtat inspiration från verkliga berättelser, var det…
