During China's Song Dynasty, a mysterious murder occurs at Chancellor Quin Hui's palace after meeting delegates from the neighboring Jin Dynasty. The members become embroiled not just in a murder mystery, but a larger conspiracy concerning the fate of the empire.
精忠报国, La leyenda del río rojo, Rzeka szkarłatu, 滿江紅, 만강홍: 사라진 밀서, Tam Nehir Kırmızısı, Повноводна червона річка, Полноводная красная река, Mãn Giang Hồng, House of Knives, La llegenda del Riu Vermell
Taiwan12+ Cross-Strait Film Exhibition Committee 
Japan Tokyo International Film Festival 
USANR 
China 
Hong KongIIB 
UK15 
Canada14A 
SingaporeNC16 
South Korea15 
France Japan 
Spain16 
Germany16 France 
Austria 
Switzerland Germany Austria Canada China France Germany Hong Kong Japan Singapore South Korea Spain Switzerland Taiwan UK USA 
This is maybe the craziest movie I've ever seen? Like a neverending game of chess.
Action! - Yimou: Vivid Emotions Amongst The Stunning
In the second to last film of our marathon, Yimou transports us back to a time when kings, nobles, and those in between engaged in deadly battles for control. The production design, as to be expected, is pretty exquisite, minimalist but yet stunning. The same goes for the cinematography. The performances are alright.
Unfortunately, a lot of this film is very odd. Starting with that soundtrack with that music playing out of nowhere, honestly not sure what the heck was Yimou thinking about. Did he have one of those boomer moments when Grandpa wants to look cool for the kids? The script is far from engaging with lots of twists, which honestly,…
two competing civilizations -- the useless junk-heap of men covering up their mistakes by making more mistakes, and those few loyalists who are able to cut through the morass of politics and use both their lives and deaths to inscribe eternal inspiration across the people's hearts -- these legendary heroes need their heroics to be remembered, and the task of transmuting action beyond their mortality allows for beauty to blossom as a living tradition instead of being buried in its crib by reactionary egotism. a tattoo that cannot be erased, a blade that cannot be sheathed, a poem that cannot be silenced. the world must become whole again -- "So do not sit by idly, for young men will grow old in regret."
Pretty fun overall - plenty of laughs, endless twists and turns - although I did catch some whiplash in the sudden switch from Coen Brothers-esque comedy to chest-thumping patriotic drama in the last 20 minutes.
In which Yimou disregards his elegant pictoralism in order to break the boundaries of his narrative and montage capabilities. Its a genuine miracle that he can handle the complexities of six(!!) masterfully constructed characters whose motivations are constantly hidden and shifting, its another to set them in this neo-theatrical-filmic hybrid chess board of narcissism, betrayal, and conniving in real time without ever losing thematic clarity or character focus (I mean...the coverage! The performances!) The comedic aspects manage to bleakly paint the pathetic nature of the systemic corruption, which Yimou hysterically places infamous traitor Qin Hui at the center of. The patriotic ending (white western critics...can we talk? Nationalism is not a critical analog, you can't simply call a tool of…
me and the boyz conspire to u̶n̶c̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ c̶o̶m̶m̶i̶t̶ p̶r̶e̶v̶e̶n̶t̶ reveal high treason
A total structural marvel and among the most elaborately plotted films I've ever seen. Pure conspiratorial drama, of course - no different than House of Flying Daggers or Shadow, but it sucks the action out even more than the latter does, so this thing is front-to-back palace intrigue. For me, this is the opposite of dry: Spectacle, once defined by scale, action and movement now becomes the thrill of ever-shifting character interrelationships, secret alliances, betrayals. The action is in the the constantly shifting twists and turns of the films structure itself, which regularly upends and redetermines our expectations. Of course a film is more than just its structure, but this is so throughly considered and impeccably crafted that it necessitates…
When a vital delegate winds up dead at the Prime Minister's sprawling home, a hapless guard is given two hours to figure things out. Or face death.
FULL RIVER RED is a delightful one-long night murder whodunnit that Zhang Yimou cheekily channels through the prism of a slamming door French farce. Everyone is conspiratorially whispering, revealing their secret goals, and hurriedly running from place to place as the bodies pile up. Genuinely funny and filled with way more twists than its gigantic 157-running time can handle. Even the big sweeping patriotic finale can be read whichever way you want, considering it deals with corrupt officials and how the revolutionary spirit will always survive if it is spread through the people.
back half must be confusing if you're not aware of how much of a legend General Yue Fei is to the Chinese (it transcends any sense of politics/nationalism really, he is seen as like a god and his teachings even used against Xi Jinping today as much as Xi Jinping used them for his advantage), but as a whole even disconnected from the culture the whodunnit is brisk, hilarious, and tense. couldn't believe how fast those three hours flew by. can't trust anybody in the main cast and even if you don't Yimou will find a way to surprise you
When did you change?
All the time.
this is all-time pantheon shit
there's a passage Eisenstein wrote about how many different ways you can depict a stabbing cinematically, and yet the extremely common medium -> close up is the only thing i could ever imagine for what Yimou is going for...a reminder that in an age of Disposable Images (not that this isn't fucking gorgeous), film is freed to truly become a culmination of elements rather than failing or suceeding on the basis of any given micro-sequence
the macro-edit is everything in this still-emerging paradigm, and Full River Red's dynamic structure creates something so distinct and rhythmic and exemplary of what only this beautiful medium can acheive!!
may this be the way forward
Pretty disappointed, long ass movie, whole lotta twist, awkward transition music, mid acting.
But still it’s a huge production, gotta shoutout to everyone who worked on this 🫡
張藝謀劇本殺💀
