Dragon Town Story
Reviewed by YTSL
Some days, this Hong Kong movie fan is moved to
wonder what would many "art house" film purists think if they learnt that
their precious Hou Hsiao-Hsien (in Shu Kei's "Soul"), Gong Li (in Stephen
Chow comedies as well as such as "The Great Conqueror's Concubine") and Zhang
Yimou have made appearances in the cinematic world that many people don't
realize encompasses more than "chopsocky", Jackie Chan and "heroic bloodshed".
On those same days, I also am inclined to suppose that if such as this 1997
Zhang Yimou executive produced -- but also Charles Heung produced -- work
would have gotten better publicity and recognition if it were an exclusively
Mainland Chinese effort (and especially so if it ran afoul of the Communist
government censors).
Make no mistake: DRAGON TOWN STORY is a
fine film which has the kind of stark feel, mannered sense and steady pacing
that I -- perhaps wrongly and too stereotypically, but there you have it
-- tend to associate more with Mainland Chinese than Hong Kong offerings.
This is probably not too surprising when it is realized that the bulk of
its cast and crew -- maybe except for star Wu Chien Lien, the afore-mentioned
Mr. Heung, and associate producer Tiffany Chen -- hail from the country of
which the former British crown colony is now a Special Administrative Region.
This in addition to this beautifully filmed (by Zhao Kei) -- and evocatively
musically scored (by Zhao Jiping) -- work probably having been shot entirely
on location in a rather architecturally and naturally scenic part of China.
To be sure though, this Yang Feng Liang directed period piece does show a
wedding day massacre taking place in the third minute -- while the credits
are still being announced -- and one of the gunmen fires two guns simultaneously
in a way that may remind one of John Woo's heroes. Still, the work
is much more of a suspenseful drama than a hot-blooded actioneer. Succinctly
put, the rest of DRAGON TOWN STORY is about the one survivor of the Jiang
family -- the woman whose happy day her relatives and friends were out to
witness and celebrate -- scheming, sacrificing and seeking the right time
to exact her revenge on the (mass) murderer and his family (the determined
but often frustrated Jiang Lan Juan is alternately sympathetically and chillingly
portrayed by Wu Chien Lien).
Six minutes from the start of DRAGON TOWN STORY, we move nine years in time
to witness a meeting taking place involving a woman who identifies herself
to the contract killer she is trying to hire as Zhao Chun Yu.
She (whose form is recognizably that of Wu Chien Lien) tells him that she
wants a man named Xiong Jin Biao -- and his loved ones -- dead on account
of his having murdered her husband and son. The killer (The famously
anti-female Li Qing Yang is well played by You Yong) at first declines the
job: Not least because the woman states that she has no money to offer
him, only herself; but also because the named target is the most powerful
resident of nearby Dragon Town as well as commander of the local militia
(at a time, when warlords ruled China and such details really mattered).
After Zhao tells Li that she is prepared to go do the bloody work herself
though, he does at least aid the stubborn-but-vulnerable-looking woman by
sending her into Dragon Town in the guise of the wife of a trader from Peach
Blossom Village (a settlement some ten miles away which we soon learn is
Li's actual home village...).
To go further in detailing the plot of DRAGON TOWN STORY would be to risk
spoiling this gripping film for (potential) viewers. Suffice to say
that it is a complex tale of many intrigues, twists and turns; one in which
-- as it probably already is apparent -- few people as well as things are
as they might be supposed to be (by others in the story as well as those
of us who have a wider view of the proceedings). Something else that
ought not to go unmentioned is that throughout, the utter believability of
every possibility -- plus the different and changing emotions felt and expressed
by the main characters -- is helped considerably by the cast being uniformly
fine (Along with the two leads, Huang Zhong Gow is especially masterful in
his portrayal of Xiong Jin Biao but Gao Xin's Young Master Xiong and Yan
Miou's Madam Xiong made significant contributions too to my appreciation
of this quality work).
My rating for the film: 8.5
Reviewed by Brian
This slow but tensely paced film had me
nearly mesmerized for much of its telling. There is no way to guess how the
film will end, but needless to say not as one might necessarily expect. As
the film progresses it becomes as much an exploration of redemption and love
as it does an exploration of revenge and hate – and it begins to take on a
sense of humanity that is surprisingly moving. It’s a terrific film that certainly
deserves much more press than it has received – but its hybrid origins and
its artistic sensibilities have played against it.
What I really want to write about though is Wu Chien-lien. Her performance
here is absolutely perfect – not a false note, not a moment of false emotion
– it felt so true to the character and to the time period. Her acting is
in such control – incredibly restrained but with rivers of emotions visible
often only in her eyes. Her silence and absolute stillness say more than
most actresses can with a torrent of dialogue. The few occasions in which
she does become emotional are by contrast extremely powerful - like bolts
of lightening striking flesh. And God, how both the camera and the director
love her face. Rarely does a minute go by in which there is not a startling
close-up of Wu Chien-lien – somehow more beautiful than the ones that proceeded
it. For fans of Wu Chien-lien, this is a must see film.
Unfortunately at the time of this writing, this film is not available on
DVD - which is clearly the way to see this - the VCD is fairly murky at times.
Just remember to use the Mandarin track for this one.
My rating for this film: 8.0
