Butler's Cinema Scene

“SHADOW” My rating: C+ 

116 minutes | No MPAA rating

There was a time, children, back in the primordial 1990s, when Chinese director Yimou Zhang was on the cutting edge of cinema.

Never mind that he was working in an artistically repressive Communist society — Yimou excelled at turning out thought-provoking period dramas like “Red Sorghum,” “Ju Dou” and “Raise the Red Lantern.” Turning to a modern setting he delivered the sublime “The Road Home.”

Then Yimou discovered kung fu and since then has been devoted to lavish chock-sockey extravaganzas like “Hero,” “House of Flying Daggers,” and the execrable Matt Damon spectacle “The Great Wall.” Forget the intimate drama; he’s now painting on a massive and messy scale.

His latest, “Shadow,” is typical of the new Yimou.

For starters it is an absolute triumph of cinematic design, telling an ancient tale through sets and costumes reduced to the simplest black and white. The only touches of color are provided by human flesh and copious splatters of gore.

The story?  Sheesh, I was afraid you’d ask about that.

Well, there’s this kingdom, Pei, ruled by a handsome but utterly corrupt young idiot (Ryan Zheng) who comes off as the Asian equivalent of Jeoffrey Baratheon.

The king’s success lies largely with the prowess of his general, Zi Yu. Except that Zi Yu isn’t who he seems.

Okay, listen carefully. I’m not going through this twice.

Chao Deng

The man everybody thinks is Zi Yu is actually a lookalike raised from boyhood by the real Zi You, who suffers from a debilitating illness.  To maintain some sort of control of the court, Zi You has his “shadow,” Jing, maintain an elaborate deception.

Through the wonders of special effects and some clever acting, both characters are portrayed by the same actor, Chao Deng.

Zi Yu goes so far as to have the young imposter sleep in the same chamber as Zi Yu’s wife (Li Sun)…which creates some erotic tension. Meanwhile the real Zi Yu lives like a hermit in a cavern deep beneath the palace.

Anyway, Zi Yu/Jing avoids a war by challenging the champion of a rival kingdom (Jun Hu) to a duel. Some of the fighting is spectacular, though half the time I couldn’t tell who was doing what to whom.

Toward the end “Shadow” delivers a couple of unexpected plot twists, but that bit of narrative tingle cannot overcome what has been the big flaw of most of Yimou’s films of the last decade:  I cared so little about the individual characters that after a while my eyes started to glaze over.

| Robert W. Butler