Full River Red (2023)

[Drunk Monk]

Full River Red
Dir. Zhang Yimou

A major flex from Zhang Yimou, one of China’s most celebrated directors. This one is so tightly wrapped in Chinese culture that it’s hard to fully appreciate without the backstory. It’s an assassination plot, or is it? It’s twisty with lots of backstabbing and double crossing, but if you don’t know who Qin Hui is, it’s a tangled mess (hint - he is one of China’s most notorious traitors for the death of Yue Fei - and if hou don’t know who he is, don't even bother - he’s one of China’s greatest heroes). 

Like Hero or Shadow, there’s outlandish levels of deception and sacrifice. These 3 flicks could be Zhang’s thematic assassin trilogy. They each have an underlying notion of long game plots filled with premeditated ruses to mislead targets, and small bands of rebel conspirators dying to pave a path to an ultimate victim that’s totally corrupt. There’s a patriotic sense where heroes play their role to the death for the greater good.

Two low ranking soldiers get stuck investigating a murder which they must solve within 2 hours or die. There’s a lot of court intrigue and they are bound by imperial rule and etiquette. Every offense is capital punishment. The investigators are merciless and torture suspects into confessing. 

There’s a few fights and a lot of throat slitting and stabbing. It’s during the Song dynasty period when almost everyone is in armor and carrying a sword, or a dagger. Almost all of it takes place within an imperial fortress, akin to the forbidden city and characters are constantly navigating the labyrinthian stone alleys and hallways. The armor and costuming is sumptuous. 

It’s a long film - 2.5 hours + - and it’s a slow burn but once it gets going, the treachery and trickery goes crazy, and the ultimate payout is poetic. Like really poetic (the title is a giveaway but you gotta know Yue Fei - I didn’t put it together until the reveal at the end, but it’s beautiful, epically beautiful. 

I’ll only D00M recommend this for those who know Yue Fei (the cfs I think - I know cf read a Plenty about Yue Fei - we read his fictional biography around the same time (early 90s - late 80s). I’d also recommend it to deep film buffs because Zhang can really move a camera and compose dazzling shots. 

Seen on Hoopla