Zhang Yimou has been dividing his time of late, balancing films in his native China with Hollywood efforts such as The Great Wall and The Flowers of War. His latest, titled Shadow, not only brings him back home, but it finds Yimou returning to his roots of the gorgeous martial arts epics that earned accolades both here and abroad.
While the film does appear to be of a similar genre as Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Curse of the Golden Flower, one look at the new trailer and it’s clear the visual style very different, using what is known as “Chinese watercolor.” Set in medieval China, Shadow is a mystical action thriller about a violent, ambitious king and his people who will aspire to reclaim their homeland after being expelled from it. Along with the king we’ll see this battle through the eyes of his general, who plots in secret; the women entrapped in the palace who have no place in society; and a commoner. Deng Chao (The Mermaid), Sun Li (Fearless), Zheng Kai (The Great Wall), Guan Xiaotong (To Be A Better Man), and Qianyuan Wang co-star.
Shadow will be released in China later this year, and given Yimou’s track record we should see it stateside soon after.
