In eternally youth-obsessed and -targeting Hollywood, directors have long complained of being “aged out” of the business, judged too old to serve modern audiences’ (or perhaps just studio executives’) tastes despite all willingness to work. Yet outside the commercial mainstream, this seems to be a pretty good era to be a veteran filmmaker. While it used to be that the octogenarian or even septuagenarian behind the camera was a rarity, these days there’s an increasingly large field of talents around the globe who aren’t calling it quits despite advancing well past standard retirement age.
It doesn’t seem so long ago that Zhang Yimou created an unprecedented international splash for mainstream Chinese cinema with his early films
Posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2021 by Hoai-Tran Bui
Zhang Yimou‘s name instantly calls to mind the bright, opulent colors of the renowned Chinese filmmaker’s wuxia films and historical epics
Hero and
House of Flying Daggers are two of the most sumptuous films to grace our screens. So it’s no wonder that
Cliff Walkers (formerly titled Impasse), Zhang’s first foray into the spy thriller, is a handsome and stylish thriller whose wintry setting establishes a chilly mood befitting the genre.
But it’s with a cold hand that Zhang approaches
Cliff Walkers. It’s more of a chance for the visual master to flex his muscles in staging taut suspense sequences that flirt with the balletic action he’s known for (this time with more
Film Shorts // April 28-May 4, 2021
OPENING
Cliff Walkers (NR) This Chinese spy thriller by Zhang Yimou (
Hero) is about a group of agents (Qin Hailu, Yu Hewei, Zhang Yi, and Zhu Yawen) who return to their Japanese-occupied country in the 1930s to find that they’ve been betrayed by persons unknown. Also with Liu Haocun, Li Naiwen, and Ni Dahong. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Four Good Days (R) Rodrigo Garcia delivers yet another dull, earnest drama about white people living on the West Coast. Glenn Close stars as a mother who takes in her estranged, opioid-addicted daughter (Mila Kunis, looking emaciated with bleached-blonde hair and blackened teeth) to help her stay clean for four days prior to receiving a shot of naltrexone that will prevent her from getting high. The film doesn’t drag, but every argument in this movie feels like something you’ve heard from a thousand other movies about drug addiction. The performances here aren’t enough to lift the film above t
Cliff Walkers review: Zhang Yimou s artificial spy thriller avclub.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from avclub.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Cliff Walkers Review: Director Zhang Yimou Returns to Form with Sophisticated Spy Thriller
Cliff Walkers Review: Director Zhang Yimou Returns to Form with Sophisticated Spy Thriller
A team of spies are betrayed in 1930s Japanese controlled Northern China.
Hero,
House of Flying Daggers) delves into the spy genre with an exquisitely shot, snowy noir thriller.
Cliff Walkers is a period tale of espionage and betrayal set in 1930s Northern China under Japanese rule. The film is densely plotted with Hitchcockian character twists. The elaborate narrative gets muddied at times. But keeps your attention with stark violence, intriguing reveals, and brilliant technical acumen.