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The Banquet review
:. Director: Xiaogang Feng
:. Starring: Ziyi Zhang, Daniel Wu
:. Running Time: 2:11
:. Year: 2006
:. Country: China
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To be frank, I wasn't planning to see The Banquet as I've become worn-out by the saturation of Chinese epics trying to outdo each other visually, which awkwardly culminated in Jet Li's fending off thousands of arrows on a roof in the ballooned Hero.
What bothers me most about this genre of films is its formulaic combination of cheesy drama and cartoonish violence, even though the result is eye-catching enough most of the time to deserve a viewing.
After the opening 30 minutes, it became clear that The Banquet was transcending the formula. While orchestrated in ballets, the violence here is unusually scarce, brutal and bloody, which highly increases its impact, rather than going for a succession of dull action sequences. The drama is twisted enough to create a real dramatic tension, mostly courtesy of Shakespeare, since this is a loose transposition of Hamlet set in the Chinese empire, while a subdued dose of eroticism embodied by the beautiful Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero) spices up the ensemble.
Director Xiaogang Feng can certainly be credited for keeping this ambitious project tight and giving it an adult feel usually lacking in Asian cinema. He also knows how to slowly build contrasted characters, giving each of them a flawed but human dimension and blurring the lines between good and evil. As a result one can't help getting attached to these colorful figures, even if they're clearly up to no good.
As one might expect with Shakespeare, everything will end in chaos, and despite the fact that the main guests won't be spared by this cruel story, this is the kind of banquet you want to attend.
Fred Thom
 Movie Reviews: 1998 - 2011
Movie Reviews: 2012 - present
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