Hero, China

Hero, a film once again by Zhang Yimou, was significantly more enjoyable than the previous film viewed. The story, which features long, choreographed kung-fu fight scenes, centers on an assassin name Nameless and his exploits with the three other assassins (Snow, Sky, and Broken Sword) who have been hired to kill the King of Qin. Although at times there seem to be more fight scenes than dialogue or story, the fight scenes and many other portions of the film are mainly highlighted by color.

Color is used for tonal purposes in the film. The main character, Nameless, always is scene dressed in black (outside of when he appears at the Calligraphy school decked out in traditional red garb). Other characters, mainly Snow and Broken Sword’s are scene in many different colors based off the situation around them. For instance, in Nameless’s initial telling of his story all the characters appear in red. The connotations of this red are two fold- one is anger and one is passion. The anger and the vision of blood it brings with it is highlighted by the onslaught of arrows brought on by the Qin army. The passion comes in the form of Broken Sword’s love making to Moon, his servant, and his love of Snow. Throughout the film, bright red reappears (especially during fight scenes) in connotations of blood and anger. Blue, when it appears, seems to indicate a more subservient status of the characters that wear it. Green, when it appears in the scene recounting Broken Sword’s fight with the King of Qin, seem to indicate (as it often does) an amorphous dream- one of the uniting of China.

Hero presents an interesting, yet still artistic view of a Chinese legend. Through its impeccable use of color and non-linear story line, the film engages the audience in a vivid cinematic experience.

Amores Perros, Mexico

Alejandro Inarritu’s Amores Perros shows how a single pivotal event could change many lives. The story centers on a car crash where two of the three main characters are injured: Octavio, who fights his dog Cofi and has fallen in love with his sister-in-law Susana, and Valeria, a superficial Spanish supermodel who recently married Daniel (who left his wife and kids for Valeria). A lonely drifter observes the accident and has his life changed by the injured Cofi, as well.

A central point in the film is the arrangement of elements in time. The story is told with overlapping segments, where we see the car crash first, then we get the events leading up to the car crash from a certain point of view, and then in the case of Valeria and El Chivo (the drifter) the aftermath of the car crash. With this overlapping, non-linear storyline one of the subtlest elements is foreshadowing. One such case of foreshadowing comes when Valeria (who has her leg severely injured in the car crash) looks out her window at a large billboard of herself, but her leg (from the perspective of the camera) is occluded, foreshadowing the ultimate amputation of her leg. More so than that, the rampant foreshadowing in the movie helps to tie together all the elements of the film by making each character, in some way, a part of the other character’s storyline besides the car crash. In this way, a central theme of human connectedness comes through in the twisted plotline because the characters are not only connected by the horrific accident but by many of the events in their everyday lives.

Amores Perros shines through its artistically gritty film style to present themes that are accessible to every audience, not just Mexican ones. The film, while being quick paced and full of the occasional melodrama or Hollywood-esque element, shows how a film can present very meaningful content in an entertaining, accessible, and passive way.