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Banquet, The (Blu-Ray) (DVD)
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Product Detail |
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Audio Format: Mandarin Dolby True HD 7.1, Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1
Video Format: 1920 x 1080p FULL HD
, 16:9 WIDESCREEN 2.35:1 Languages: Mandarin Subtitles: English, Chinese Region Code: A Year Made: 2006 Running Time: 131
The Banquet has been described as a loose adaptation of "Hamlet"; it is a tale of fate and revenge set in 10th century China. A new Emperor has usurped the throne through murder. Zhang Ziyi plays the widowed Empress, who marries the new Emperor (Ge You) only to protect herself, but also secretly plots his death with the help of the Crown Prince (Daniel Wu) and the Chief Minister (Ma Jingwu).
 Yet the Prince and Minister each have their own plans for the throne, and, of course, so does the Emperor. All these intrigues are brought to a climax when the Emperor calls for a lavish banquet, where the murderous plans are set in motion. According to director Feng Xiaogang: "If Hamlet is about a prince who must make a choice involving life and death, then The Banquet is about how each character must face a choice of life or death... All are motivated by desire, but as soon as they have begun their plans must grow more extreme, and they move step-by-step towards the abyss... They do not intend evil, but turn to it outof self-preservation and ever-growing ambition."
The backdrop is the ancient Chinese kingdom of 907, where treachery and palace revolts rule a cruel land so that dynasties seemingly last no more than a fortnight. The latest turmoil arises with the sudden death of the emperor. Suspicion falls on his ambitious brother Li (Ge You), who seizes the throne and takes his brother's young, beautiful wife, Empress Wan (Ziyi), as his wife. All he has to do now is eliminate his brother's son, Prince Wuluan (Daniel Wu), a melancholy lad who has a sexual thing for his stepmother so he has exiled himself from court in a dance and music colony in the wilderness.
When the new emperor's assassins reach the colony, the movie kicks into gear with its first and actually best fight sequence: Masked actor-dancers elude the swords of the assassins with acrobatic moves rather than weapons, and fighters magically appear from all quarters. Feng does like more blood than most Chinese directors, leaning more toward Quentin Tarantino than Zhang Yimou or Ang Lee. Still, the sequence is heavily stylized with much flying, athletic stunts, slow motion and bravura midair spins. Despite the spraying blood, the sequence is closer to a Gene Kelly dance number than a traditional fight scene.
The prince does escape his fate, however, and improbably turns up at the palace. Here he mopes around and picks fights with the empress and his intended, Qing Nu (Zhou Xun), who is willing to die for love. Dramatic action now shutters to a halt for extended, wheel-spinning scenes of scheming, counterscheming and suspect declarations of love.
 First and foremost, "The Banquet" is a tragedy, not an actioner. Setting is the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (A.D. 907-60), a time of royal instability in the north and warring states in the south.In an unnamed kingdom, there lives Li (Feng regular Ge You, in the Claudius role), who's murdered his brother and become emperor. Li long lusted after his brother's young wife, Wan (Zhang, as Gertrude), whose sexual needs were barely catered for during her marriage; but she only has eyes for her stepbrother, Wu Luan (Daniel Wu, a kind of Hamlet).
Li sends soldiers south to kill Wu Luan, who was banished there by the original emperor. In a memorable set piece -- set in a multi-tiered bamboo theater in a forest -- that mixes action and theatrical mime (with players wearing masks), Wu Luan fights off his assassins and heads north to seek revenge on Li.Opening reels stress the sensuality of Wan and brutality of Li as both engage in a slow power waltz. Wan finally agrees to marry Li and become empress, but at the coronation party Wu Luan and his troupe mime a drama in which a king is murdered by poison in the ear.
Enraged, Li banishes Wu Luan, much to the distress of Qing Nu (Zhou Xun) who loves him and the jealousy of Wan.When Li decides to throw a banquet for his ministers, Wu Luan returns just when Wan is also planning to murder Li. Qing Nu's father also has his own plans.
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