Ju Dou is certainly an engaging enough film, because I like a filmmaker like Zhang Yimou who can be so fascinating with deep hues of colors in his costumes, sets, and cinematography. That's the way he tells his films' stories. And it's beautifully expressive, even in a grainy, lower- budgeted movie like Ju Dou.
In its story of lustful vindication against a frightfully disgusting character, it can seem as if it's going in the wrong direction, sometimes disappointing the viewer's lustfully vengeful expectations for the movie's hero and heroine, but it should be realized that Ju Dou is a movie about passion vs. tradition, the emotional tempests people would go through under the businesslike customs and conventions of the time period.
Ju Dou is worth seeing for its directors and writer's intuitive understanding of its drama and Gong Li's intense early performance. Hero and House of Flying Daggers are much more breathtaking than this early work of Yimou's, but for fans of emotional, romantic yet biting character dramas, and for fans of Asian cinema, I think you will be moved.
In its story of lustful vindication against a frightfully disgusting character, it can seem as if it's going in the wrong direction, sometimes disappointing the viewer's lustfully vengeful expectations for the movie's hero and heroine, but it should be realized that Ju Dou is a movie about passion vs. tradition, the emotional tempests people would go through under the businesslike customs and conventions of the time period.
Ju Dou is worth seeing for its directors and writer's intuitive understanding of its drama and Gong Li's intense early performance. Hero and House of Flying Daggers are much more breathtaking than this early work of Yimou's, but for fans of emotional, romantic yet biting character dramas, and for fans of Asian cinema, I think you will be moved.