ACF 883: Happy Birthday, Ziyi Zhang!

Ziyi Zhang as The Empress Wan in
Legend of the Black Scorpion

Today marks the 32nd birthday of Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang. Born in Beijing in 1979, she trained as a dancer, but gave it up and later studied at the China Central Drama College in Beijing, her birthplace. Her first noteworthy role was as Zhao Di, the young woman who's determined to marry the new teacher who comes to her village in Zhang Yimou's The Road Home (1999).

Her career skyrocketed with Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon the following year. Her dance training served her well in that film's many martial arts sequences, and she at least held her own opposite veteran costars Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh.

In 2046

She's also worked with director Tsui Hark in The Legend of Zu (2001), his unfortunately inferior remake of his own Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain; Wong Kar-wei in 2046; Seijin Suzuki in his Princess Racoon (2005), and Robert Marshall in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). She also re-teamed with Zhang Yimou for Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004).

In House of Flying Daggers

Multi-talented and beautiful, her career to date has been phenomenal. Recently, she showed her comedic chops in director Eva Jin's delightful Sophie's Revenge (2009). For my review of the film, which screened at the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival, click here.

So, heartfelt "Happy Birthday" wishes to you, Ziyi Zhang. Your fans in the U.S. surely wish you health, happiness, a continued, long and lustrous career, and to see you again soon doing what you do so well - lighting up our theaters, our widescreeen TVs, and our hearts.

A Brief Post-Script About Names:

Early in her career, her name appeared in English as Zhang Ziyi, using the traditional Chinese order of family name first, personal name last. This was how she was billed through House of Flying Daggers (2004). My guess is that she got fed up with being mistakenly addressed or referred to as "Ms. Ziyi" and that's why her name started appearing in credits in Western order. She'll probably always be "Zhang Ziyi" to me, but here I use "Ziyi Zhang" in difference to her apparent preference and to avoid further confusion. On the other hand, I use Zhang Yimou - the noted director and Ziyi's one-time mentor - because that's how his name typically appears in English.

ACF 596: Sophie's Revenge - a NYAFF 2010 Preview Review

Sophie's Revenge
Directed by: Eva Jin
Starring: Zhang Ziyi, Fan Bingbing, So Ji-Sub
China, 2009, 108 minutes
In Mandarin with English subtitles
New York Premiere

At the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater:
- Tuesday, June 29th at 4:00 PM
- Saturday, July 3rd at 9:45 PM

Sophie's Revenge is a delightful romantic comedy that stars Zhang Ziyi as Sophie, a cartoonist who was engaged to marry Jeff (Korean actor So Ji-Sub) an absurdly handsome young doctor. Trouble is Jeff abandons Sophie shortly before the nuptials because he's fallen for Joanna (Fan Bingbing) a ravishing actress .

Pressured by her mother, who's already made extensive preparations for the marriage ceremony, and assisted by two female friends and a male photographer she meets, Sophie embarks on o series of attempts to win Jeff back. Not surprisingly, these tend to backfire regardless of the tactic employed.

I found Zhang Ziyi almost unrecognizable throughout most of the film. Partially it's because her face is a bit fuller than in the past. (Did she put on a few pounds for the role, or is it just that she's not the super slender young ingenue she used to be?) But I think the most credit must go to those involved with her hair, make-up and costumes. I paused my screener DVD a number of times and almost always saw little of the Z.Z. I'm used to seeing.

Th's is also the first comic role I can recall seeing her in, and I've got to say she really pulls it off well for the most part, both emotionally and physically. My only slight problem was with her somewhat excessively repeated tendency to fall down. That ploy tended to get a bit old after awhile.

Still, Sophie's Revenge turned out to be a wonderfully funny surprise. Zhang Ziyi is a great comedienne. Who knew?! I highly recommend that you check this film out.

ACF 093: Who Killed Empress Wan in "Legend of the Black Scorpion"?

SPOILER ALERT !!!
This article reveals some plot points in the film
Legend of the Black Scorpion.

Several people have been referred to my review in ACF 079 when they ran searches that asked, in essence, "Who killed Empress Wan in Legend of the Black Scorpion?" I didn't discuss the matter in my review, but since there seems to be at least a fair amount of interest in the question, here goes.

The short, and correct, answer is that the film does not reveal who kills Empress Wan (Zhang Ziyi) at the end of the film. Neither Feng Xiaogang, the director, nor the cast have said. In his interview on Disc 2 of the Dragon Dynasty DVD release, actor Daniel Wu (Prince Wu Luan) teasingly says that he knows but won't tell.

My thought, when I first saw the film at the 2007 New York Asian Film Festival, was that it was the ghost of the dead Emperor, Prince Wu's father, who killed her. I mean, if his armor can bleed, why couldn't he strike her down after all the misfortune that she'd caused, even if she didn't do it deliberately?

One of the members of Subway Cinema, the organization that sponsored the festival, told me that he thought it was Minister Yin, who had been sent into exile by the Empress. The logic here was that he was the only significant character that was still alive. Turns out this was close to the mark.

Bey Logan, in his terrific commentary accompanying the movie on Disc 1, discusses what he knows, and sheds considerable light on the vexing question. According to him, the script originally called for the one maid who is seen in several shots throughout the film (she's in the background in the screen shot above) to kill the Empress. Furthermore the murder was done at the bidding of Minister Yin, who certainly had motives.

I believe Logan also said that scenes that would have given the maid greater presence, and perhaps some that actually showed the order being given and the deed being done, either were not shot or were deleted when the director decided to make the ending ambiguous.

So there's the best answer available that I know of. As Logan delightfully puts it: "It was the maid what done it."

ACF 068: Happy Birthday Ziyi Zhang!

Ziyi Zhang as The Empress Wan
in

Legend of the Black Scorpion

Today marks the 29th birthday of Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang. She trained as a dancer, but gave it up and later studied at the China Central Drama College in Beijing, her birthplace. Her first noteworthy role was as Zhao Di, the young woman who's determined to marry the new teacher who comes to her village in Zhang Yimou's The Road Home (1999). Her career skyrocketed with Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon the following year. Her dance training served her well in that film's many martial arts sequences, and she at least held her own opposite costars Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh.

She's also worked with director Tsui Hark in The Legend of Zu (2001), his unfortunately inferior remake of his own Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain; Wong Kar-wei in 2046; Seijin Suzuki in his Princess Racoon (2005), and Robert Marshall in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). She also re-teamed with Zhang Yimou for Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004).

Impressive barely begins to describe her career to date.

Incidentally, Legend of the Black Scorpion, from which the picture above comes, will be coming out on a two-disc Ultimate Edition DVD set from Dragon Dynasty on February 26th, 2008. The film is a variation on Shakespeare's Hamlet, set in China circa 907 AD. Ziyi Zhang (billed as Zhang Ziyi, as her name is said in Chinese order)plays the step-mother of Crown Prince Wu Luan, the Hamlet figure.

I saw it at its New York premiere at the the Subway Cinema's New York Asian Film Festival last summer. At that time it was known by its international English title The Banquet. I'm hoping to get a screener of the upcoming DVD release, but if not I'll at least put a review of the film prior to the DVD's street date.

So, once again, "Happy Birthday Ziyi Zhang!" Best wishes for health, happiness, and a long career at least as lustrous as it's been so far.