Wu Ji - The Riders of the Winds
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Wu Ji - The Riders of the Winds |
| Original title | 無極 / 无极 , Wújí |
| Country of production | PR China , Hong Kong , USA |
| original language | Mandarin |
| Publishing year | 2005 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Chen Kaige |
| script | Chen Kaige, Zhang Tan |
| production | Chen Hong, Han Sanping, Kim Dong-ju, Ernst Etchie Stroh |
| music | Klaus Badelt |
| camera | Peter Pau |
| occupation | |
| |
Wu Ji - The Riders of the Wind ( Chinese 無極 / 无极 , Pinyin Wújí , English-language title: Wu Ji - The Promise ) is a fantasy melodrama by director Chen Kaige , who also wrote the screenplay with Zhang Tan. The film, which premiered in 2005, is based on motifs from the wuxia love story Kunlun Nu (崑崙奴) by P'ei Hsing (裴 鉶) from the 9th century of the Tang Dynasty .
The Chinese film, which was produced with a budget of around 340 million yuan and was the most expensive to date, was entered as the Chinese Academy Award candidate in the category of best foreign language film in 2006 , but was subject to international competition.
action
The film is set in distant times where there was once a kingdom in which gods and people lived side by side. This peaceful epoch of unrestricted sole reign of the monarch, who preferred to devote himself to pleasure and neglect his duties, was drawing to a close. Militant princes planned the betrayal - good and bad could no longer be separated. A little orphaned girl, Qingcheng, struggled to survive in the midst of those days. Out of necessity, she entered into a pact with the "goddess of infinity", who assured her, in addition to splendor and wealth, the admiration of men. In return, however, since then she has never learned what true love is, unless the impossible happens.
20 years later, Kunlun, a slave from the legendary "Land of Snow", saves the life of the mighty General Guangming after a victorious battle against insurgents. On the way to the besieged capital, the loyal commander in chief of the royal troops is wounded by an assassin. The officer then hands over his distinctive red general armor to his serf Kunlun, orders him to the king in a hurry to protect him, although his slave has never seen the regent before. The masked Kunlun, who possesses superhuman powers and can run very quickly, kills the unscrupulous king he was supposed to protect and instead frees the attractive Princess Qingcheng before the eyes of the traitorous Wuhuan. However, their freedom is short-lived because Wuhuan, the prince of the north, confronts Kunlun with his men and calls on him to surrender the princess. With a heavy heart, Kunlun, who is mistaken for the general, gives up the mysterious beauty, returns to Guangming and gives him his armor.
The angry General Guangming, who is henceforth regarded as regicide and savior, then frees the attractive princess from the hands of Wuhuan, whose love he can be sure of, since Qingcheng mistakenly believes him to be her selfless hero, who once saved her life and a few words in the process said. Meanwhile, the aging general, much to the chagrin of his subordinate Kunlun, also falls in love with the young princess, so that Kunlun, who humbly hides his love affair out of loyalty to his master, leaves the general. A period of happiness for Qingcheng and Guangming begins.
Humiliated and hungry for power, Wuhuan, who was able to find out who actually killed the king, has Guangming arrested and dragged him to a court to try him there. The general faces the death penalty, and Qingcheng presses Kunlun to take the blame for the regicide on herself in order to acquit her lover, without realizing that, by mistake, Kunlun is the killer she once fell in love with. During the trial, Qingcheng, astonished, realizes her mistake - she loved the wrong man, to the chagrin of the real Savior. The three people involved, Qingcheng, Guangming and Kunlun, are sentenced to death and handed over to the prince for execution.
At the end of the film there is a bloody scuffle. General Guangming dies as does Wuhuan, while Kunlun, wounded, grabs a cursed coat that enables him to change Qingcheng's fate.
Reviews
"Formally as well as content overloaded fantasy melodrama as a grotesque, brightly colored, soulless spectacle that does not develop any epic breath due to its overloading and lousy computer effects."
Awards
- 2006: Nomination for a Golden Globe in the category of best foreign language film
- 2006: Timmy Yip was nominated in the Best Equipment category
- 2006: Nomination in the category Best Cinematography for Peter Pau
- 2006: Nomination in the category Best Costumes and Best Mask for Timmy Yip and Masago Kimiya
- 2006: Nomination in the category Best Sound Design for Wang Danrong and Roger Savage
- 2006: Nomination in the category Best Visual Effects for Frankie Chung, Ma Wing-On, Cecil Cheng Man Ching and Kai Kwan Tam
- 2007: Winner of the Orient Express Section Special Jury Award for Chen Kaige
Web links
- official website of the film
- Wu Ji - The Promise in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Wu Ji - The Promise atrotten tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b cf. Press booklet on wuji-film.de ( memento from November 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (as .pdf )
- ↑ cf. Liu, James JY The Chinese Knight Errant. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967 ( ISBN 0-2264-8688-5 )
- ↑ cf. Archive link ( Memento of October 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) - accessed on February 12, 2008 (English)
- ↑ Wu Ji - The Riders of the Winds. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .