Ye yan (2006)

Director:

Xiaogang Feng

Writers:

Gangjian Qiu (writer)
William Shakespeare (play)

Release Date:

14 September 2006 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy | History | War

Plot:

A loose adaptation of Hamlet, "The Night Banquet" is set in an empire in chaos. The Emperor, the Empress, the Crown Prince, the Minister and the General all have their own enemies they would like to finish off at a night banquet.

Plot Keywords:

Prince | Banquet | Empress | Emperor | Death

Awards:

7 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Ziyi Zhang	...	Empress Wan
You Ge	...	Emperor Li
Daniel Wu	...	Prince Wu Luan
Xun Zhou	...	Qing Nu
Jingwu Ma	...	Minister Yin Taichang
Xiaoming Huang	...	General Yin Sun
Zhonghe Zhou	...	Chamberlain
Zeng Qiusheng	...	Governor Pei Hong
Xu Xiyan	...	Ling
Liu Yanbin	...	Messenger
Ma Lun	...	Pharmacist
Xiang Bin	...	Imperial Guard
Chunyu Zheng	...	Imperial Guard

Also Known As:

Legend of the Black Scorpion (USA) (DVD title)
The Banquet (International: English title)

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

China

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:MA | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Brazil:14 | South Korea:15 | Japan:PG-12 | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Anji bamboo forest, Jiangsu, China

Company:

Huayi Brothers

Trivia:

Gong Li was originally supposed to play Zhang Ziyi's part. Due to scheduling conflicts, the role was passed onto Zhang Ziyi and she gladly accepted because she thought the character was so interesting.

Movie Connections:

Version of "ITV Saturday Night Theatre: Hamlet (#3.30)" (1971)

The Golden Dragon In The Hidden House of the Heroic Crouching Daggers

This is yet another opulent martial arts melodrama about familial betrayal and deception in the royal court. It follows in the foot steps of similar titles such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Curse of The Golden Flower. They're all big-budget period pieces featuring ornate palaces, theatrical dialogue, maudlin soundtracks and battle sequences in which the combatants spend as much time flying as they do fighting. The Banquet is not as good as those films even though superficially it appears to be of the same calibre.

The sets, cinematography, acting are all adequate if not first rate. My problem was with the plot. Maybe I'm just not a big fan of Shakespeare (this is an adaptation of Hamlet) but it just didn't draw me in. While I could appreciate the bind the characters were in (losing your girlfriend to your father and subsequently your father's killer - who happens to be your uncle, no less - must be pretty hard going), they always were nothing more than lavishly dressed caricatures reciting eye-rollingly bad poetry or exchanging dialogue with odd and strained metaphors ("Even if you were a block of ice you will eventually melt on my tongue" - eh?). They spend their time crying and scheming and monologue-ing but none of it is remotely moving or thrilling.

It's not all that bad though. The fight scenes are fun although by now the choreography and execution is starting to feel very derivative of recent Zimou Yhang efforts. This is surprising because the action director is none other than the legendary Yuen Woo Ping. There is no single shot in this film that is anywhere near as exciting as Woo Ping's work on Fearless, the Jet Li kung-fu epic that was also released in 2006.

Not by any means a bad film but nothing to get the heart racing and between this and all the other titles I've attempted to humorously amalgamate in my summary, this one ranks the lowest.