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House of Flying Daggers- Camoflauge
27 Plays16 days ago
It's an epic historical fantasy, with costumes that are so lush! This movie has got twist after twist, but it's no surprise that Emi Wada's costumes are absolutely perfect. Are you prepared to take this journey with us?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385004/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_house%2520of%2520flying
https://nuwahanfu.com/blogs/news/a-deep-dive-into-tang-dynasty-fashion-makeup?srsltid=AfmBOoqWDV34x2RDyRB4rNyPpN5eqX_OIwFjrVzbLTbDv6Yz_yqm-zdA
https://variety.com/2005/film/awards/house-of-flying-daggers-1117916035/
Music: Cassette Deck by Basketcase
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Theme
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm Melinda. I'm Ariel. This is Hot Set, the movie podcast about costume design.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, friends. Welcome back to another episode. We are continuing season three of our podcast, The Color Explosion. We're pretty solidly, we're in like the back half. We're getting towards the end, slowly but surely. um Today, we are returning to a genre that we talked about a little bit earlier in the season.
Film Overview and Personal Connection
00:00:45
Speaker
We watched the 2004 Wuxia movie, The House of Flying Daggers. ah This movie was directed by Yimou Zhang and features Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Andy Lau as our lead three characters in the movie.
00:01:08
Speaker
um I had never seen this movie before. This was the first time that I'd ever seen it. I really haven't seen very many Wuxia movies at all. So when we were developing the list for this season, this was definitely um Ariel's contribution. And I'm so glad that these movies came to mind for you because they are so beautiful and so amazing to look at. And obviously this one is no exception to that.
00:01:37
Speaker
um But yeah, I had never seen the movie before. ah And so it was, ah it was all new to me. Hopefully you listeners are not like me and you've already seen it ah and you've saw it 2004 and four and are seeing it again now. But um to give the brief overview of the plot, we have these two police officer fellows, Jin and Leo, and they have been working on sort of infiltrating and taking down there sort of rebel group that refers to themselves as the House of Flying Daggers. And so they get like a tip that this young woman who's working in a brothel is connected to that group.
00:02:26
Speaker
And so Jin goes undercover into ah brothel. He meets her and he ends up um sort of embedding himself in her life and making himself a rescuer. He like breaks her out of jail. and they ah So he's trying to build this like trust with her so that he can infiltrate this group.
00:02:50
Speaker
ah But Things don't work out exactly as planned, to say the least. And I'm sure we'll get into all of those details. um So Ariel, tell me about this movie. Tell me when you saw it.
00:03:07
Speaker
So I saw it, i think, in theaters because I was so very much – I look back at my youth and my childhood and like my cinematic development and I'm just like everything that was bittersweet or sad, i was there. was all over it.
00:03:24
Speaker
And it's like thank you so much, Hormones, and being the most like a dramatic teenager and being like this is what it is to feel.
00:03:39
Speaker
If not now, like if not then, when Then when,
Wuxia Genre and Historical Context
00:03:44
Speaker
yes. So there's just like something about Yimou Zhang and like has his directorial like visions, if you will, that are just I i very much vibed with because they're so like poetic cinema, you know? Like that's what I love about these and like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, we talked about this during Hero, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, this were my introduction to Wuxia. And like, I haven't really watched a million different like Wuxia things, which is like a kind of like a fantasy like action genre that like has to do with kind of like historical stuff sometimes. Right.
00:04:26
Speaker
um But there's the fantastical elements of like the big, big, big action and the wobbly swords because you're so powerful, like, and so fast, like those things.
00:04:37
Speaker
um But I just like the cinematography of them and the design of them, like, was just always so striking. And then, of course, the sadness that comes with it is like, it sticks with you. Yeah.
00:04:51
Speaker
And so, yeah, I just like loved this and I loved it very much. And like the I just remembered the colors being so saturated. Yeah. And like wanting to spend time looking at those things because this movie takes place at the end of the Tang Dynasty. So it's like in the late eight hundred um because the Tang Dynasty ended, I think, in like 907. Yeah. And so this is like a long time ago. um
00:05:22
Speaker
and apparently Yimou Zhang like thought of making this movie as like a, not a sequel at all, but kind of like a pairing to Hero in the late
Themes of Rebellion and Social Justice
00:05:33
Speaker
90s.
00:05:33
Speaker
And so it was like, hey, you have this idea for these very cinematic, very, very, you know, lush, like, kind of like mythical tellings of these periods of time in which like ah now um these people with a lot of power were abusing their power and had so much and then people did not have very much and they were fighting for more including like their own identities or their own country, you know? So anyway. And, um you know, fortunately not relevant now, not relevant to our lives or the world at large at this point. So we we fixed it, everybody. We solved all the problems. Everything's great.
00:06:16
Speaker
Love it. There was something this... the i don't I don't know exactly how to put my finger on it, but like there was something about this the basics of this story that was kind of giving me a bit of like a Robin Hood feeling where it's like that... um That sort of like group that's physically like removed from people. They're like living outside of society in like more ways than one and like trying to like affect change on what they see as like a corrupt ruling class.
00:06:53
Speaker
And obviously there was bows and arrows. So like those things all kind of came together. but But it did. i There was something about it that um I think it was mostly kind of the the beginning like setup of the story was like, oh, maybe this is going to have some kind of similarity to Robin Hood. i don't feel like that really played out to the end.
00:07:14
Speaker
But um that was something that I was like, especially it being like a historical kind of fantasy, I think kind of played into that It's a very human thing to be like, there's something going wrong above our class and our classes are being trodden into the earth.
00:07:34
Speaker
And what can we do to change that or fight it and end it? And so it's like, even if we're putting our own bodies on the line, because I think that that's like the Robin Hood thing is like, well, I'm going to do this. And then depending on what telling you're going after, it's like, I'm a rich son who's like, come back and I can like hide as the rich landowner But like be doing all this stuff or I'm just like super broke and just like in the forest, like a total menace to all these other people around.
00:08:03
Speaker
And so, yeah, I totally get that because it is that like these people are trying to enact change and living in a forest, like a bamboo forest. I'm sure there's better parallels. That's just where my crazy brain went to. Yeah.
00:08:19
Speaker
We are who we are. and that's who we are at this moment. And that's what we could think of at this moment. And I don't know about you, but Robin Hood was real big when I was growing up. so It was so important.
Costume Design by Emmy Wada
00:08:32
Speaker
Robin Hood was really important. So important. So many books, so many versions of the story in movies, animated and human.
00:08:42
Speaker
This is all over the place. like so He's really lost his cultural cachet now. like He's not part of the conversation anymore. No, which is rude, frankly. is, yeah. um Okay, so this movie was designed by Emmy Wada, who we talked about um when we covered Hero, because she designed Hero as well. And in that movie, she talked we found we were able to find some sources where she talked about the dye work that she did and how, like,
00:09:10
Speaker
the lengths that she had to go to to do that work. And um I did not find a ton of stuff about this movie and the costuming process.
00:09:21
Speaker
um I did find, um ah what website is it? It's... Sonyclassics.com, there's like the press kit and it doesn't really go deep into like her design process.
00:09:37
Speaker
It just gives some information on her background and her stage work and some of her filmography, which is nice. But there is a Variety article. Did you read that? I did not.
00:09:49
Speaker
So there's um a bit of a quote from her, um which there's two, and I'm just going to read them direct because I am me. Please. here and just wipe that hair off my shoulder.
00:10:01
Speaker
um So ah she was being interviewed and also talking about Hero because they were so connected. Wada wanted to be able to differentiate this movie visually from because And so, quote, from an aesthetic perspective, these two films are extremely different, as are the historical eras during which they're set and the foundation upon which each film's respective design was constructed. Sorry, Emmy Wadda is not saying this. Somebody else is saying this. Ting Xiao, I think is the production designer, Ting Xiao Hua.
00:10:35
Speaker
um ah They worked very closely together, it sounds like. But um they're saying, I like to give the example that Hero is like a painting by Qi Bai Shi, bold and unrestrained, while Daggers is closer to the work of Zhang Dekian. I'm so sorry for my pronunciations.
00:10:55
Speaker
A kind of combination between the hard and the soft, revealing a subtlety amid what seems to be crudeness. And Wada, the costume designer, used colors to distinguish the two um the two movies.
00:11:09
Speaker
Quote, the costumes created for hero were more colorful And I had images of costumes waving in the air, Wada says. For daggers, I wanted to create a different image. I mainly used a lot of greenish and bluish colors and included lots of embroidery and designed costumes based on the costumes worn during the Tang Dynasty.
00:11:27
Speaker
I tried to make a color contrast in designing the costumes of the colorful dancers and the police officers. So, end quote. um i I very much love this like...
00:11:42
Speaker
kind of signature that Emi Wada has of like flowing fabrics. And that's like a cultural thing for like the, for Hanfu, like Chinese traditional clothing is yeah that it's very, there's a lot of different eras with very, very flowy things, long sleeves. And it feels like,
00:12:03
Speaker
Because again, this is not an academic podcast. I don't have all the information about um traditional Hanfu, but it feels like some things were exaggerated, right? so it's like That's what it felt like to me too, yeah. Right. So it's like at the very beginning of the movie when we're in...
00:12:19
Speaker
The Peony Pavilion. and Which is my favorite place in the movie. would love to talk about this. Yes. And I'm so glad we're going to. So first we start with like a quick little um a chat between our two male leads.
00:12:34
Speaker
And one them is kind of like the boss of the other one. And um he's like the police chief. He's the police chief. And his character's name is Leo, played by Andy Lau. And then Takeshi Kaneshiro plays Jin, the younger officer.
00:12:48
Speaker
yeah And um Leo is basically saying, like, we need, you know, you to go undercover to um see if this young woman we think is a spy is a spy who's in this Peony Pavilion. and Yeah. So he's like, okay. And they're having this conversation, which by the way, trivia on IMDb, this is, was talking to you about before we started recording how yeah shameful it is. The things that people internationally have to go, okay, Western audiences are babies. Yeah. And have been affected by that, um,
00:13:25
Speaker
I'm sure that there's like a specific name for it, but I can't come up with it because again, not an academic. um Basically like racial face blindness, right? which is yeah Yeah. There are studies about It's a real thing where if you are not exposed to people of different cultures and different ethnic backgrounds, et cetera, you it's harder for you to distinguish that.
00:13:48
Speaker
necessarily like individuals. And that's really sucks, but it definitely feeds into racism. And it's like, it's a thing that you can grow past because you just need to be exposed to other people in the world. Meet people, look at people, interact with other people. And then your brain will...
00:14:05
Speaker
grow. um But this is so shameful. Concerned that Western audiences would not be able to tell Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro apart in the beginning of the film
Historical Accuracy and Symbolism in Costumes
00:14:18
Speaker
as they are dressed similarly, Yimou Zhang had Kaneshiro's character eat peanuts throughout many of the opening scenes to distinguish them.
00:14:27
Speaker
That's how like Reading that, just what a deep core of shame and sadness that like people... but such a deep conversation. like it was It was crazy. yeah Yeah. It sounds like I'm laughing, and I am, but in just such a... yeah In despair. like in despair. Because what?
00:14:53
Speaker
Yeah, you I did read that. Like, I didn't read through all the trivia because I was like in the middle of watching the movie and I was like, maybe don't read the spoilers for what's going to happen at the end. ah ah But when I read that, I was just like, oh, my God, because like they don't look that similar. Nothing alike. Nothing alike.
00:15:12
Speaker
And Takeshi Kaneshiro is half Taiwanese, half Japanese. So there's also a different background there. And he's also... I'm pretty sure younger by significantly. Yeah. So it's just like, Oh my goodness. And they're too, whatever. that road forever i just like hit the table. Cause I'm like moving around so much.
00:15:33
Speaker
um Okay. So yes, as said, the, they are officers and they are wearing the same uniforms, which are this like green that is beautiful. Very. It's, it was so like, i felt like, um,
00:15:47
Speaker
That green of the uniform was like something that paid off at the end. But it's like, like, I felt like that decision was for the finale. And it was or like, at least like the last like act or whatever you want to call it. But um yeah, it was like,
00:16:03
Speaker
something It's literally the first thing that we see, but it clicked for me at the end. I'm sure there's so much research that went into like the decision-making of like exactly what that uniform was, but it just it made so much sense to me at the end. But they were so...
00:16:23
Speaker
Nice because like even those had like beautiful embroidery, even though it was very restrained and like very simple, but it was still really, really nice. And it was like a contrasting red, like kind of like a like a rusty red kind of color.
00:16:40
Speaker
And of course, like the black hat. And it was just so beautiful to see these like very saturated costumes that later on, like you said, they make sense because they become camouflage.
00:16:54
Speaker
But where they are, they're just like in a town. So it's like they're very visible where they are and stand out so much. And then we see them at the Peony Pavilion, right?
00:17:07
Speaker
Oh god. Gin is in disguise basically like this wastrel kind of like young man. Dude bro. Who is just throwing money around. Dude bro of all dude bros.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah. And ah he's wearing... A beautifully embroidered, like like the fabric itself is embroidered. It's not necessarily like a central embroidery. It's like the whole thing is just beautiful.
00:17:32
Speaker
yeah And now we're in this world of like blues and yes like bronzes and pinks and warmer colors. Yeah. And I love the Peony Pavilion so much because everything, everything has texture. Everything has color. Everything has like these designs all over the place.
00:17:56
Speaker
Like every surface, like there is a pillar. surface The pillar is carved and painted like beautiful, like beautiful florals and these like scrolling things. And it it's like,
00:18:09
Speaker
I think in different hands, it could have been really, really overwhelming and like too much, but it was like perfect. It was like exactly perfect. And I was thinking about that with the costumes included, because like when you see all of the, all of the,
00:18:26
Speaker
Are we going say performers? Employees. Employees. um Because there' there's like a distinction. there Yeah, there's different groups within. yeah There are different groups. There are like staff who are wearing really, really beautiful blue, very light, like silky, flowy uniforms. And then there are other performers or other...
00:18:46
Speaker
ah employees who are wearing so many different colors. And there's one point where in the dialogue, they talk about how everyone here is named after a flower. Everyone there is dressed to look like their flowers where yeah it's not even that kind of constrained color palette where you have like one person just wearing different tones of a color It's like, no everybody's wearing every color and like everybody has beautiful like headpieces, wig work, wingwork the maker spell yeah makeup, the earrings, the jewelry. It's all paired very, very well with every single costume yeah and just like so like delicious to look at because there's so much happening.
00:19:28
Speaker
um But Zhang Ziyi who plays Xiao Mei um She comes in and she's playing this blind girl and she's a dancer, like a very well-known dancer, which Zheng Ji She was like yeah a national ballet, i think when she was 11.
00:19:46
Speaker
And so she's like always been a dancer. She's not a martial artist, but dance feeds into being able to do that. And so every scene we see her in the Peony Pavilion, she is like kind of standing out in a way because she is working with her environment slightly differently than everybody else is, besides the employees who are all wearing the the blue.
00:20:15
Speaker
were sitting in place um there's There's a lot to do with class, like at every scene of the movie. And I don't know enough about traditional hanfu to be able to distinguish...
00:20:31
Speaker
aside from cut and utility of cut and like um the different types of fabric and like the luxury of the jewelry, like the basic information that I approach every costume that I see, especially like in a historical film, right?
00:20:46
Speaker
ah You can kind of look at somebody and go, ah, you all match because you're all wearing the same blue, same costume. So you must be servants. You must be employed here.
00:20:57
Speaker
You must be representatives of the business and And then like you women over here, you are all dressed in a very presentational way. Yeah. Yeah. To like make yourselves look like gifts to be unwrapped. So you must also be bound to this house, but in a different way and to appeal to people with money. Right.
00:21:18
Speaker
And then it's like she is dressed like... She being Chaumet is dressed in this like robe when we first see her that Jin uses his sword to pop like the frogs off of. Oh, yeah. Then he uses like this like magic of his sword to lift it straight up off of her.
00:21:40
Speaker
Like just... ah disrobe her in the rudest most horrible way and then she's in the same blue i think as like other people working in the house it was giving mask of zorro with katherine zeta jones absolutely the same thing there it's just like i have these uh almost like spiritual skills like weapons and quickness where i can take off your clothes So I was really interested in they're all those women's outfits because there was more um like shoulder and décolletage than I was expecting to see from clothing of this period. So I tried to like research that a little bit. And it seems like those silhouettes that the women were in were very much...
00:22:34
Speaker
what any like refined woman of that period would be wearing in terms at least of like the cut and like the actual like pieces. And I guess like,
00:22:47
Speaker
what i What I discovered ah was like the the, especially the late Tang dynasty that, because they they all had these like dressy looking garments that were, that are actually skirts that are like strapless. And then they have like a robe over the top, but it's very like open. It's very like you're seeing everything.
00:23:09
Speaker
And apparently, It was like one of those things, you know, how like in in like clothing history, like, you know, waistlines and hemlines just kind of like move up and down, like around what people are interested in.
00:23:23
Speaker
So those garments are actually like a skirt that like evolved higher and higher and higher until it was tied like over your chest, like under your armpit. And normally you would have worn like a shirt underneath, but the shirt was let go.
00:23:41
Speaker
And so it just became like the skirt basically became like a strapless dress with no other like layer underneath. And that was what was popular at the time. and then you had like the robe and like light layers on top of it. But that i it was so interesting to be like, ah yeah, it was like, I was reading this interesting kind of like breakdown that was like, ah ah this was sort of like the height of the period in terms of like,
00:24:09
Speaker
ah Women being the most like physically like free to like show themselves and like wear these things and like do this. And then obviously things are going to change later because that's what history does. That's do. Yeah. happens to change. Thank you so much for bringing your academic...
00:24:28
Speaker
skills today. found one website. a more than I did. i love that because it's like contextually it makes sense for these dresses to show more skin, show kind of like, you know, your collarbones, your arms and your neck. And then for the jewelry to highlight the length of your neck by having dangling earrings and like having these necklaces that match your outfits and like it makes sense for where we are in the pe peony pavilion for the objectifying of these women.
Costumes Enhancing Dance and Action Scenes
00:25:03
Speaker
um But then it also is able to highlight such rich variety of textiles as well, because like you have so much fabric going into these skirts because they are not – Like A-line, they're not super tight on your body. Like you said, it is very loose. So there's a lot of fabric for everyone except for like the the menswear is more fitted to the body, even though there are longer...
00:25:32
Speaker
Tunic is the wrong word, but like the the the coats h have like a kind of like a high-low situation happening for Jim where it's like higher in the front and lower in the back.
00:25:43
Speaker
And so he has – and they go down to like his knees or something in the front. Yeah, they're long. Lower the back. Yeah. So there's a lot of fabric for everybody's clothing. And you just have like so many different colors. And what what the Peony Pavilion really highlighted for me is we've talked about this before, but like the Western fear of color.
00:26:04
Speaker
And like Eastern and other parts of the world have different relationships with color because Western, like traditionally Western ideas want to corral and contain things so much. so it's like When we see historical Western things, we get, I am speaking about me, I get drawn to to periods in Western history that have been very obviously influenced by um colonial relationships with other places in the world where Western culture has been stealing like imagery and things to make itself more interesting.
00:26:45
Speaker
And it's not that I'm supporting the colonialism at all. It's that these things are so beautiful and so rich and so detailed that they offer so much excitement. And that like usually makes me think of like...
00:27:00
Speaker
the Victorian period, right? Where there's this relationship with India. So you start to see all of these like textiles and things in the background of like, in your upholstery, um in your furniture, like everywhere, these things are starting to be incorporated. Yeah. And so it's like whole movements.
00:27:21
Speaker
Yeah. And like, you're making your history more exciting by having stolen someone else's Right. And like not even bothering to try to understand it. They're just taking the aesthetic – They're just taking it. Yeah, yeah. And so it's like, oh my God, there's like a hunger for four things like that, but it's not coming from home because at home you've already tried to kill that from like your own natural communities.
00:27:44
Speaker
so yeah So seeing things like like the Peony Pavilion where there is so much richness everywhere your eyes land, –
00:27:55
Speaker
Some people might say like, oh, it's busy, but it's not yeah busy. It's alive. It's like it really is. Like all these people are flowers and it's just like everywhere you go, there's everything is bright. Everything is – it's not overwhelming all.
00:28:09
Speaker
It's beautiful. Yeah. When Xiaomei starts dancing. Oh, my God. Because she's being challenged. Like, first, she's being challenged because she's like, I'm a dancer. And so, like, dance for me. Show me what you got. Show me what you got, really.
00:28:25
Speaker
And so, she starts dancing. And she uses her sleeves. And this is like, such a great costume, like, prop moment. Because, of course, we're we're cutting away like, the sleeves. Yeah. probably from like the forearm down just on their own and then impacting things like as they go yeah between this scene and when she and Jin are starting to like get arrested by Leo and um he challenges Xiaomei in turn to another dance which is called the Echo Game. echo game And so we we have two different sets of sleeves, one for the first dance and one for the Echo Game and the sleeves are doing so much, so much work and they are I truly believe that they're those sleeves are magical. like they're The length of the sleeve changes depending on like how far away that drum is that she needs to bang with it. They're growing. They're expanding. They're shrinking. They're moving. If you're thinking about you know fabric, because of course this isn't realistic. like It's heightened, right? It's the wuxia of it all. It's absolutely fantasy. yeah But I love to apply technical thinking to something like this and going like, okay. Yeah. How?
00:29:32
Speaker
How? It's like, well, we need a stretch fabric and then we need like a catch in there. So it's always or like a magnet. So it's always coming back to her hands, you know, like that where she has to practice. So she's always grabbing it the right way so that she has enough strength.
00:29:47
Speaker
of a hold on the sleeves be able to cast them out again. and it has to be like heavy enough to like whip it. Like it, it has like the, the mechanics of like an actual like bull whip that cracks at the end. Like there's something, it has to be able to like at the end to like hit the drum. And so you're like, okay, it has to be heavy enough to do that, but light enough that she could throw it like, and then whip it back. like And it has to be light. Yeah. So that it looks like a fabric that's going to highlight dance. Like it's going to float through the air too.
00:30:17
Speaker
And in that scene, um so between the first dance where she's like entrancing Jin and then he attacks her. Yeah, which I hated that moment so I hated that moment. And i feel like he was creating a situation for which...
00:30:34
Speaker
you know, the constables would be called. So he was like forcing the arrest and it was just like, this is awful. But she is, Chaumet is in a lot of blues in that scene.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah. And then we switch. So she has a costume change. Yes. Well, cause he rips her clothing. he rips her clothing and Leo is like, all right, I challenge you.
00:30:58
Speaker
to to show me how you can dance. So it's another show me what you got, girl. And he's like, have you ever heard of this game? And she's like, yeah, I played it once. So she comes in this time and she's no longer in the cool colors. She's in warm colors that match this like emblem on the floor and also fits with these giant drums that have been brought in around her. And I don't know if anybody else had access to these kinds of drums, these little hand drums when they were kids, but I had Yeah.
00:31:27
Speaker
Because my mother was a flight attendant and she would fly to China. And so she flew to China regularly and she would bring me back little things. So it's the drum that I had was exactly the same as these big drums, but it had two like strings on either side of the drum with a bead on either side so that you would like twist the drum and then you would bang. and yeah bang And so I was like, all sweet memories. But her costume like fits with the color palette of the drums. And I'm like, wow, the, the woman who is technically the madam, we find out later that she's not really the madam, but the madam, as she's portraying herself is saying like, we're a new business, you know? And so like, we, we can't lose our best dancer cause she's our best girl and all these things.
00:32:16
Speaker
And then the next scene, this challenge has been accepted and they're bringing in all these drums. And I'm like, the plot budget for this, ah house is pretty amazing because you also have so many people working because each drum needs to be brought in by at least one person person. Yeah. And there's a whole set of musicians and they all have matching blue outfits also.
00:32:38
Speaker
Yeah. Everybody's like in silk, you know, like amazing stuff. So I'm like, if you're not doing that well, because you're new good for you. You've got nowhere to go but up. And so yeah this outfit This costume for Zheng Ji is stunning.
00:32:55
Speaker
because It's so beautiful. it's I feel like it looks skirted, but it feels like there must be pants. I think there's pants underneath. Yeah. And it's just like, it's that kind of nice like hidden pant magic.
00:33:10
Speaker
And of course, there are names for that in different cultures. And I do not know the name for this garment here. No, me neither. i don't know. But it's just like... phenomenal because she does these like incredible high kicks, like just really highlighting how flexible she is as a dancer. And then of course, her massive long sleeves that just can do like the most supernatural stuff in the world. Like she picks up, she picks up Leo's sword with the sleeve.
00:33:37
Speaker
Oh yes. She wraps, it's full on Indiana Jones. like full on news yeah It's like a tentacle. Yes. She's able to like fight him and fence with this like sword with her sleeve. And I was just like, I want to know your ah costumer, your wardrobe maker.
00:33:57
Speaker
My feelings throughout the entire movie was that May is so much cooler than these guys. like They are nothing compared to her. And so the...
00:34:11
Speaker
End of the movie, not to get ahead of myself, made me very angry. Let's just put it that way. i mean, we'll get to the end. But I was not happy about the way this movie ended. i tried to look up the the names of all of these garments, but I had i couldn't really find anything about, like, ah particularly the robe with the extra long sleeves. Like, I couldn't figure out what that was called. in Anything that I did find was more general about, like...
00:34:36
Speaker
sort of what was happening but um yeah there were some names but like hanfu and hanbok like the korean traditional clothing and like different asian south asian east asian traditional clothing I really do want to spend more time learning about because there's so much in such a long span of time in which these garments are changing.
00:35:06
Speaker
And it's such a bummer that this was not a part of like costume design curriculum. Yeah. You know, like when we were in college. Yeah. Maybe, maybe there was an extra class.
00:35:19
Speaker
But like, it's all so focused on Western here that it's just like, why? Why? There's so much beautiful clothing on like every continent.
00:35:31
Speaker
I know. And it's like, it doesn't like, I don't know about you, but like my education didn't even make it to like Russia. Like we didn't even get that far east. Like we did not get there. no No, no. It was like America, England, France, maybe Italy.
00:35:48
Speaker
Greece. And that's like ancient, ancient history. we just started And then we forget. Like we're like, that's the end. That's what, that's all the things that ever happened in Greece was like 5,000 years ago. And then it ended.
00:35:59
Speaker
And then we created gores and like shapewear here. The entire continent of Africa. Who? Don't know her. Never met her Scandinavia. What? Like.
00:36:10
Speaker
It's just crazy. and so love watching these movies because it challenges my ignorance and it really highlights my ignorance and my curiosity because I'm so curious. And then I sit in front of a microphone and go, oops, I did not carve enough time.
00:36:26
Speaker
I mean, that I obviously like we're not pretending that we like have knowledge that we don't have. And um i do. I mean, obviously, like you're you have to get interested in in something somehow. So like seeing these movies is is a way in if that is your entry point. Like it is a way to get interested and then learn more. so totally. And that's like the beauty of of costume is that this is like a shared language, right?
00:36:51
Speaker
Most. Human cultures have the impulse to to cover your body for whatever reason. So all of us have been exposed to clothing. And so that is a common trait that we have in every culture.
00:37:05
Speaker
And then like independently, so many human people... were able to to create textiles from crazy stuff to to discover weaving and then to interchange in positive and negative ways.
00:37:21
Speaker
But like, I mean, just the history of silk in in Asia and the different types of silk, like maybe I've talked about this before, but when I first went into college to study this, I did not know that there were different types of silk. And maybe there's a listener here that we're The only silk you've ever seen is like the light floaty silk or maybe the only kind you've seen is like a heavier silk that has like slubs in it, which are the the lumps.
00:37:47
Speaker
um But there are different weights and different types of silk. And I feel like there's so many on display and this. Yes. Yes. This is a wonderful like this is like a slideshow. Yeah. yeah Right. Okay. we leave the Peony Pavilion. Yeah.
00:38:07
Speaker
I'm so sorry to leave, but we do have to go. Yeah. And
Costume Symbolism and Character Development
00:38:10
Speaker
so this is a period of the movie, which I kind of call like the escape, like road trip. Yes. Jin and May are escaping. They're running away. And um it's part of Jin's...
00:38:25
Speaker
Trying to get information out of May because he's still suspicious. And so he's still working as a constable and he's trying to win her trust. And he keeps meeting up with other constables and all this other stuff. Fighting violently and also super violently. Yeah, like pretend violence, sometimes real. But like, yeah, he's basically like pretending to want to join the House of Flying Daggers, I think. Yeah.
00:38:51
Speaker
He's like, i I've been betrayed by my countryman and over it now. Right. And I love his outfit. for Like he's in this outfit for the rest of the film.
00:39:04
Speaker
And what a delightful outfit to choose. like I love it so great oh much. Because this is a perfect example of having – so many different textures in like four garments.
00:39:20
Speaker
Right. And so it's like the, I just like loved looking at the clarity of the shots of like his, from the back, from the front and seeing the depth of the embroidery, seeing the texture of the fabric that makes up the majority of his coat again. yeahm sorry. I don't know the name of the garment.
00:39:38
Speaker
And, um like, the the style, the cut of it, the freedom of movement that he has, the the way that this garment is, like, so obviously well made, like, for the character.
00:39:50
Speaker
But also it's like, this is a great escape outfit because it's good for any temperature. yeah And then he has a little dummy one for May. know. Yeah.
00:40:01
Speaker
Dresses up like a young fellow. ah similar color palette, but distinct. But like, I think the the first moment that we see it, he like breaks into the the police station essentially to break her out of jail. And he's coming in like masked, very sort of like ah rogue vigilante kind of like vibe. But he's in this like beautiful, like deep body.
00:40:28
Speaker
purple and like plum and like yeah blue and it's not what you would do in an American movie you would be in all black 100% yeah all black or like browns you know something yeah to go Indiana Jonesy, like, right, more camouflage, you'd be trying to hide. yeah And in this case, it like highlights this character that he's pretending to be, which is just like a regular guy. It's just like, I don't I can't disguise myself.
00:40:59
Speaker
Why would I Like, love that we've moved through certain colors already, right? Like we had these deep blues, varieties of blues. We had bronzes, all the floral colors, all the rest of the colors everywhere. We had the greens of the constables. We had the the echo game outfit for Chalmé. And now we have, yeah, like you said, these plums, these like rich purples mixing in with blues. It's just like... And...
00:41:28
Speaker
That hat. Their hats are so amazing. I was trying to find out what the hats were called and I couldn't find like any information like about what they were. But just looking at the construction of them, they are so interesting. There's nothing like that that I'm familiar with in terms of like the shape and like how they... Yeah, because they're soft caps.
00:41:58
Speaker
little chin strap and then there's like the little tap like there they're such an interesting shape that i wanted to see like what are the pieces that you sew together to make a hat like this yeah because there's soft Yeah, they're soft. They don't have horse hair.
Choreography and Costume Integration in Fight Scenes
00:42:14
Speaker
And so it's like there are traditional hats um for these periods that do have horse hair and are like super peaked. These are peaked caps. And um I'm so sorry. I'm about to absolutely mispronounce the hell out of it. But like the hats that that um the constables are wearing, ah believe, are Zhau Poutou?
00:42:37
Speaker
is what they're called, but they're like a head covering head wrap um as early as the Jin dynasty, but they go into the Tang and Ming and um they're ones without like super big things happening.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah. And then like, so this kind of has the spirit of that, but without the si slope, the rigidity. Yeah. Yeah. Without the rigidity, they have like a little bit, at least maze has like a little bit of a slope and a tie over the crown of her head. And then it goes into a little peak, but Jin's doesn't seem to have the same shape.
00:43:12
Speaker
It has a tie, but it's not – like it doesn't – Untied? it's um It is tied in some scenes. Yeah. They just fit a little bit different, but they are –
00:43:25
Speaker
cool designs. Yeah. They're interesting in this whole movie have like a wonderful lifespan going on. Thank you for calling those out. I just was like, I want one except like, I don't feel like it's right for me to have one. Cause I don't know what it is and what it means. Like I shouldn't own one, but I do want it yes And it's like, if this was just creatively made up for the film, that would be neat. Because I was like, ooh, how did you get there?
00:43:56
Speaker
but like, i um i don't I don't know. Something about it, I was like, I think it's real. Or at least like based on something real. But I don't oh i don't know for this. Totally. And it's like, this is, we say it in almost every episode. This is where it would be so nice if like there could be in-depth you know um interview with the design team because like this is where that that sadness comes in about the ignorance of like Western audiences, right? Is because...
00:44:23
Speaker
I understand that you wanted your Western audiences to be able to distinguish between these two actors, so you had to figure that out. But it's like, I really wish that there were the possibility to educate Western audiences by including more information, which is why i do love it when films have like the behind the scenes and then they have interviews with people to talk about stuff. Because if you're showing this to an Eastern audience, if you're showing this to a Chinese audience,
00:44:47
Speaker
ah Chinese audiences have been exposed to Han Fu. They have probably been exposed to like all these pieces, could name all of these pieces because of knowing and learning their own histories, um having traditional practice, whatever exposure they may have ah in a way that you and i could look at a medieval English yeah person in a painting and go, this is what this is, this is, this is, this is. And we could probably narrow it down to the era.
00:45:14
Speaker
It would be so nice to have that kind of um information supplementing something because I feel like that would that would genuinely educate so many folks. Just be like, now I'm being exposed to this regularly and I can like pick up off of this. And not only am I understanding how you got here through design, but I'm understanding that you were emphasizing the time period. and Right.
00:45:37
Speaker
Yeah, but it would be nice to to know because then we could understand more about where they were heightening and fantasizing certain elements and where they were sticking to like history. And it would just yeah I would love to know more.
00:45:51
Speaker
There's so much you and I are missing. because we don't have this information yeah so we're filling in context um based on other parts of the storytelling um okay so we've we've gone through the escape we've seen more of the soldiers and this escape culminates in a capture which uh is aided by a rescue in a bamboo forest and in the trivia on imdb um They do talk about that Yimujang, it's like a traditional thing to have um bamboo forest fights.
00:46:23
Speaker
yeah And so he was like, yeah, I got to stay in the tradition. And so he added the scene in the bamboo forest. Oh, my God. It was such a great decision because now we have – Our two main characters who are in this moment, Mei and Jin, and they are standing out. You cannot hide in all of this green, wearing these like purples and and blues.
00:46:47
Speaker
um Being chased by the constables who are in green and who are like Yeah. And using bamboo like trunks as spears. Like it's crazy. They are climbing them and throwing like they're everything. They're the environment and the weapon. Like they're everything.
00:47:07
Speaker
And then. Mei and Jin are saved by the House of Flying Daggers. And now we have them in the greens that are linked to the bamboo forest, it yeah where the constables are in greens that are helping them to be camouflaged, but it's not the same green as this forest. no It fits better in the forest we see before this and like different areas. By the way, this this movie was filmed in Ukraine except for the bamboo forest. I know. i That was so interesting. i was like, it i wondered why if it was just like better access to landscapes that were right, but like easier to film. Who knows? But I was like, no.
00:47:49
Speaker
Interesting. But then, I mean, you find out movies get filmed in like crazy places. So yeah yeah, it was just beautiful. Oh, so beautiful. Like it was, it's always amazing when you have this relationship with color where you can have one color, but so many different tones and, And like shades that are that are separate and separate people out. So the constables are very much not welcome in this forest. And you can tell because they're like trying to control their hiding places. You can still see them coming.
00:48:22
Speaker
And then the House of Flying Daggers come and they have so many textures and textiles yeah happening. um They have these like braided Oh.
00:48:36
Speaker
ties oh Yeah. On their sleeves. Yeah. That are different greens and like tans, I think. They're like, look like, um no, maybe it's just the hats. the But yeah, that the bamboo. It was I was like, are things being made of actual like reed material? Obviously, like the hats were but I don't know about the sleeve. I i don't know about that.
00:48:58
Speaker
Yeah, I think that those were different fabrics to look like the reeds. That sounds right, yeah. And like the belt is like that. Like anything that could be used as a tie is like braided together. And there's like this lighter kind of, depending on the photo, it's a little bit like olive-y, like a yellow-y green.
00:49:18
Speaker
um And then like a bright, like young bamboo green. yeah. It's so bright and not what you would think of as camouflage. No. Because usually you think of something as camouflage has like no saturation. yeah Brown, black and white, like white and gray.
00:49:38
Speaker
And this is just like, no, you could hide. You could fool me in this forest. Yes. And that is the thing that is like actually – actually true about camouflage it just has to match the environment that you're in whatever that environment is and um yeah it's completely off topic but I was looking at a thing online recently that was talking about tigers and how you wouldn't think that
00:50:09
Speaker
A tiger would be camouflaged in like a jungle setting because they're orange and the jungle is predominantly green. But the things that the tiger is trying to hunt don't see those colors.
00:50:22
Speaker
So the stripes blend the tiger into the environment and the orange and the green like don't register for their prey. So they are very camouflaged. So...
00:50:33
Speaker
crazy I know. It's so crazy. It's so crazy. And like, i mean, just natural camouflage the way that it has evolved. Yeah. Bonkers. Yeah. And then, yeah, people's understanding. So like what a cool challenge, right, as a designer to go, okay, there's going to be this like – pretty beautiful bamboo fight scene that's going to have these three different you know factions, right? yeah And we need to be able to differentiate the House of Flying Daggers and the Constables.
00:51:03
Speaker
And we also need to be able to hide in this like beautiful, beautiful like ancient forest. Yeah. And like, cool, I get to do whatever I want with whatever fabrics I want. And like the House of Flying Daggers, they are not stripped of ornamentation because their ornamentation is functional and part of their camouflage. But it is night and day to like the Peony Pavilion. And we find out that these are the people from the Peony Pavilion.
00:51:31
Speaker
This is their day job. This their regular job. And they are... Within these rebels, I don't know, but within this faction people.
00:51:44
Speaker
Social justice warriors. These SJWs. With this group of people, there are different levels. Yeah. And you can tell based on the different levels.
00:51:57
Speaker
tones of green and ornamentations and also how how much and how little you see someone's face with their headwear. you know it's like Because we have like an ultimate leader who we never see really.
00:52:10
Speaker
Very anonymous. Yeah. And like the madam, air quotes, who wasn't really a madam, she's high up in this organization. And she's like, oh, you thought that I really was one. yay I it. Good for me.
00:52:25
Speaker
And um then just like the Peony Pavilion, we have you know the the level of people who are all wearing the same thing because they're all wearing. one They are there to do the job and the job is you know, their mission. Yeah. um Very, very rebel soldier. Very.
00:52:45
Speaker
of i just like, I, I loved this. And this is the last thing that may is going to be wearing for the rest of the movie. um Like you said before, Jen is still going to be wearing his escape road trip clothing. And is,
00:53:01
Speaker
ah even though we find out that he is a member, basically the house of flying dragons and he was a spy with the constables, he is still wearing the constable clothing yeah and he will wear this until the end. And yeah so it's just like, we don't have 5 million costumes in this movie.
00:53:22
Speaker
No, we really don't. Yeah. We, We don't have just like three. We do for our main our main characters. They are not wearing constant shifts. They do have some changes, but it's not constant.
00:53:34
Speaker
And so it's really about impact in this movie. It's about enjoying... um the the The dye, the fabrics, textiles, the weaving. the weaving Oh, okay. That's another thing. is that The House of Flying Daggers, their camouflage wear is not just like silky or like loose and flowy.
00:53:55
Speaker
There's knitwear involved i well as the braving. was going to ask. you if yeah that layer is that crochet or knit because I knit in you crochet yeah I do both but yeah oh well yes you do both you do both my I think of you as the crocheter thank you um I'm actually not sure because I didn't look close enough. And so I'm just i couldn't calling it knitwear.
00:54:19
Speaker
yeah It could be crochet because the loops are so big. And like it's really it's really ah beautifully – it's a beautiful garment because it it feels like it's – larger loops and like I was not close enough to see knit or crocheted loops. No, I couldn't either.
00:54:37
Speaker
I would love to know because what a cool pattern. it look It's almost like a lattice kind of thing, but it's it's it's organic looking. It doesn't look like, it looks like it could have been, you know,
00:54:49
Speaker
knit or crochet from an organic matter and yeah it's not but it's just like it's so perfectly camouflages as vines or some other thing that's growing somewhere yeah and it's just like what a cool thing to throw in there and then that's under the like robes yeah outside uh-huh it's just kind of see it here for a like on the neck for yeah most people, but you obviously you see more. And you would assume that it's because it has such airiness to it that it wouldn't be super, super hot either.
00:55:22
Speaker
So it's like very practical and it's very much a part of the camouflage. And so we just have so much weaving, braiding, braiding. like crochet or knit and like so many different things that are sewn like just so beautifully with like embroidery and like beading all these different things that are happening are just really beautiful and because we don't have five million different costumes there's time for these loving details and to be applied yeah and um and time for me as the viewer to look at them because like yeah to enjoy them yeah like our last episode on Marie Antoinette like there is a massive amount of costumes in that movie but some of them you see them for like three seconds and then you never see it again and you don't even get a chance to like really like absorb but much other than like the general sense of it but like these ones you can you get time to like look at them And you get full body shots. You get from the side. You get from the front. You get close up. And it's like that's always like a complaint for me. Like um big, big franchises is that they have budgets to make incredible work.
00:56:30
Speaker
And you just never get to see it unless yeah they take those costumes on tour to a museum or like have them housed somewhere where you can actually look close up. I have a quote from Emi Wada from I think it's the IMDb.
00:56:46
Speaker
I don't remember. It might be the variety article. It might be the variety article. Yeah. ah From the first script to the final script, it had changed six times, says Wada. Each time I had to design different costumes.
00:56:59
Speaker
In the end, i had no time to draft the costume designs. So I had to work on making costumes with no draft design. Wow. So these costumes are the result of a ton of change and no...
00:57:15
Speaker
No design to communicate to your costumers. Wow. so has to talk in Just talking. talking. Just a different way. And probably like research. Yeah, of course. Yeah. But like, what was that process like? Yeah. That seems really intense when you're working with what I can only assume are like be custom embroidery pieces and like things because obviously like like especially the members of the House of Flying Dagger that are all in these like greens.
00:57:47
Speaker
there I mean, there's differences among them, but there's a lot of similarities. So it's like that obviously is being like made. Someone's making that. So you're going in and being like, I want it to be like this, but also kind of like that and not having it like drafted out to hand to an artisan to start like embroidering.
00:58:09
Speaker
That's got to be kind of scary. And like we know from the hero movie that Emi Wada was very... detail oriented so much so that she had a specific type of water brought in to interact with her dyes to achieve the red that she wanted for a portion of that film and so it's like to to have such uniform colors yeah you have to either find that fabric and get the whole dye lot
00:58:40
Speaker
um Because even if it's the same color, every lot is going to come out different to all of our knitters, crocheters, embroiderers, everybody out there. yeah keep Keep records of your dye lots if you're very particular. There's a reason. It's printed on the tag. oh It's to save you some agony later when you're like, wait a minute.
00:58:57
Speaker
And so it's like either that had to happen or, yeah you had to have at least – some framework within that time to be like, do you want this to be green? Okay. How about this green?
00:59:10
Speaker
ah Which green? We're going to dye the fabric and then we'll figure out what the fabric will be. You know, like, I wonder if those costumes were, happy those conversations were happening because even on IMDb, we only have one costumer listed aside from designer.
00:59:27
Speaker
Right. right Only person. Right. one other person i I mean, it's simply not true, but that's the only person that we know. Just not true. And again, this they they could be even listed in the credits of the film.
00:59:42
Speaker
i don't know. Because like sometimes things don't make it to IMDb. And also when they're international films, sometimes things don't make it to IMDb. It's pretty crazy. Yeah, and I think different – I don't know if different countries have different rules about how – like who gets in the credits and why and how they're listed and all that. Like I don't know.
01:00:03
Speaker
Additional crew on IMDb, we have a massage therapist listed. Okay. So it's like if we're if we're putting our caterers and our massage therapists, people who did work, if they're getting in there, then where are the rest of our costumers?
01:00:17
Speaker
Question with a shade. like Where's the rest? oh i'm like It's like doing the like middle school teacher thing. like I'll sit here and wait as long as it takes. I'll wait. It's like Rong Huang is the wardrobe supervisor and that's the only person who's listed.
01:00:33
Speaker
so it's like even if this was, you know, Certain things were contracted out through different costume houses where you like hire business. company. a company to do these things.
01:00:45
Speaker
I would love to know the names of those companies. Right. Well, like somebody else was on set besides this one person getting people dressed and keeping things organized.
Climactic Scenes and Poetic Costume Impact
01:00:55
Speaker
I mean, could you imagine two people? just this is the result of two people and one of them is only listed as a supervisor which means they were just watching like sad absurd city so i i had like a whole roller coaster of emotions like what yeah um silly beans and so okay
01:01:20
Speaker
I don't even like know where to go from here except for the end, which um our main three characters, Leo, Jin, and Mei are still wearing their respective symbols, right? That's what these costumes have become because like the whole time they were representing different things, right? Jin was running away and running towards something that he could take seriously and believe in. And he, you know, ended up really caring about Mei.
01:01:46
Speaker
And um so he is this, no loyalty except to himself and may really. Cause he's not really trying to become house of the flying daggers. No, not really a cop anymore. Yeah. He's like in a position where he's not a cop anymore because he's had to kill other constables in order to survive and make it to the house of the flying daggers. So that the fake mission became real.
01:02:09
Speaker
So his costume, the escape road trip is kind of representative of him being outside of these two factions, right? And so the two factions are represented by May as House of Flying Daggers and Leo, who is House of Flying Daggers, but became ah constable. And he also has this, the the twist that we find when he when we find out that he was House of Flying Daggers is that he and May have had this long love.
01:02:36
Speaker
yeah But it's big it's twisted for him into jealousy and like ownership. of May and they've been a part Yeah. So it's sort of like he's lost the plot a little bit on their relationship, I'd So he's in this, he's representing the thing that he was originally trying to fight, which is this this power that just wants to take.
01:03:04
Speaker
And so he is in his uniform as a constable. He's not given a new outfit when he returns to the House of Flying Daggers because he still needs to hold the... the illusion kind of.
01:03:15
Speaker
And so we have these three like i iconographic costumes and we put them in this field. And apparently because it was filmed in Ukraine, it started to snow before they were ready for it. They didn't know it was happening. And so this end scene, this last fight between the three Was not meant to be this way. And they just like shifted.
01:03:41
Speaker
is so cool. It's so cool. It's crazy that it was an accident. It starts. It looks like this fight starts in the fall and ends in the winter. Because everything is fall.
01:03:54
Speaker
And then. They are in winter covered in snow like yeah instantaneously. And it highlights their their clothing so well because they stand out so starkly against that white snow. Yeah.
01:04:10
Speaker
And they like color treated it a little bit, I think, for the trees to warm up some like that underneath the snow so that they had a little bit of that plum kind of color to them, the rust even, um which kind of ties them to both Jin and Leo. Yeah.
01:04:27
Speaker
And then contrasts with the green of May. And it's crazy at the end when they're like, you know, because they're like really, really fighting. And the blood on the snow is such a strong, like visual about like the brutality and like violence of this situation. And it's like, that wasn't the original plan. I know.
01:04:47
Speaker
I know. like you And it's just like, just so beautiful. And it's just like, more and more of this color. And these characters are tearing each other apart. And it's like, May's allegiance has shifted from Leo to Jin.
01:05:02
Speaker
And so there's this kind of like, three-way positioning of Jin, who's been stabbed, stabby, stab, stabbed a lot by Leo. And Leo has been stabbed, stabbed, stabbed, stabbed by Jin. They're bleeding freely.
01:05:17
Speaker
May was stabbed by Leo as she was riding her horse. And she had this... cuff on her hair. Oh my God. was also bamboo and it's just this like woven bamboo cuff. And it's like that detail didn't have to be there. And I'm so glad it was. Yes.
01:05:38
Speaker
And it's like honestly so genius because I'm like, I would have never thought to. It's just like this little thing that just gives so much more depth to the culture of this woman, to the to the people that she has connected herself to.
01:05:53
Speaker
And so these three people are basically bleeding to death. Like yeah they're they're not going to make it out of this field. Right. It's like the only question is who, like, you know, someone's going to make it out of the field. So it was like, who is it going to be? Yeah. But they're, they're not going to survive for sure.
01:06:09
Speaker
And so we have this like blood drop, you know, go in the air instead of a knife and Leo drops because he's just been stabbed and Jin like runs to May and he's holding her and their colors just like melt together in the snow in this like beautiful way because his are more, they're very, very deep and like beautiful and rich colors, but they're they're more muted.
01:06:34
Speaker
than the green of her right yeah it's very vibrant green and so it's just like that vibrancy also kind of like to me represents their their like love triangle where it's like she's so bright that the two of them are so drawn to her and so it kind of makes sense for her to be the brightest thing there and because she's just so much cooler than them she's just so much cooler Cooler than them. And she's like, she's a diehard. Like she believes in what she's doing like so much. And like, she's just so cool.
01:07:07
Speaker
It's so annoying to me that I'm like, these guys, these guys are not worth it. They're not good enough for her. i feel like I'm her dad. And I'm like, honey, these boys are not good enough for you. like It's so frustrating to me ah because this is so common in films where I'm like, this woman is so much better than these men and she's the one that gets sacrificed.
01:07:34
Speaker
I hate it. She has to sacrifice herself or whatever. And it's just like... I know. Dumb. she should have been able to stand up and walk out of this field.
01:07:45
Speaker
Like, love is stupid. Dumb. And so, Jen, as he's like cradling May while she's bleeding, and so there's like blood, more blood in the snow and the green and the plum and the purples and the blues. Yeah.
01:07:59
Speaker
um He's reciting this poem that's actually like ah an old ancient poem. Okay. So yeah, it's an ancient poem set to music. It was written by the brother of an imperial concubine about his sister.
01:08:13
Speaker
And it was meant as a cautionary tale to the emperor about overindulgence in female beauty. the same time, it acknowledged that the lasting hurt of a powerful love.
01:08:25
Speaker
One of the quotes from the poem is that a glance from her will overthrow a city. Another glance will overthrow a nation. One would rather not know whether it will be a city or a nation that will be overthrown, as it would be difficult to behold such a beauty again.
01:08:40
Speaker
So either way, like Something's getting overthrown. And it kind of feels a little bit like Jyn is representative of the nation and and like um Leo's representative of like the city or vice versa where it's like yeah they have like a loyalty to something specific and she is like in between them.
01:09:00
Speaker
And it's just like, okay. Yeah. Okay. But like this this whole poem recitation as everybody's dying because we see Leo like stumbling off in the distance and then falling to his knees and then falling to the ground.
01:09:15
Speaker
Yeah. And like the snow is falling, all of this stuff. They're all going to be covered in snow and just like kind of wiped into the- Wipe away. Yeah. Yeah. Into the- Into history, like into the past, into, yeah. It's just like ah so horrifically tragic. But it's also the beauty of these costumes enhances the way that it feels like a painting and the way that it feels poetic.
01:09:41
Speaker
It just like it feels almost like a dream. And it's just like just such a beautiful set of costumes for this film.
01:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was so beautiful. Like, I didn't really know what to expect out of the story, like at all when I started the movie. um I didn't know anything about the plot, and I didn't know anything about what I was going to see. And um yeah, it was beautiful, beautiful work, wonderful to see. And really, um yeah, the story existed through the costumes, for sure.
Reflection and Teasers for Upcoming Episodes
01:10:19
Speaker
yeah so it was stunning so yeah it was just like it these are just great examples of this genre of movie because i feel like the budgets are so big and they're also friendly because they were premiered not premiered but they were shown in cinemas in the u.s so it's like you have some familiar faces like zhang zhi and like and la And, you know, it's a good entry point for this genre, if you would like to to see these kinds of things, because there's in Wuxia, just Hanfu all over the place in different ah dynasties, different eras.
01:10:59
Speaker
And it's like beautiful kind of like crossing into fantasy ah historical costuming. And this is a great example of that. So I recommend. Yeah. And the stories are so um and like epic, universal, like these themes of these stories exist in every culture because we recognize them characters.
01:11:25
Speaker
any human like so it's they're good um way to enter into like a different genre because it's very you know Greek tragedy Shakespearean like blah blah blah like things that we would recognize here in the US as being like these big epic stories so it's sort of like you can understand all the characters even if you you know, and don't know anything about it. Like I didn't.
01:11:48
Speaker
We are gearing up for our PAX experience. I think this episode actually might come out after. Okay. So then nevermind. already happened and we killed it and it was. Yeah. Oh my God, you guys, it was so good. like You had to be there. Like I didn't crowd dive But Melinda did. was just carrying to like, cheers, you know, this was the best hour of our life. And like, we've got so many new friends. And like, the only reason that Ariel didn't dive into the crowd is because she was in charge of the confetti cannon. And so she was shooting confetti into the crowd the whole time. One hand confetti cannon, the other one a t-shirt gun. Like, boom, boom, boom. Like, just, just merge everywhere.
01:12:38
Speaker
Oh my God. Telling, definitely telling the truth. A hundred percent. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. It's been really fun going through this season and we only have a couple more left.
01:12:51
Speaker
Please join us with our next episode. As we head towards the end of our season, we still have a handful of films left to cover. um We are going to be talking about Tale of Tales, which is a movie that came out in 2015. It's a fantasy horror movie that was co-written, directed, and co-produced by Matteo Garon, who is a director I do not know.
01:13:14
Speaker
but it stars Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, and John C. Reilly. And it's based on a collection of fairy tales by the Italian poet Gian Battista Basil. um So it seems like it's going to be kind of weird.
01:13:28
Speaker
weird Because the poster that I know Salma Hayek, I believe, eating a heart. Cool. Okay. Blood all over her mouth.
01:13:39
Speaker
So um I think that this is going to be a very surreal, like, you know, fantastical and based in something we talked about.
01:13:50
Speaker
Western costume that is historical. I'm excited to see how this one goes. Yeah. Please. This might be the first movie that we've done this season that neither of us has seen before. Yeah, we have not seen it.
01:14:04
Speaker
So we are, I think, yeah, most of the rest of our season, neither of us have seen except for one. Yeah. One of us has been exposed to before.
01:14:15
Speaker
Right. um So this is, this is nice. We're in this like total discovery period. Cool. Tale of tales. um It is not the 1979 animated Russian film.
01:14:26
Speaker
It is not animated. Okay. Just case anybody's looking for that. um All right. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. See you then. Bye.