The soulful masterpiece about the self-realization of our place in this world
I saw this film two weeks ago and I'm still under the strong impression. Overwhelming and powerful are two words that can best describe the experience watching this work of art. All is brilliant -- the direction, screen-play, performances, cinematography, the inspiring musical score by renowned Kenji Kawai...Certainly, there are motifs from other films -- "Seven Samurai" or "Musa" -- but they are organically interwoven in the canvass of Tsui Hark's film.
This oeuvre, like other recent films by Tsui Hark, is a result of a happy amalgamation, a synthesis of Western and Chinese cinema traditions, which does not happen often.
The film is profoundly artistic by its symbolic nature and defying of the genre traditions and developments in terms of the characters or the story, but at the same time it's incredibly entertaining. This is also achieved not least by a careful choice of details and self-reflecting images and meanings. It just didn't take me so long to realize that all the 7 warriors actually mirrored the seven basic behavioral variations of the human personality.
What's quite neglected by most of the people who watched this film that it's a film that strictly falls into the art-house territory except for a few concessions that happen to side with the populist cinema. Calling it an experimental avant-garde film would be more appropriate. But i can't shake off the impression that most of the people who are watching this film just wrongly expecting the traditional wuxia film with clichés of a popular action genre. Let me advise you all: this is NOTHING like you've seen before. This is the first the most essential exploration of the spirit "xia" you could witness here.
I saw the film in a 3-disc DVD edition, and the only disappointment was the subtitles and mandarin dubbing. The English translation is sometimes too inexact and leaves too much dialogue untranslated.
Of course, the best is to see the film in Cantonese. But even if you do not speak Cantonese, try to see this film, because it is a masterpiece of a universal value, which transcends the language barriers. Watch it with an open mind.
I wish that all people on earth had that rare chance to see 'Seven Swords'. Then, maybe, they would've come to realization that every human being on this planet has the certain given destiny and valuable purpose in their life. Moreover, either we can be those who help or the ones that are desperately waiting for such help or in other words, for the celestial beam of the redemption and reconcilliation to our sore sinful past.
Thank you Mr. Tsui Hark, thank you very much all who made this excellent film! 10/10
I found a new purpose in my life, thank you.
score 10/10
WildflowerBll 30 May 2006
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1381647/35590
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