Well, I admit that I am a fan of Zhang Yimou's movies, but this film seems to me inept, ill-paced, tedious, poorly edited, and somewhat propagandizing in overall feel. Yes, some of the imagery and cinematography is stunning, yes, Li Gong is fabulous, but altogether, it doesn't seem to add up to much. There are long stretches of film with literally no movement at all, no narration, no sound (usually the last thing about which I complain!), and nothing happening. The lack of continuity or explanation of events makes for a disjointed story. It isn't helped by the extremely inept English subtitles which accompany the copy I viewed from my local library. I hope someone will release a version with a decent set of subtitles. Honestly, most of the international students I know, including those from China, could do a better job of translating the subtitles.
All in all, this film seems promising but extremely amateurish, a quality which seems to endear it to those buffs of "art films".
All in all, this film seems promising but extremely amateurish, a quality which seems to endear it to those buffs of "art films".