House of Flying Daggers Opens in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal Dec 17th

It’s 859AD, and the Tang Dynasty is in decline. Many rebel armies are forming in protest, the most prestigious being the House of Flying Daggers, which continues to operate mysteriously, even after its leader is killed.

Two police captains, Leo (Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau) and Jin  (Taiwanese pop idol Takeshi Kaneshiro), are ordered to capture the new leader within 10 days. Leo suspects that a blind dancer named Mei (Zhang) is the daughter of the old leader. He hatches a plan to have Mei arrested, then rescued by Jin, who will earn her trust and find out where the Daggers’ headquarters is. Jin and Mei soon warm to each other. But if this is true love, why are there plots in their heads… and secrets in their hearts?

As for the action scenes, the New York Times says two in particular are "likely to become classic reference points, cherished like favorite numbers from ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ or ‘An American in Paris.’" One is an "echo game," that involves beans and drums. The other is a fight that unfolds in a bamboo forest, with battles happening simultaneously in the air and on the ground.

And then there are the daggers that twist, plunge and soar through the air! The soundtrack – a subtle blend of Chinese and Western music – is by Shigeru Umebayashi (Zhou Yu’s Train). It is available in Canada through Sony Music. Zhang Yimou is a versatile director, beginning with his forbidden-love dramas  (Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou), moving on to his peasant stories (The Road Home, Not One Less), and now switching to the action genre (Hero and House  of Flying Daggers, both co-written by Zhang Yimou, Li Feng and Wang Bin).

House of Flying Daggers is in Mandarin with English subtitles. The film is being released in Canada by Mongrel Media.