Note 1: Learn the history background of this movie first is really important for people to better understand this movie, especially for people living outside China. Note 2: Shanghai was the birth place of not only CPC but also of CPC intelligence services, Director Cheng know his history very well. He let his heroes live in the movie whilst in real live most of them died . Note 3: the life prawn is a popular Shanghai dish -- Drunken Shrimp, normally the shrimps were alive but deep asleep, very yummy 🤤. The whole cast and crew of this movie is super strong, director Cheng is famous for meticulously paying attention to details and very particular, even the rain maker was an expert in rain making. This is so far a Cheng Er movie at it's best. 😎
The Zhange interview scene to me was brilliant. I found Leung’s smile made me uneasy, his eyes were terrifying. I was so on edge watching it. I knew when the part about the gun came, who’s it was and how he got it, the shift in his eyes, I knew the guy was screwed. Then they show the one small dot of blood, it was brilliant. As a side note, Wang Yibo is in real life terrified of bugs etc, the shrimp scene made him very nervous. They offered to do it with the shrimps not moving but because it would look better alive he did it.
Thank you for the review.....Hidden Blade is a movie worth to be watched.....all the artists did a great job especially young actor Wang Yibo's remarkable acting skills excessed every audiences expectations......👍👍👍👏👏👏
Thank you very much for the Hiden Blade Review, Tony Leung is a legend in Chinese cinema and an excellent actor and the new movie actor Wang Yibo is a spectacular idol. He has done good police dramas as well as historical ones. In the future for your next films please also do a review. Thank you very much for the video and your analysis of the film. Greetings from Peru.
Good review! Some comments -- Director (also the writer) Chang was asked about the non-linear sequencing and he commented that it was how he wrote the story as a person's recollection normally jumps around in time. The rib discussion was about how Yibo ate most -- indicated Wang's displeasure that Japanese army was favoring Yibo with higher position. I think eating the drunken shrimp (Shanghai delicacy) in the HK restaurant was the director's setup for a potential sequel with Yibo as an old Shanghainese undercover in HK. Sheep in the film represented all living creatures were "sitting ducks" in that era.
Please I want to watch hidden blade so badly, it's kinda surprising they release it USA & Canada when there is no news about the SEA release. All the good reviews make me desperate to watch it as soon as possible.
Glad you liked it, I’ve seen it twice, and I loved it. You missed one of the big players-the Wang puppet government. Wang and his followers broke with the Kuomintang to collaborate with the Japanese, looking for a peaceful resolution to the Sino-Japanese War. They were the ones Tony Leung worked for in Shanghai (while being deep undercover). I personally enjoyed the nonlinear storytelling, but I did gain a deeper understanding after my rewatch. Beautifully shot film, with strong performances by the cast.
In real life, you reflect in retrospect. The question is can you see yourself in that era and now, think and engage your mind? It isn't a one-watch move but one that requires an understanding of the past and a quick mind. This is an aesthetic film and spy, so it can't be a plain interpretation. Hidden Blade is a must-watch and an engaging and intelligent movie 👍👏
Very insightful comments. I think the director really likes this style of non liner story telling, which can be confusing if you miss a scene or two. The film really demands your full attention ( so hard in a ADHD era). The conversation is subtle and the action is exciting. Every shot is beautiful and even the dogs are great actors.
Just came out of the theater in San Diego. Loved it!! I’m from Shanghai, and grew up in a Cantonese community of the city. Both Shanghainese and Cantonese were spoken in the film. Perhaps the familiarity has made a difference.😊
Happy you liked it. I think the director hit the nail on the head this time. I was the opposite on the non linear construction. I felt this structure added to the film and gave it a real punch. It kept you focused and waiting for explanation. As soon as I saw the blood spot on his shirt, I knew what happened. I think we are too used to getting every detail in many movies, especially American films. In essence, we are babied. This took us to another level of thinking ahead and then seeing backwards with explanations. It's time we used our brains to connect dots and not have everything handed to us and this film did this brilliantly. There were visuals that were understood only by Chinese audiences and we missed some of that and the symbolism as well. This is not new in International films. I thought the cards overhead telling the year etc. really helped with the non linear structure and it was the black outs in between scenes that gave us the clues we were about to see what really happened. The long con was amazing. It worked perfect! As far as the women were concerned, I felt they did a great job as spies but as females, were limited and used. Just a sign of the times. They were tough and played their roles well but as women, were too fragile to be of the same caliber of help the males were offering and thus fell prey to the dangers. I would give it 5 live prawns in a bowl.
Watching it I love it and as you said, you have to stop for a second that’s how good it was to figure out who was on what side what way movie was done difficult to figure who is on what side I was blown away
I just re-watched it today, and noticed that when director He interrogates Mr Zhang, he started to write down Mrs. Chen's name BEFORE Zhang speaks about Mrs Chen, hinting that he knew who these people are already.
exactly like what i think, shanghai in 40s just like Berlin in 30s, fascinating. i don't want to live there but i want to be there, just have a look and go back asap🤣
the live shrimp is a traditional shanghai dish, you still can find it in some old fashion shanghai cuisine restaurant even in hongkong. i think the eating live shrimp scene also show some anti war spirit. you can tell he still is a young/soft man somehow, but he have to be cruel to survive and finish his mission. war change people.
I feel I was too busy looking at the subtitles and missed a lot of the details in the film. I really enjoyed the acting, the fighting scenes and the interesting dialogue. I will go watch it again to catch as many details as possible that Cheng Er hid in the movie. The Bund", is a TVB hugely popular show back in the 80s. Not many historical or political references in it. It's about gangsters in Shanghai. The most talked about part was the romance line in this TV series.
I watched the movie with my mom today. The non-linear style definitely required me to increase my brain power a bit lol but i eventually caught on, no problem. As someone who knows the gist of that time period, I felt i should've read up on it more before going into this movie to have an idea on the "who's who? or what's what?" Still, overall it was great. I also want to watch it again just to make sure I didn't miss any details. That part about the raw shrimp dish in Kowloon Tong. That's actually a Shanghainese Drunken Shrimp. I dunno if that's a delicacy back then (or still is?) lol only way to find out...find a Shanghainese restaurant in HK and ask them if they have that. lol Anyways....you guys going to review the other Tony Leung movie, which also stars Aaron Kwok called Where the Wind Blows? Tony's performance in Hidden Blade was amazing and I have no doubt he'll be amazing in that one as well.
I like the pacing and non-linear storytelling because you figure out that the beginning of the movie is actually after the fact and then comes back to Mr. Ye leaving the restaurant of his former partner and then you see what happened. The storytelling goes from beginning of the war in 1937 then jumps to 1945 and how the death of the Japanese Imperial prince puts the nail in coffin of the Japanese led government in China. The jumping back and forth has its purpose. You have to focus. I hate the audience wants to be spoon fed everything and cannot handle something as brilliantly complex as Mr. Ye's and Mr. He's memories. It's like a destructive blossom unfurling until it reveals the truth. This is why the movie needs to be revisited. I would love to see it again in the theater but that means a three hour drive so I have to wait for streaming. From what I've read from British Military reports of that time, the Japanese who were in China didn't know of the devastation of Japan from the US. There is a lot of history in the movie, except for the Imperial Prince who I couldn't find a record of on other than one who ended up taking his own life. (I'm still curious historically.) I've watched Chinese Republic drama The Disguiser and enjoyed it, but this movie made me more curious. I think this is a part of history that is vital yet missing from classrooms.
J’ai vraiment été impressionnée par son travail ! Tony est formidable et Wang Yibo était magnifique en lui donnant la réplique. Je ne savais quoi à quoi m’attendre, mais wow. Son expression de fou m’a terrorisée
For me, it was really interesting to see a lot of short scenes for the first part, and then see the same scenes, but longer and with more detail... You get everything until the very end. The use of mirrors as a reflection of the characters and their struggles is awesome. It isn't a usual movie, but it was thrilling and the acting was very good and there were so many details to see. It's a movie to watch more than once.
I *loved* this. Yes, the beginning in particular was confusing, but the performances were *so* compelling. World weary Watanabe, ever smiling Director He, Ms Chen both resolute and then weeping in her husband's arms, creepy, creepy Mr Wang going after his buddy's girl, and the only barely holding it together by his fingernails Mr Ye. I saw it a second time in order to answer some of my lingering questions, and it really rewarded a repeat viewing.
Spoilers below for the ending I think the scene at the very end with him shooting Mr. Wang point blank and announcing that he is a Communist was unnecessary, because to the best of my recollection, we don't see that character again after they have that confrontation and it can be inferred that Mr. Ye killed his partner for sexually assaulting and killing his ex-fiancee and is now working "alone". For a movie that comes at you fast and hard at first, it really does waste scenes at the end checking to make sure that everyone understood the message. By that point half our theatre had stood up and were ready to go because we had thought that the movie had ended and didn't expect a Marvel-esque post credit scene (I guess everyone is doing those now!) Even tonally, the scene before that (which I believe was Mr. Ye paying respects and Mr. He revealing himself in Hong Kong, but I could be misremembering) felt like a natural end of the movie. The flashback felt tacked on and, I think, weakened the ending's effect.
Tony Leung has another new movie with Aaron Kwok, Where The Wind Blows. I am not sure if you could watch it there but if you could, hopefully you would review that one too.
![When You Have A Main Role Who Gives Up Her Goal... Homesick Final Review (spoiler time coded) [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yj32jbDbEjo/mqdefault.jpg)
Note 1: Learn the history background of this movie first is really important for people to better understand this movie, especially for people living outside China.
Note 2: Shanghai was the birth place of not only CPC but also of CPC intelligence services, Director Cheng know his history very well.
He let his heroes live in the movie whilst in real live most of them died .
Note 3: the life prawn is a popular Shanghai dish -- Drunken Shrimp, normally the shrimps were alive but deep asleep, very yummy 🤤.
The whole cast and crew of this movie is super strong, director Cheng is famous for meticulously paying attention to details and very particular, even the rain maker was an expert in rain making. This is so far a Cheng Er movie at it's best. 😎
The Zhange interview scene to me was brilliant. I found Leung’s smile made me uneasy, his eyes were terrifying. I was so on edge watching it. I knew when the part about the gun came, who’s it was and how he got it, the shift in his eyes, I knew the guy was screwed. Then they show the one small dot of blood, it was brilliant.
As a side note, Wang Yibo is in real life terrified of bugs etc, the shrimp scene made him very nervous. They offered to do it with the shrimps not moving but because it would look better alive he did it.
Thank you for the review.....Hidden Blade is a movie worth to be watched.....all the artists did a great job especially young actor Wang Yibo's remarkable acting skills excessed every audiences expectations......👍👍👍👏👏👏
Thank you very much for the Hiden Blade Review, Tony Leung is a legend in Chinese cinema and an excellent actor and the new movie actor Wang Yibo is a spectacular idol. He has done good police dramas as well as historical ones. In the future for your next films please also do a review. Thank you very much for the video and your analysis of the film. Greetings from Peru.
I love your understanding of the title "Hiden Blade"
Good review! Some comments -- Director (also the writer) Chang was asked about the non-linear sequencing and he commented that it was how he wrote the story as a person's recollection normally jumps around in time. The rib discussion was about how Yibo ate most -- indicated Wang's displeasure that Japanese army was favoring Yibo with higher position. I think eating the drunken shrimp (Shanghai delicacy) in the HK restaurant was the director's setup for a potential sequel with Yibo as an old Shanghainese undercover in HK. Sheep in the film represented all living creatures were "sitting ducks" in that era.
Please I want to watch hidden blade so badly, it's kinda surprising they release it USA & Canada when there is no news about the SEA release.
All the good reviews make me desperate to watch it as soon as possible.
Glad you liked it, I’ve seen it twice, and I loved it. You missed one of the big players-the Wang puppet government. Wang and his followers broke with the Kuomintang to collaborate with the Japanese, looking for a peaceful resolution to the Sino-Japanese War. They were the ones Tony Leung worked for in Shanghai (while being deep undercover). I personally enjoyed the nonlinear storytelling, but I did gain a deeper understanding after my rewatch. Beautifully shot film, with strong performances by the cast.
(Steve here) Thanks Pam, and I think I will appreciate the film more with a second viewing
Yep really four political sides involved.
In real life, you reflect in retrospect. The question is can you see yourself in that era and now, think and engage your mind? It isn't a one-watch move but one that requires an understanding of the past and a quick mind. This is an aesthetic film and spy, so it can't be a plain interpretation.
Hidden Blade is a must-watch and an engaging and intelligent movie 👍👏
I really want to watch Hidden Blade😻😻😻💚💚💚
Thank for your detailed reviews 💚
💚💚💚💚💚
Very insightful comments. I think the director really likes this style of non liner story telling, which can be confusing if you miss a scene or two. The film really demands your full attention ( so hard in a ADHD era). The conversation is subtle and the action is exciting. Every shot is beautiful and even the dogs are great actors.
Stunning work💚 really like《Hidden blade》
Just came out of the theater in San Diego. Loved it!! I’m from Shanghai, and grew up in a Cantonese community of the city. Both Shanghainese and Cantonese were spoken in the film. Perhaps the familiarity has made a difference.😊
Highly recommend this movie. It's one of those movies that need a second and third viewing for easter eggs.
I envy you whoever can enjoy Hidden Blade on cinema while I can only dream on ...when will this amazing movie come to Indonesia ?
Nice reviews, it's totally worth to watch more than one times to dig out more behind meanings in the movie.
Can't wait to watch the movieeeee, Hidden Blade is a truely movie!
Happy you liked it. I think the director hit the nail on the head this time. I was the opposite on the non linear construction. I felt this structure added to the film and gave it a real punch. It kept you focused and waiting for explanation. As soon as I saw the blood spot on his shirt, I knew what happened. I think we are too used to getting every detail in many movies, especially American films. In essence, we are babied. This took us to another level of thinking ahead and then seeing backwards with explanations. It's time we used our brains to connect dots and not have everything handed to us and this film did this brilliantly. There were visuals that were understood only by Chinese audiences and we missed some of that and the symbolism as well. This is not new in International films. I thought the cards overhead telling the year etc. really helped with the non linear structure and it was the black outs in between scenes that gave us the clues we were about to see what really happened. The long con was amazing. It worked perfect! As far as the women were concerned, I felt they did a great job as spies but as females, were limited and used. Just a sign of the times. They were tough and played their roles well but as women, were too fragile to be of the same caliber of help the males were offering and thus fell prey to the dangers. I would give it 5 live prawns in a bowl.
(Steve here) Wonderful review and thanks for watching!
I love the way you review the movie, I'm so excited to watch this movie in the future, wishing it'll release in other countries as well.
Just cant wait for this movie going to be released in HK..❤🤩🥰😍
Watching it I love it and as you said, you have to stop for a second that’s how good it was to figure out who was on what side what way movie was done difficult to figure who is on what side I was blown away
Good review glad you liked HiddenBlade
I just re-watched it today, and noticed that when director He interrogates Mr Zhang, he started to write down Mrs. Chen's name BEFORE Zhang speaks about Mrs Chen, hinting that he knew who these people are already.
Love your review. Hope you could find more details when you watch it next time.
exactly like what i think, shanghai in 40s just like Berlin in 30s, fascinating. i don't want to live there but i want to be there, just have a look and go back asap🤣
I feel like I’m the only one who hasn’t watched the movie and I really want to watch it the same way others are watching 😢😭💚💚
the live shrimp is a traditional shanghai dish, you still can find it in some old fashion shanghai cuisine restaurant even in hongkong. i think the eating live shrimp scene also show some anti war spirit. you can tell he still is a young/soft man somehow, but he have to be cruel to survive and finish his mission. war change people.
I feel I was too busy looking at the subtitles and missed a lot of the details in the film. I really enjoyed the acting, the fighting scenes and the interesting dialogue. I will go watch it again to catch as many details as possible that Cheng Er hid in the movie. The Bund", is a TVB hugely popular show back in the 80s. Not many historical or political references in it. It's about gangsters in Shanghai. The most talked about part was the romance line in this TV series.
That is why I plan to watch it again
I watched the movie with my mom today. The non-linear style definitely required me to increase my brain power a bit lol but i eventually caught on, no problem. As someone who knows the gist of that time period, I felt i should've read up on it more before going into this movie to have an idea on the "who's who? or what's what?" Still, overall it was great. I also want to watch it again just to make sure I didn't miss any details.
That part about the raw shrimp dish in Kowloon Tong. That's actually a Shanghainese Drunken Shrimp. I dunno if that's a delicacy back then (or still is?) lol only way to find out...find a Shanghainese restaurant in HK and ask them if they have that. lol
Anyways....you guys going to review the other Tony Leung movie, which also stars Aaron Kwok called Where the Wind Blows? Tony's performance in Hidden Blade was amazing and I have no doubt he'll be amazing in that one as well.
Good review! I'm still hoping to see it.. hope it gets screened in the other countries too.
超好看!
Just watch it. Definitely recommend
Thank you. Agreed that the director is a bit overused of the non-linear scenes. Other than that, no complain. Good movie!
I like the pacing and non-linear storytelling because you figure out that the beginning of the movie is actually after the fact and then comes back to Mr. Ye leaving the restaurant of his former partner and then you see what happened. The storytelling goes from beginning of the war in 1937 then jumps to 1945 and how the death of the Japanese Imperial prince puts the nail in coffin of the Japanese led government in China. The jumping back and forth has its purpose. You have to focus. I hate the audience wants to be spoon fed everything and cannot handle something as brilliantly complex as Mr. Ye's and Mr. He's memories. It's like a destructive blossom unfurling until it reveals the truth. This is why the movie needs to be revisited. I would love to see it again in the theater but that means a three hour drive so I have to wait for streaming.
From what I've read from British Military reports of that time, the Japanese who were in China didn't know of the devastation of Japan from the US. There is a lot of history in the movie, except for the Imperial Prince who I couldn't find a record of on other than one who ended up taking his own life. (I'm still curious historically.) I've watched Chinese Republic drama The Disguiser and enjoyed it, but this movie made me more curious. I think this is a part of history that is vital yet missing from classrooms.
Its a great movie !! Must see 👍👍👍👍👍
Nice review！
I'm so jealous rn. The movie is not showing in Europe yet and I want to watch it so badly.
merci que tu aimes le cinema #wangyibo bon
J’ai vraiment été impressionnée par son travail ! Tony est formidable et Wang Yibo était magnifique en lui donnant la réplique. Je ne savais quoi à quoi m’attendre, mais wow. Son expression de fou m’a terrorisée
For me, it was really interesting to see a lot of short scenes for the first part, and then see the same scenes, but longer and with more detail... You get everything until the very end. The use of mirrors as a reflection of the characters and their struggles is awesome. It isn't a usual movie, but it was thrilling and the acting was very good and there were so many details to see. It's a movie to watch more than once.
Ribs may symbolize his fiancee, just as Eve was created from Adam's rib.
So wonderful 🎉🎉😊😊
I *loved* this. Yes, the beginning in particular was confusing, but the performances were *so* compelling. World weary Watanabe, ever smiling Director He, Ms Chen both resolute and then weeping in her husband's arms, creepy, creepy Mr Wang going after his buddy's girl, and the only barely holding it together by his fingernails Mr Ye. I saw it a second time in order to answer some of my lingering questions, and it really rewarded a repeat viewing.
I've watched this movie twice! So stunning!
Feel the great shock in the calm.
👍👍👍 perfect
Thanks for your review :)
Spoilers below for the ending
I think the scene at the very end with him shooting Mr. Wang point blank and announcing that he is a Communist was unnecessary, because to the best of my recollection, we don't see that character again after they have that confrontation and it can be inferred that Mr. Ye killed his partner for sexually assaulting and killing his ex-fiancee and is now working "alone". For a movie that comes at you fast and hard at first, it really does waste scenes at the end checking to make sure that everyone understood the message. By that point half our theatre had stood up and were ready to go because we had thought that the movie had ended and didn't expect a Marvel-esque post credit scene (I guess everyone is doing those now!) Even tonally, the scene before that (which I believe was Mr. Ye paying respects and Mr. He revealing himself in Hong Kong, but I could be misremembering) felt like a natural end of the movie. The flashback felt tacked on and, I think, weakened the ending's effect.
Tony Leung has another new movie with Aaron Kwok, Where The Wind Blows. I am not sure if you could watch it there but if you could, hopefully you would review that one too.
Movie was outstanding. Absolutely gorgeous picture
Such an amazing movie
THE BUND is the TV show that put Chow Yun Fat on the map for the first time.
There is a TV series Disguiser starring Hu Ge, Jin Dong and Wan KaiI recommend you watch it. Same setting same time period
Hidden blade is similar to Lee Jung Jae’s Hunt
It’s very pretentious, the director’s non linear fashion of story telling, which didn’t work here.