White Wedding

When Ms. Spenser has to work on a movie night, I usually stream a Chinese martial arts flick, like White-Haired Witch (2014). I like the genre more than she does, plus the Chinese soundtrack doesn't distract her. Some of these are better than others - this was quite good.

I can't really tell you the story. It involves a Chinese kingdom at the end of the Ming dynasty when corruption is rampant. Our hero is trying to get along with the imperial court, but is framed for the death of the emperor. Meanwhile, our heroine, Fan Bingbing, is leading the fight against the corrupt officials and the Manchu (I guess?). Anyway, she is flying around on wires and kicking assorted butt.

That's probably all you need to know about the plot - maybe all I took away. It's one of those complicated ones, with lots of history-lesson narration and mystery characters. Also, I fell asleep a few times. I even missed when her hair turned white.

But the thing I liked about this movie was the look - the peaceful terraced valley, surrounded by mountains, temples and waterfalls. The ancient stone inscribed with the Sutra of Apathy (?), shot from the bottom of a koi pond. So what if the koi were computer generated? So what if most of the most beautiful scenes are CGI/greenscreen? They are still beautiful.

This isn't as beautiful and strange as Bride with White Hair, a movie this is somehow related to (same source material?). Still, it's very nice to look at and fun to watch. Ms. Spenser now wants to watch it with me.