A father figure in contemporary Chinese cinema, controversial avant-garde auteur Tian Zhuang Zhuang is back with a rewarding work of fearless art. A departure from his free-spirited early works and the cautious intimacy of his later films, The Warrior and the Wolf is the captivating adaptation of a short story by the prolific Japanese writer Yasushi Inoue.
In the Era of the Warring States, before the unification of China, thousands of soldiers are dispatched to fight the enemy and conquer nomadic tribes. Sent to remote regions at the edges of the known world, the soldiers encounter many adversities, and the brutal challenge of survival often brings out the worst human instincts. But valiant Lu Chenkang (Joe Odagiri) belongs to a different breed. He is brave, loyal and extremely skilled in the art of war. Nevertheless, he is kind-hearted and averse to murder. Though he has a pet wolf cub, he keeps his own animal instincts at bay.
When his commander and friend, General Zhang Anliang (Tou Chung-hua), is badly wounded just before the incipient winter, Lu takes over command of the troops. Forced to find shelter in the village of the mysterious Harran tribe, he discovers a beautiful young woman (Maggie Q) hiding in his refuge. A widow shunned into solitude, she has a fierce personality and fights Lu in every way she can before surrendering to his passionate embrace, having fallen for him against her better judgement. She seems to possess the strange ability to take his mind to a place where memories collide with dreams and legends – a place where humans were once wolves.
The convincing performances of Maggie Q and Odagiri – two of today’s most beloved Asian stars – bestow a touch of modernity to this epic tale of wild humanity. Painted with a wide palette of emotions by a master of cinema, the story unfolds at a quiet, pensive pace that stands in stark contrast with the violence of the battle scenes. Aesthetically thrilling and wonderfully passionate, The Warrior and the Wolf is a treat for the eye and an enthralling journey into a magical past. —tiff.net
Tian began as an amateur photographer and as an AC at the Beijing Agricultural Film Studio. He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982, together with a cohort of Fifth Generation directors which included Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. One of Tian’s most renowned works is The Horse Thief: like many of his early works, it is about ethnic minorities in China, and American director Martin Scorsese named it as his favorite film of the 1980s. Tian’s work has also drawn fire from the Chinese government, especially The Blue Kite, a film about the adverse effects of Communist rule: the Hundred Flowers Movement, the Great Leap Forward and especially the Cultural Revolution. Footage of The Blue Kite was smuggled out of the country; Tian has denied complicity in the act. After a hiatus of some nine years, he returned with a critically acclaimed remake of Fei Mu’s famous film Spring in a Small Town (1948), often referred to in English as Springtime in a Small Town (2002) to differentiate it… read more
