Quote Originally Posted by gRomoZeka
"House of Flying Daggers" was visually stunning, and I enjoyed watching it (even more so because it was filmed in Ukraine)
I was really surprised to see a birch tree forest in it, and the snow, it felt so familiar at once (сразу показалось что-то родное ). And then I read in wiki that it was actually filmed in Ukraine! Yay! I knew it! Родина-мать. Хоть я и не с Украины, но я тут различий не делаю. Все равно сразу видны родные пейзажи.

Regarding the script, I guess I'm a very visual sort of person, so I was so transfixed by the sheer beauty of it -- I didn't care so much about script inconsistencies, if there were some. Plus, it's so tragic in the end -- whenever I re-watch it, I feel this huge lump in my throat or just start crying... I'm rather emotional, yeah. Though I always thought that I'm a very reserved and calm sort of person. But I think Zhang Ziyi played it beautifully, she's an amazing actress, like her a lot... And then, there's this haunting music...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcXCq...eature=related It pretty much kills me, this music!

another version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvcRQ...eature=related

found it. It's called "Lovers" and it's sung by kathleen Battle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRWo8...eature=related

"The Hero" is just another story altogether. Also fantastically beautiful AND intelligent. I don't compare these two movies in terms of which one is better because their subject matter is totally different. HFL is about love... And Hero is about, well, heroism!

Quote Originally Posted by gRomoZeka
I must admit, that I do not like Indian or Chinese movies too much. All this singing, dancing and flying put me off since I was a kid.
Hmmm... To me, music and dancing are just narrative conventions to which I got used and totally embraced... It wasn't that easy but in the end it really depends on the movie. Sometimes the music and dancing are great and fit very well into the story, sometimes not. For me, they are still much easier to accept than, for example, such ways of storytelling as ballet and opera. I probably just had unfortunate experiences with those but a) I don't like operatic voices, too powerful b) can never understand what they're singing and the whole story is sining c) it's really hard to get into the story when Tatyana and Onegin are both over 40 years old and weigh over 100 kg!

Soviet films also have a lot of singing, like "Twelve chairs" or "Diamond Arm". Of course, we can actually understand those songs since they're in Russian. With Hindi movies, you lose a lot if you don't have subtitles for the song -- it may seem a bit boring because you don't understand the words but important stuff about characters is often revealed in songs.

Singing in old Hindi movies is indeed not great... But when it comes to modern movies, music is sometimes the best part of a movie! For me it's become a huge bonus! Great songs can't save the movie if it's bad but still they're something to look forward to. There was one film I saw recently, and the only thing I really liked about it was this one song --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIXz1...eature=related

I also adore this one, from Main Hoon Na, it always lifts me mood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy4Pz...eature=related

Another song which I like though I haven't actually seen the movie itself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmGS4I0XNj4

Fave dancing song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvgTM6gF6LM

And fave sad one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oAAVWeIAF4

Just fun songs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uPNwg4F9NU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHVrIq6aaB8