Full River Red [满江红] (2023)

This is Zhang Yimou’s latest historical epic, the longest (159 minutes!), and arguably weakest, of his recent films. It has, however, done very well at the Chinese box office, rivalling Wandering Earth II over the New Year holiday period.

It is set in the Song dynasty (1146). An emissary from the rival Jin empire to the Song prime minister Qin Hui [Lei Jiayin] has been murdered and the letter he was carrying has disappeared. For unconvincing reasons, an ordinary soldier Zhang Da [comedian Shen Tong] and his superior and uncle (although he is younger) Commander Sun [Jackson Yee] are charged with finding the missing letter.

This leads to a complicated (and largely pointless) plot of cross and double cross with characters (almost always men), swathed in a blue-grey sheen, discussing incessantly the ins and outs of the obscure plot. The film introduces numerous characters, many of whom are killed soon after.

Director Zhang and his co-writer Chen Yu (Snipers) mistake tedious dialogue for plot/character development and plot twists for drama.

The best part of the films are the frequent transitions as the characters – often shot from above – hurry down the narrow streets from one place to another accompanied by raucous music. Otherwise it’s like watching a very long and ponderous episode of Poirot where all the characters are men and the plot makes even less sense than normal.

Yue Yunpeng and Zhang Yi as potentially duplicitous officials Lords Wu and He are stand-outs on the acting front but otherwise it’s all a blur of faces and much mugging from Shen Tong. Wang Jiayi – in her first feature – performs creditably as Yaoqin, the token woman, but Jackson Yee mainly looks out of place.

The Chinese title Man Jiang Hong is taken from a famous lyric poem attributed to the Song dynasty general Yue Fei which becomes a McGuffin of sorts. This poem – a call to unite against a common enemy – is recited towards the end of the film. The English title is a literal translation and so does not mean very much since the poem is unknown in the west and we never see a river of any sort.

It gets a reasonable 7.2 on Douban and I have no idea why. Even the dubious nationalism (typical of Zhang’s recent films) is so buried in the film that it is hard to see it as a major attraction.