Chinese director Zhang Yimou is a superstar and there is no mistaking that when watching his latest film Full River Red. It's an almost impossibly lush film in its production values, with money bleeding off of the screen in every shot. In previous outings, he used this to experiment with whatever tickled his fancy at that moment, be it color as a narrative tool in Hero or digital multidirectional sound in House of Flying Daggers. His Shadow (reviewed here) made every shot look like a painting in black, white and red while keeping a realistic aesthetic. Which brings the question: what is he trying out this time? His latest film dumps us straight into a political cesspool. The setting is a fortress with a large...

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