Paul Childs *Spoilers* I've seen a few reviews carrying the opinion that Cynthia wasn't in love with Itami but Xie Ming based on the final love seen, but it doesn't quite seem to fit. They talk about it being a year since they had a fling and it is expressed as being a physical thing. He sure doesn't cut it as a lover and for her sex is more a celebration of being alive in the midst of tragedy. There is however a moment of emotional intimacy but not such that I can conclusively tell if it expresses feelings of the moment or if there's anything more. The film hints at more emotional interaction existing with Szeto. Cynthia seems to be torn between her feelings for Itami, the ideology of the group, and her distaste for violence used by it (shooting of Szeto early on). Her desire to use him seems a thin veil for her compassionate side. I think she is trying to hold her cards and has feelings all round (Itami re: memories of an age of innocence in childhood, Xie Ming re: her ideological side, maybe even Szeto for having both shared the loss of a loved one) In the end any love she has for Itami seems to be made void as after he discloses that Japan has successfully invaded, her going with him to Tokyo could no longer be made as an act of love but as an act of self preservation. She also sees the same coldness in Itami that has distanced her from Xie Ming. Enter Szeto and we have the traditional Chinese love tragedy wrapped up. I feel the film didn't say much but left a lot open to interpretation and speculation. It can leave a viewer with any number of impressions based on how they see and identify with the feelings portrayed. Some may see it as complex, others straightforward, but all can take away something from it. My preference would be to have a more complete picture by filling in the back story rather than just centring around Cynthia and Itami, but it did tell a good story in a natural way.

dbainy-534-263253 The movie is set in 1930s China where the Japanese occupied China. It is a complex love story disguised as a spy thriller. I suspect the whole staging of the era and its circumstances is simply to illustrate an idea. "The idea that a new lover demands one to "kill" her old lover."What more convenient way to illustrate this than actually killing someone. But the act is merely symbolic. If the movie was set in modern times without the apparatus of physical murder, then it would take a long long time to illustrate the killing/erasing of an old love. In the movie, the main character played by Zhang Ziyi, realizes only after she has killed her old lover, she had made a grave mistake and she regrets. Only then, she realizes she loves him the most.Another interesting idea it illustrated is that -the mind and body does mysterious things. The main character betrays her true love by a cause she does not really believe. She follows the orders of a man who she doesn't really love. Strangers we are even to ourselves.

resvon I read comments about this being the best Chinese movie ever. Perhaps if the only Chinese movies you've seen contained no dialogue, long drawn-out far-away stares and silences, and hack editing, then you're spot on.Complicated story-line? Hardly. Try juvenile and amateurish. Exquisite moods and haunting memories? Hardly. Try flat-out boring and trite.This was awful. I could not wait for it to be over. Particularly when the best lines in the movie consist of "How are you? I'm fine. Are you sure? Yes." Wow! What depth of character. I guess the incessant cigarette smoking was supposed to speak for them.As a huge fan of many Chinese, Japanese and Korean films, I was totally disappointed in this. Even Zhang's sentimentally sappy "The Road Home" was better than this.

nanook-19 I'm not a big war film fan but I saw this film in spite of that fact primarily because of Zhang Ziyi's role in it. I'm split between this film and The Road Home as to which was her best role, but in both she made the character she played seem very real.The pace of the film was a bit strange, there are painfully slow moments and then explosive terror and emotional intensity. The contrast made the intense moments stand out far more than films which are just continuous action and it allowed time to really get a sense of knowing the characters.I wouldn't recommend this film to someone who is looking for an "action" type movie but for people who want serious drama set in a non-fictional historical setting which really focuses close-up on the human costs of war this film is excellent.