Reviews from both sides of the Pacific have dismissed The Banquet as a silly extravagance. Zhang, who is seen as something of a dragon lady, does little for the film's popularity on the Chinese mainland, yet abroad she is--for some inexplicable reason--the biggest box office draw China has ever known.
Which is why Feng and his screenwriters have shifted the focus of Shakespeare's tale from Hamlet to Gertrude, thus giving Zhang more screen time. That said, this shift in emphasis makes the story considerably more dynamic than Shakespeare's original. In Feng's version, Empress Wan is not Hamlet's mother, allowing the film to neatly sidestep the Oedipal undertones and thereby providing the rather young actress some credibility in the role. At the same time, Zhang's character retains a degree of moral ambiguity which bodes well for its reception in the West where moral ambiguity is enshrined as a great literary virtue.
Yet in China, where wuxia is a firmly established, well-defined genre, local audiences understandably like their wuxia films to have clearly distinguished heroes and villains.
Actor Daniel Wu, however, feels that wuxia is not the issue. "I don't think The Banquet is a kung fu film; it is just an interesting drama which concentrates mostly on the story."
It's a story that Western audiences find almost unbearably long. Chinese audiences, on the other hand, object to the overly wordy dialogue. At the press screening, there were titters of laughter throughout at some of the more excessively pompous scenes, many of which fell to Emperor Li (played by comedy actor Ge).
There are other smaller problems that contribute to the film's unevenness. For instance, the Tang dynasty setting looks like a pastiche of various different styles and eras. The dance that Wu Luan and his troupe perform looks for all the world like contemporary Japanese Butoh, but is actually based on a little known form of Chinese ritual entitled Nuo. Explains composer Tan Dun: "We wanted to interpret Chinese ancient costumes in a creative way based on philosophy and culture. The Nuo Drama was brought over to Japan during the Han Dynasty, but has all but disappeared in China.
China's cultural diaspora aside, this aesthetic mishmash results in confusion. Many elements, such as the art-nouveau candelabras, seem out of place as does Tan's musical score--a hodgepodge of classical Chinese, contemporary new age and Broadway show tune genres.
Despite these faults, the art direction is nothing short of spectacular with lush sets and elaborate costumes featured in nearly every scene. The cinematography too is gorgeous, employing deep, vivid colors, striking textures, and breath-taking lighting, slyly augmented by just the right amount of camera movement.
The acting is also generally very good--despite the heavy, awkward dialogue with which the actors are burdened. Though we're far from being a fan, it must be conceded that this is one of Zhang's best performances.
Paradoxically, both Chinese audiences who will shun The Banquet and Western critics who laud it are correct in their respective judgments. Though the film has many merits, Feng's fatal flaw is catering too much to the taste of Western audiences. As a result, the elements which might have won him Chinese audiences, and contributed to the film's universal appeal (and its longevity) are lost. Call it a tragedy, if you will.
