Painted Skin: The Resurrection
Wuershan
The story: The fox spirit Xiaowei (Zhou Xun) needs a human to willingly give her a heart so that she can become mortal. She comes between princess Jing (Zhao Wei) and general Huo Xin (Chen Kun) in a triangle of love and lust.
In Gordan Chan’s Painted Skin (2008), fox spirit Xiaowei (Zhou) falls for general Wang Sheng (Chen) who is married to Peirong (Zhao).
The sequel or rather reboot reunites the main cast with Zhou reprising her role. But even though Zhao and Chen play new characters, there is a sense of karmic continuity as the three are entangled once again.
Princess Jing has been in love with Huo for a long time but he is reluctant to reciprocate because of their different stations in life.
After an accident in the woods which leaves her horribly scarred, Huo is sent to the western frontier to guard the Han Dynasty from the animalistic Tian Lang kingdom. Thrown into the mix is the appearance of fox spirit Xiaowei, who wins Jing’s trust and then bewitches Huo with her beauty.
In the end, she offers Jing a deal – a human heart in exchange for Xiaowei’s skin so the disfigured princess can win Huo’s affection.
In a fantastical setting, the film explores age-old questions about the nature of love by pushing things to the extreme and giving up one’s heart to love is taken literally.
Taking over from Hong Kong’s Gordan Chan, China director Wuershan (The Butcher, The Chef And The Swordsman, 2010) imbues Resurrection with a languid sensuality.
A key scene of Xiaowei and Jing swopping identities is languorously teased out as the two women get under each other’s skins in a steamy pool. What prevents this from tipping over into cheesy pervy territory is the fantasy element as the skin is removed and then put on as if it were a costume.
Striking visual effects are also put to good use elsewhere such as in depicting Xiaowei’s imprisonment in an icy abyss at the beginning of the film.
The cast is uniformly competent, from Zhou’s husky-voiced seductive spirit to Chen’s conflicted general to Zhao’s painfully-in-love princess.
Look out for 1980s Mandopop idol Fei Xiang, who is almost unrecognisable as a Tian Lang seer with a bulbous bald head and sunken eyes.
Going by his birth name Kris Phillips, the Chinese-American looker has made a gutsy move that might just resurrect his Chinese show business career.
(ST)