HOUSE OF LYING DAGGERS

[lisab]

IMO, Leo didn't care about killing Jin, he only wanted Mei dead. So she *had* to throw her dagger. He pretened to throw so she would throw hers.

She threw because she believed he was going to kill Jin, but weakened from her wound she missed her mark.

[gob]

Leo tells Jin that Mei is the love of his life. To him, dying by her hand would be fitting.
It's the old "If I can't have you, no-one can" ploy, but carried one further. I am not sure that Leo really wanted her dead - he just didn't want her to prefer Jin, and couldn't understand how she could appear to throw away his devotedness for a bloke who had previously been a bit of a playboy, one who in the past, hadn't shown that he was capable of a deep and honest love.
It was a good end.
My favourite scenes were Jin whispering to Mei that ..'she knew he was there - but she said nothing', and his look as he understands how he has been deceived when he realises Mei was not blind, and that she was playing a part also. When Jin begs her to go with him, my heart breaks.
When Jin collects the flowers in the field it is such a very blokey thing to do, and it reminds me of something very similar that my husband did for me - a long time ago.
The fight scene between Jin and Leo is amazing. Neither is prepared to give in, and you can see them getting more and more tired, and their swords are showing the wear and tear. In the end, it is just a matter of one trying to outlast the other.
I am sorry that my copy (the one available in Australia) does not have commentary or outtakes. I think I may have to buy a region 1 DVD.
I put it on recently and skipped forward a few scenes without selecting the preferences properly, and for the first time I heard the dubbed voices - it was vile! I don't know how anyone can prefer to hear dubbed voices instead of the actors' own.

[iodred]

I have a question because I still watch this scene and I don't understand it. When it comes to the big showdown and Mei says if Jin dies Leo dies by her hand and Jin is walking towards her, why does she have this look on her face?? It doesn't make any sense..can anyone explain that to me???

[kris]

iodred, their love for one another is so deep that one would give up his/her life for the other. jin is telling mei it is too late for him and for her to save herself and mei is willing to give her life to save jin. i dunno how else to explain it...hope that helps.

gob said:

I put it on recently and skipped forward a few scenes without selecting the preferences properly, and for the first time I heard the dubbed voices - it was vile! I don't know how anyone can prefer to hear dubbed voices instead of the actors' own.

i agree. i was curious so i put the english voices on and totally DID NOT like it. my son could not stop laughing....he just found it so hilarious that they were not speaking chinese. i really couldn't stand it....not hearing tk's voice is just painful to my ears.

[iodred]

But she is shaking her head like she's saying no don't do it, liek in a very desperate way

[kris]

^because jin is sacrificing his life for her's

[iodred]

I don't think that is the reason because she knows that she is not gonna throw the dagger to kill Leo, I understood that this was a decision she made before Jin started to move towards her. I mean it's nice that he is sacrificing his life for her ( so she wouldn't pull the dagger out) but does that influence her actions in any way??? Sorry for my not understanding...

[maya]

Iodred,
I think you are right in saying that Mei threatened but did not mean to kill Leo. She just wanted Leo to back off from throwing that sharp knife at Jin. Somehow, Jin did not understand her in that tense situation, and thought that she meant it. So he walked towards Leo, hoping that if Leo would kill him quickly, then Mei would see that there's no point to pull the knife out (and kill herself in the process) to kill Leo with it. The problem was that when Jin did so, Mei realized that she now had to make good on her threat because there was a greater chance that Leo would go ahead and throw his knife since he felt threatened by Jin's approach. Thus the climatic event ensued... What do you think?

[iodred]

ok this is very confusing, Yes she made a thread but she never had the intention to make it come true not even when Jin started to walk towards her. Her intention was to stop Leos Dagger...right?! her Expression makes no sense to me because she never had the intention to kill Leo or to pull the dagger out. lease somebody...where are the HOFD Super experts

[gob]

iodred - I think that Jin would have done anything to prolong Mei's life. He did not want her to sacrifice herself for him, and he did not trust Leo to be honourable because he had already stabbed Mei, and was a traitor. It is the greatest gift, to put yourself in harm's way to protect the one you love. Mei did not want to kill Leo, even though he had stabbed her, but she did want to save Jin. Huge issues for overwhelming passions.

[shabushabu]

lisab said:

She threw because she believed he was going to kill Jin, but weakened from her wound she missed her mark.

the first three times i watched the movie i thought she missed because of her being wounded but after i watched it like a trillion more times, the drip of blood from the dagger that Leo "faked" throwed at Jin hit the dagger that Mei threw. so im guessing that she meant to hit the dagger out of the way.

It is on right now on STARZ!!!

[Samanosuke]

Wow this thread is popular.

[kris]

^ of course it is.....this movie kicks a**!

it's THE ONE........

....how i discovered and fell in love with this man.

[kris]

has anyone watched the movie with the comments from zhang yimou and ziyi zhang on?

i watched it in it's entirety recently with the commentary on and it's interesting how the director interprets everything. they also talk alot of behind the scenes stuff and quite a bit about takeshi.....always joking about his broken leg.

for those who've been confused about the final scene, you should def. watch it with the commentary on, yimou and ziyi explains it well.

[sreyda]

Hey fellow takeshians!

I, too have been reading everything here obsessively since, .... HOFD! Yeah I just saw it recently and I loved the movie! Needless to say Takeshi really stood out. I haven't posted anything since I'm a new fan and ya'll seem to know so much more than I did! I just went out and bought the DVD and I'm in love with the special features- especially the Commentary section. Kris is right, it explains a lot.

One of my favorite parts from the commentary between ZZ and the director was when they started to talk about the 1st lovemaking scene between her and TK. ZZ was talking about how both of them were very nervous and TK asking her afterwards, "Did it hurt?" She said that yes her teeth really hurt because they kept on bumping into each other. The Director then started laughing and said that that was because they were both bad kissers- if they were better there would be less teeth and more tongue!