25 March 2007

Genghis Khan flick

Tonight I saw the Japanese production 青き狼 (Blue Wolf), a film about Genghis Khan. I still couldn't understand every detail of the dialog, but it certainly was a riveting story. Afterwards I was pretty curious how much it corresponds to what we know from history... in general, it turns out, quite well (at least per Wikipedia), the major elements of the story are all part of the historical record for Genghis' early life (the movie ends when, after unifying the Mongol tribes, he begins his invasion of China).

The movie is nicely production-designed, and has an interesting history. It was produced by Haruki Kadokawa of the Kadokawa publishing house, who also made the surprise hit about the battleship Yamato last year. I can't comment in detail on the story, but it does have a little bit of the feeling of someone who saw "Crouching Tiger" and said, "I wanna make one of those." Good for hiim, though -- the mounted warfare scenes are great, and the scope of the movie is awesome.

Disclosure department: Before I arrived, Polygon Pictures worked on a few shots for the movie. We had credits and everything!

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