This movie surprised me. I thought Shadow was going to be a typical martial arts/Wuxia movie with people flying around. But I was wrong. Shadow is not really a martial art/Wuxia movie. Rather it is a historical thriller with lots of twists and turns in the story and the characters. The cinematography is beautiful to look at, especially on the blu ray. In this movie, the costumes and set pieces were all colored in black and white. This is not a black and white movie, but the black and white color contrast produced a stunning look to the cinematography and it resembled the Chinese Ink Wash paintings. In an video interview, the director said he used black-white color palette and its dynamics to express his view about the human nature, that people are complex and they are not black and white. It is very interesting how he uses the visuals and the colors to communicate the philosophy behind the story. This is a cinematic master piece, but don't go into this movie expecting a fast-paced action film because Shadow is more of a historical drama with some actions in it. This movie will make you think a little and it gets better with multiple viewings.
Review of Shadow
