''Full River Red'' () is a 2023 period

comedy thriller film Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy and thrillers. Criteria They often include a darker tone, relative to other genres, of humor. List of comedy thriller films * '' The Big Fix'' (1978) * ''Charad ...

directed by

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 2 April 1950) is a Chinese film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retriev ...

, and stars

Shen Teng Shen Teng (born 23 October 1979) is a Chinese comedian, actor and director. Biography Shen Teng was born in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China in 1979. He attended the People's Liberation Army Academy of Art in 1999 and received a bachelor's degree ...

and

Jackson Yee Jackson Yee (, Chinese name Yi Yangqianxi, born on 28 November 2000) is a Chinese actor, dancer and singer. After a talent manager discovered him at a children's talent competition, where he performed a hip-hop dance, and signed to TF Entertainm ...

, alongside Zhang Yi,

Lei Jiayin Lei Jiayin () is a Chinese actor. He is best known for his role as Chen Junsheng in drama ''The First Half of My Life''. Lei ranked 62nd on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list in 2019, and 61st in 2020. Early life Lei Jiayin was born in Tiedon ...

and

Yue Yunpeng Yue Yunpeng (; born 15 April 1985) is a Chinese actor and ''xiangsheng'' performer, best known in film for portraying Zhu Tianpeng in ''Buddies in India'' (2017), Yue Yunpeng in ''Top Funny Comedian: The Movie'' and Li Shuaiting in ''Revenge fo ...

. It was released in theaters in China on January 22, 2023, the same day as the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...

Day. It is the highest grossing Chinese film in 2023. ''Full River Red'' is based on a meeting between the Southern

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

and the Jin Dynasty. It tells the story of a group of righteous men who sacrificed their lives to eradicate evil. Among them, the characters Zhang Da played by

and Sun Jun played by Yi Yangqianxi also have their own mysterious color, which makes people imagine endlessly.

Plot

The film chronicles a mystery case set in the beginning era of

Southern Song The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. ...

dynasty. It is set four years after

Yue Fei Yue Fei ( zh, t=岳飛; March 24, 1103 – January 28, 1142), courtesy name Pengju (), was a Chinese military general who lived during the Song dynasty, Southern Song dynasty and a national hero of China, known for leading Southern Song force ...

's death (around 1146). A mysterious murder occurs at

Qin Hui Qin Hui or Qin Kuai (January 17, 1090 – November 18, 1155) was a Chinese politician. He was a Chancellor of the Song dynasty in Chinese history. He was a contemporary of Yue Fei during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Song. Modern historians ...

's residence when he meets delegates from the rival Jin Dynasty. A soldier and a commander become entangled in a large conspiracy as one of the Jin envoys perishes and a confidential letter is reported missing. Righteous vigilantes are responsible for the incident and want to kill a suspected traitor.

Cast

as Zhang Da, a recruited soldier without rank *

as Sun Jun, the deputy commander of the guard battalion * Zhang Yi as He Li, the general manager of the grand chancellor bureau *

, the grand chancellor *

as Wu Yichun, the vice general manager of the grand chancellor bureau * as Zither (Yao Qin), a dancing girl and Zhang Da's love * Pan Binlong as Ding Sanwang, a Song soldier who dies * Yu Ailei as Liu Xi, a Song dynasty peasant who is stabbed to death by He Li's mandate * Guo Jingfei as Wang Biao, the commander of the guard battalion * Wei Xiang as Hadeng, a Jin envoy who is killed * Zhang Chi as Chen Liang, a Song soldier (left guard) * Huang Yan as Hu Yong, a Song soldier (right guard) who is sentenced to death (beheading) as tribute to the Jin dynasty * Xu Jingya as Lan Yu, Qin Hui’s mute and deaf maid. * Jiang Pengyu as Lüzhu, Qin Hui’s mute and deaf maid. * Lin Boyang as Liu Yan, a dancing girl who dies at the beginning * Fei Fan as Qingmei, a dancing girl who dies * Ren Sinuo as Tao Yatou, Liu Xi's daughter * Chen Yongsheng as a Song soldier * Zhang Yinan as Chen Xi, Song dynasty secretary

Special appearance

* Ou Hao as Zheng Wan, a Song soldier

Production

Development

The title is from one of the most famous poems

Man Jiang Hong ''Man Jiang Hong'' () is the title of a set of Chinese lyrical poems (''ci'') sharing the same pattern. If unspecified, it most often refers to the one attributed to the Song dynasty general Yue Fei. Poem and meaning Authorship controversy ...

attributed to

. Yue Fei was a military general of the

Southern Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

(1127–1279). He is a symbol of patriotism and loyalty to his country. However, Yue Fei was framed and executed by the Song emperor

Zhao Gou Emperor Gaozong of Song (12 June 1107 – 9 November 1187), personal name Zhao Gou, courtesy name Deji, was the tenth emperor of the Song dynasty and the first of the Southern Song period, ruling between 1127 and 1162 and retaining power as ret ...

along with Prime Minister

. Although the poem is attributed to Yue Fei, there are theories that Yue Fei did not actually write it. Some even say that the poem was written in a different time period (e.g. after the Song dynasty), citing the fact that Helan mountains and

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

are mentioned. The poem

is recited during film by Qin Hui's

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

in front of the Song army. Some characters (such as He Li) are based on the novel ''

General Yue Fei ''General Yue Fei'' () is a Chinese historical novel written by Qian Cai in the Qing dynasty. Consist of 80 chapters, the first 61 chapters detail the life and adventures of Yue Fei, while the last 19 concern the exploits of Yue Fei's son Yue Lei ...

'', written by

Qian Cai Qian may refer to: *Guizhou, abbreviated as ''Qián'' (黔), province of China *Mace (unit), or Qian, one of the Chinese units of measurement, equal to 5g *Qian (hexagram), the first hexagram of the ''I Ching'' *Qian (surname), a Chinese surname ( ...

during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. Some characters also share names with historical people from other time periods such as Lan Yu, a general who was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang during the early Ming dynasty, and

Lüzhu Lüzhu ( zh, t=綠珠, s=绿珠, p=Lǜ zhū), also called Liang (died 300) was an Ancient Chinese dancer, singer and music teacher.Lily Xiao Hong Lee, Clara Lau, A.D. Stefanowska: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 16 ...

, an ancient Chinese singer. The movie's slogan says, "Enough suspense, laugh to the end." At the beginning of creation, Chen Yu made it clear that this was a "suspense film" with elements of comedy, but it was not a combination of suspense and comedy. In the current film market, he regarded it as An exploration and attempt of "new mainstream movies".

Filming

The film officially announced that the filming began on June 26, 2022. The filming took place in

Taiyuan Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. ...

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

. It finished filming in August 2022.

Release

The film released the first trailer on December 27, 2022. On the same day, it also announced that the film was scheduled for release on January 22, 2023 in CINITY,

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

Dolby Vision Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. It includes dynamic metadata that are used to adjust and optimize each frame of the ...

and other formats. On December 29, 2022, the film released the list of full cast. On January 5, 2023, it released the character names of full cast.

Reception

Box office

The film made US$60 million on its opening day and US$181 million in its first three days, coming in behind ''

The Wandering Earth 2 ''The Wandering Earth 2'' () is a 2023 Chinese science fiction action-adventure film directed and co-written by Frant Gwo, and starring Andy Lau, Wu Jing and Li Xuejian. The film is a prequel to the 2019 film ''The Wandering Earth'', which is ...

''. In just 8 days, the film had made over US$465 million. As of March 18, 2023, the film is China's sixth-highest-grossing box office entry of all time and the highest grosser of 2023 Chinese New Year.

Critical response

On January 14, 2024, the film won the title of Most Influential Film of the Year at the 2023 Weibo Night; in February, it was nominated for the Best Asian Chinese Film at the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 16 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Full River Red Chinese drama films Chinese historical films Chinese comedy thriller films Chinese mystery films Films directed by Zhang Yimou Films set in 12th-century Song dynasty Films shot in Shanxi IMAX films 2023 in Chinese cinema