Truthfully, I was going to see “Limitless” last night until I saw that a Chinese film was currently playing at a theater nearby as a limited engagement. So I decided to go see the film “The Butcher, The Chef and the Swordsman” (2010) instead, and in a way I was both pleased (since there was no crowd) and disappointed that such a refreshing approach to Chinese cinema almost came ignored in the U.S.. Based on the short story by An Changhe “Legend of the Kitchen Knife” … more
Star Rating: The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman is a cataclysmic mess – a story that seems intentionally made to be as aggressive and incoherent as possible. Here is a film that isn’t edited so much as slapped together from spare parts and held in place with duct tape; insane characters come and go as they please, subplots are plied one on top of another like so many dirty clothes, and it tries to be all things to all audiences by cramming … more