James Spader is an American actor — active since 1978 —, that initially found fame in Hollywood portraying charismatic, maladjusted and mysterious young characters, in movies mostly directed to teen audiences, like 1985 Tuff Turf and 1986 Pretty in Pink. Both movies gave him notoriety, and helped Spader in his road to consolidate a cohesive career as a professional actor.

A succession of moderately successful, accessible and friendly movies in the eighties established him as a talent on the rise, until 1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape — a movie where he plays the main antagonist, a sexually deviant and obsessed psychopath — definitely increased his profile, casting Spader to stardom, and earning him a Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. From then on, James Spader's career flourished, and he eventually became a household name. Since his first movie, 1978 Team-Mates, he has made more than forty films, so far. 

One of the most remarkable movies of his career was certainly 2000 The Watcher, where Spader plays the main role, opposite Keanu Reeves. The plot revolves around FBI agent Joel Campbell, played by Spader, who is constantly tormented and disturbed by mysterious and somber serial killer David Allen Griffin, portrayed by Reeves. Marisa Tomei was also part of the cast, playing a character named Polly Beilman. One of the most sinister movies in James Spader's filmography, The Watcher follows a tense, reluctant and anxious law enforcement agent, that probably has to endure the most terrible ordeal of his life, having to decipher the clues left by the sadistic and cruel serial murderer, deliberately handed over to Campbell to see if he can — within a matter of hours —, find out where the killer's next victim is; so Campbell is always in a rush againt the clock, in an effort to rescue the person being held captive, and prevent the hostage from being murdered by Griffin.

A dense, dynamic and intelligent thriller, The Watcher definitely leaves the audience exceedingly interested in the events as the plot unfolds, and in great expectation as to what will happen to both the protagonist, the afflicted and desperate Campbell, and the antagonist, the brutal and insensible Griffin. It's a movie that will severely hold your attention for the entirety of its dark and lugubrious ninety-eight minutes, keeping your eyes directly fixed onto the screen.

Despite the success in the film industry, in the beginning of the 21st century, Spader became an iconic television presence, in the wake of his portrayal of the remarkable Alan Shore, in the shows The Practice and Boston Legal. More recently, Spader has been playing criminal underground informant Raymond Reddington, in The Blacklist, a character that consolidated his reputation and his presence as a reference and a familiar face to television audiences. With an amoral, somewhat rude, and a very pragmatic attitude, Alan Shore captivated audiences with his frivolous, sometimes despondent and indifferent, but always combative personality, that fought challenges and difficulties with a restless, but rational temper, eventually becoming a beloved and deeply estimated character in primetime television. 

While Spader appeared in The Practice only in the show's final season — being the series basically led by a character named Bobby Donnell, played by Dylan McDermott —, in Boston Legal, almost everything revolved around his character Alan Shore, which was from the beginning a cornerstone and a fundamental element of this successful legal drama. For his portrayal of Alan Shore in The Practice and Boston Legal, Spader won several Emmy Awards, in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. In 2006, he won a Satellite Award. Boston Legal also infused William Shatner's career with more prominence and vitality. 

For six years now — since 2013 —, Spader has been playing Raymond Reddington, in The Blacklist. In the series, his character is a deranged and immoral criminal, that turns himself over to the FBI, willing to make an exchange. He will reveal to the agents information about several prominent and conspicuous criminals, if they grant him legal immunity. So they make a deal, and Reddington partners with young FBI rookie Elizabeth Keen (played by Megan Boone), to start the monitoring of the illicit activities of all the offenders about whom Reddington keeps a secret. The show is currently on its sixth season, with the seventh set to premiere in October, and it has been a popular hit, with audiences and critics alike praising its intricate plot and cohesiveness, as well as James Spader's performance. 

James Spader is a veteran actor, that now — at fifty-nine years old — is on the crest of the wave. Having earned recognition in the film and television industries, and most importantly, a place in the hearts of audiences, the actor, in every work, always reveals new professional capabilities, and a new side of his personality, that the fans didn't knew. Always willing to accept a challenge, to showcase how far his acting abilities can go, James Spader will continue to be an actor on the rise. And luckily, we will keep seeing him, for many more years to come. 


Wagner

John Shea is an American actor of movies, television and theater, that for almost forty-five years, has been exceedingly dedicated to the dramatic arts. Active since 1975, Shea began his career on Broadway, in an adaptation made by stage director Robert Kalfin of a play titled Yentl, written by iconic Polish-American man of letters Isaac Bashevis Singer. Shea was then nominated for a Theatre World Award, and eventually won the prize. This was a glorious sign that a promising career in the dramatic arts was just beginning. 

The play then converted to an Off-Broadway spectacle, but the success continued. After seeing him performing in the play, famous Polish-American theatre practitioner and acting courses pioneer Lee Strasberg invited the actor to study method acting, in the now renowned Actors Studio. Shea gladly accepted the offer, and welcomed the opportunity to hone and refine his acting skills. 

Soon afterwards, in the end of the seventies, Shea made his television debut. He was offered the role of Joseph, in a made-for-television adaptation of the birth of Jesus — based in the Gospels as well as in the apocrypha —, titled The Nativity, opposite Madeleine Stowe, who played Mary. The movie was released in 1978. In 1980, he made his debut in the movie industry, with a starring role in the British production Hussy, directed by Matthew Chapman, opposite Helen Mirren. 

In 1981, he had a role in another made-for-television production, Family Reunion, which was starred by iconic and legendary American actress Bette Davis. In the following year, Shea played a character named Charles Horman, in the controversial and disruptive Missing — a movie about the military dictatorship in Chile —, directed by legendary Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Gavras. 

From then on, the actor was on the rise. John Shea managed to consolidate a solid reputation as a serious, versatile and highly skilled actor, and remained in constant demand in movies, television and theater productions to this day, never being short of offers and invitations. In 1987, the actor was cast in an ABC miniseries, where he portrayed a character named William Stern. His performance was so critically celebrated that he eventually won his first Emmy Award in the Supporting Drama Actor category. 

In 1993, Shea was cast as malevolent and eccentric millionaire Lex Luthor — on what came out to be one of his most memorable television roles — in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Though he was moderately credible and sinister as a villain, Shea left the show after only one season, returning occasionally for the remainder of the series as a guest star, despite the fact that he managed to left a personal signature and a lasting impression in his interpretation of the famous DC Comics character. 



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In television, Shea would continually land exceedingly remarkable and exceptional roles. He became a face recognizable to audiences of police procedural dramas when he was cast in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and from five seasons, from 2007 to 2012, the actor was introduced to younger audiences, in the wake of his portrayal of Harold Waldorf, the father of Blair Waldorf — one of the show's main characters, marvelously played by famous actress Leighton Meester —, in The CW hit teen-oriented drama series Gossip Girl. In 2009, he also appeared in The Good Wife, a television show that ran for seven seasons on CBS, starred by Julianna Margulies. 

In this same year, Shea had a prominent role in the Indian movie Achchamundu! Achchamundu!, portraying a character named Theodore Robertson. Besides breaking boundaries being the first American actor to work in a Tamil-language film, he also took the role of associate producer. Directed by emergent  Indian-American filmmaker Arun Vaidyanathan, the movie won several awards upon its release, and was shown on several film festivals around the world. It was also the first Indian movie to be shot with the Red One camera technology.  

Since then, John Shea has never stopped, though sometimes he takes some personal time to be with his family. Engaged in artistic events within the community, the actor also spends time working to develop independent efforts locally, a task that he has been doing with great responsability and diligence as artistic director of the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket. Nevertheless, John Shea — despite being seventy years old — works hard to reconcile his passions, and to continually expand his legacy in the performing arts. 

A familiar face to audiences for decades in movies, television and theatre, John Shea has managed to conquer his place of honor in the business. Certainly someone that we will keep seeing frequently until he decides to retire — if he will ever do that —, John Shea is the perfect example of a discreet, but highly talented individual, that undoubtedly deserves everything he has achieved. 


Wagner

Carl Dreyer — whose birth name was Carl Theodor Dreyer, but later became better known as Carl Th. Dreyer — was one of the most important Danish filmmakers, and the first in his country to acquire in the history of cinema a place of honor. Born in Copenhagen in February 3, 1889, to an adulterous relationship, his father Jens Christian Torp, a married farmer who had an affair with one of his female employees, a Swedish woman named Josefine Bernhardine Nilsson, didn't want to assume the responsibility to raise him, so very soon he was given for adoption. The young boy, after two years going from one orphanage to another, was adopted by a couple; a man named Carl Theodor Dreyer and his wife, Inger. Eventually, they gave him precisely the same name of his surrogate father. In the distinctive Danish culture, though, no "Junior" or "Senior" is applied as a name complement.  

There is scarcely very little information about Dreyer's childhood and adolescence. When he became an adult person, Dreyer started his professional activities working as a journalist. After opportunities appeared in the film industry, he accepted a position as a writer of title cards, and soon he begun working as a scriptwriter. When his energetic passion for movie making became uncontrollable, he decided to write his own screenplays, and began to look for someone who would finance his projects. 

Since it was difficult to find financial support in his own home country, Dreyer frequently had to go to other European nations. In France, he became acquainted with famous directors, like Jean Cocteau, and established artistic connections who would somehow facilitate his journey as a filmmaker. In 1919, he directed his first movie, Præsidenten.

Highly influenced by the expressionism of the twenties, Dreyer managed to work on this period in a succession of movies that were, more or less, well received. Despite some difficulties, the twenties were his most prolific decade. He made eight movies — almost one per year — of which La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, made in France, proved to be the most successful. 

His next movie, Vampyr, was released in 1932. This movie — a loose adaptation of literary works by famous nineteenth century Irish gothic writer Sheridan Le Fanu — was partly financed by the dilettante actor Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, that starred in the film as the main character, Allan Gray, though he was listed in the credits as Julian West. The screenplay was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul. 

The plot of the movie revolves around Allan Gray — a student of the occult —, that moves to a modest pension in the French countryside. Suddenly, mysterious and unexplained things begin to happen, and he has to discover why so many dreadful things has been occurring at the inn. He eventually finds out that a vampire has been haunting the region, and discreetly tormenting the village inhabitants. So he has to find courage to fight back the source of evil, and to defeat the curse that has been bestowed upon the people. 

With an intriguing premise, a somber, but incisive storyline and a very lugubrious stylistic sensibility, Vampyr certainly was one the best movies directed by Dreyer, and certainly was a landmark of European cinema at the time. Despite its conciseness — the movie is only seventy-three minutes long — its lucid, but dark tonalities, as well as its pungent quality, gave the film a realistic and sober tenacity, that becomes insidious as the story reaches a climax. The movie proved to be technically difficult to make, though. Since it was Dreyer's first sound film, he had to shoot in three different languages. To surpass this difficulty, the director used little dialogue, and basically kept the silent movie method of title cards to communicate to audiences the narrative, as the plot unfolds.

Gunzburg was not a professional actor, and Vampyr was the only movie in which he worked in his life. It is speculated that Dreyer accepted him for the role mainly because he was financing the film, though most of the cast was also made of amateur actors. Later, Gunzburg emigrated to the United States, and found fame as editor of several prominent magazines.  

Vampyr was Dreyer's only movie made in the thirties. In the forties, he experimented for the first time with short films, eventually becoming fond of the format, and directing six of them. He also directed two features, 1943 Vredens Dag, and 1945 Två människor. Vredens Dag was a sixteenth century period drama, that became a very celebrated movie in some countries, after it was released. With a script written by Dreyer, Mogens Skot-Hansen and Poul Knudsen, the movie was based on a play called Anne Pedersdotter — authored by Norwegian playwright Hans Wiers-Jenssen —, which, by its turn, was based on a real life event, about an eponymous woman that was burned at the stake in 1590, in Bergen, because she was accused of witchcraft. After the movie was made, Dreyer left Denmark, and went to Sweden, as his country was being occupied by the nazis.

In the fifties, Dreyer directed two short movies, and one feature film, titled Ordet. Released in 1955, the movie was written and produced by Dreyer, who based his script on a play written by Danish Lutheran minister and playwright Kaj Harald Munk. The movie shows the hardships and difficult ordeals of the Borgen family in the Danish countryside. Ordet is considered by many to be Dreyer's masterpiece. The movie won the Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival. 
His next movie, Gertrud — which would be his last — was the only one he made in the sixties. Released in 1964, this drama, based on an eponymous play authored by Swedish writer Hjalmar Fredrik Söderberg, is about an unhappy opera star, the titular character, played by Nina Pens Rode, who discovers love in a complicated and unusual moment of her life. A movie that met with some controversy upon its release, eventually Gertrud was lauded as a precious and refined cinematic work, and today is considered a fundamental part of the director's artistic legacy. 

After Gertrud, Dreyer stopped directing and retired. In a forty-five years career, having directed twenty-two movies — fourteen feature films, and eight short movies —, with at least five of them being considered masterpieces, Carl Theodor Dreyer has certainly left his mark in twentieth century cinema, having contributed to develop a singular, profound, polyvalent and expressively sensible form of art, that undoubtedly would not have been conceived in the same way, without his technique and gloriously audacious virtues. Disseminating the enormously rich, dense, majestic and diversified Scandinavian culture by reevaluating its proverbial literary traditions, and adapting some of its most controversial and relevant works to the screen, Carl Dreyer managed to create amazingly beautiful and consistent masterpieces, that somehow discreetly revolved around his poignantly personal and extraordinary perspective on life. 

Dreyer died in Copenhagen, in March, 1968, at seventy-nine years old. He was survived by his wife, Ebba Larsen, who died nine years later, in 1977.


Wagner  

On June 15, died in Rome famous Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, well known for movies like 1967 The Taming of the Shrew, 1968 Romeo and Juliet – that won Golden Globe and Academy Awards – and television productions, like 1977 Jesus of Nazareth, that Zeffirelli wrote in partnership with Italian screenwriter Suso d'Amico and acclaimed British novelist Anthony Burgess. He was also a successful opera director, achieving an international degree of notoriety showcasing his talent in productions like La traviata, with famous Greek soprano Maria Callas, whom he honored in his last movie, 2002 Callas Forever. 

Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli was born in Florence, Tuscany, in 12 February, 1923, an illegitimate son born out of wedlock. Very precociously, the young Zeffirelli felt attraction to the arts, and studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze, graduating when he was only eighteen years old. He fought as a resistance soldier in the Second World War, eventually sidelining with the allies. When the war was over, he resumed his formal studies, but relegated them as secondary obligation, becoming amazingly attracted to theater after seeing legendary British actor Laurence Olivier in a 1944 movie adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry V, which was also directed by Olivier. Despite being a movie, Olivier was predominantly known as a theatre actor, being active in the stage for more than six decades, having participated in more than one hundred different theater productions.

Zeffirelli’s fortunes with prospective artistic career opportunities flourished, when he was introduced to famous Italian director Luchino Visconti – acclaimed for masterpieces like 1954 Senso, starring Farley Granger and Alida Valli, and 1963 Il Gattopardo, an adaptation of the famous novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon – that hired him as assistant director for his third feature film, La Terra Trema, released in 1948. It would be nearly two decades, though, for Zeffirelli actually managing to go behind the cameras to work as a director. His first movie was the documentary Florence: Days of Destruction, about a terrible and tragic flood that occurred in 1966 in Zeffirelli’s native city, that was the most devastating in centuries, and killed more than a hundred people. Released the same year, the work was fifty minutes long, and would be the only documentary in the director’s career. In between directing his first film and his entrance in the movie industry, Zeffirelli worked as an assistant for famous Italian directors, like Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, acquiring a large amount of experience, that would be extremely beneficial to him in his career as a filmmaker. 

His first feature film was an adaptation of William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew. Released in 1967, the movie starred famous Hollywood actors, like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor – that were married at the time – and was a moderate box office success. His next movie was also an adaptation of Shakespeare, the more famous Romeo and Juliet. Released the following year, despite the more modest and unknown cast, the movie was a box office success, grossing almost forty times its actual budget; taking into account that – projected at less than a million dollars – was very moderate for a Shakespeare adaptation. Nevertheless, audiences and critics alike loved the film. Renowned movie critic Roger Ebert commented that it was the best movie ever produced from a work of Shakespeare.

This was followed by the movie Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna, largely inspired by the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, the notorious Catholic friar. On the movie, the pious religious deacon is played by an unknown British actor named Graham Faulkner, that was active in the show business for just a little more than a decade. In the movie, his character was named Francesco di Bernardone, which was a mixture of the nickname and the real name of Saint Francis of Assisi, whose birth name was Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but he was dearly known as Francesco. Al Pacino screen tested for the lead role, but his method acting style was disliked by Zeffirelli. Released in 1972, this movie – contrary to the previous one –, was only moderately received.  

Zeffirelli would return to religious themes, with Jesus of Nazareth, a 1977 British-Italian television co-production, that run for a month in the NBC network in the United States, ITV in the United Kingdom and Rai 1 in Italy. Presenting the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as depicted in the gospels, the show had English actor Robert Powell in the title role, with an ensemble cast consisting of highly acclaimed stars, like Peter Ustinov, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Ernest Borgnine, James Earl Jones, James Farentino, Stacy Keach, Ian Holm and even Laurence Olivier, one of Zeffirelli’s heroes, amongst many others. A highly successful miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth was hugely acclaimed both in Europe and North America. Nevertheless, the production had its share of criticism, concerning what was felt by certain religious groups as a somewhat “mundane” portrayal of Jesus, though this perception was entirely subjective. Lead actor Robert Powell was highly praised for his depiction of Jesus, and remains best remembered to this day for this role.  

After Jesus of Nazareth, Zeffirelli turned to opera productions, directing Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci for the Metropolitan Opera House, both in 1978. His next movie was The Champ, an American production starring Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder. Remake of a 1931 movie of the same name directed by King Vidor – despite being a box office success –, the film was only moderately received by critics, and to this day remains one of the least favorable in the director’s filmography. 

From the early eighties to the mid-nineties, Zeffirelli mostly concentrated on opera, although he mixed his two passions in several occasions, adapting several operas to the screen. In 1996, he released Jane Eyre, an adaptation of the famous eponymous novel by English novelist Charlotte Brontë, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt in the main roles. In 1999, he released Tea with Mussolini, a work notable for his semi-autobiographical nature. His last movie was 2002 Callas Forever, a homage he made to honor opera soprano Maria Callas, that died precociously at fifty-three years old from a heart attack, in September 16, 1977. He personally directed her in three operas. 

After that, Zeffirelli went into semi-retirement. He was also active for a time in politics, having served as senator for seven years, from 1994 to 2001. He died in his home in Rome, in June 15, ninety-six years old. Fortunately, he leaves a formidable artistic legacy – which overflows very peculiar qualities, like outstanding beauty and marvelous sensibility – that will shine vividly for the decades to come.  


Wagner

Ann Dvorak – born Anna McKim in August 2, 1911 – was an icon of the American movie industry, in the first half of the twentieth century. One of the most recognizable and beautiful faces of black and white cinema, she was born in New York City, to a family working in the show business: her mother Anna Lehr was an actress, and her father, Edwin McKim, was a director. Dvorak began her career as a child actress, in the silent movie era; she was only four years old when she was cast in her first film, Ramona. Nevertheless, this was just a brief stint. After one more movie, she stopped, and would return to the screen only twelve years later, in 1929. 

After some minor works, Dvorak was introduced to the famous Howard Hughes. Subsequently, she begun to be noticed by the studios, and a potential career in film became a reality. Her talent and dramatic abilities were recognized, and she eventually went on to star in several successful films, becoming a highly sought-after actress. In 1930 alone, Dvorak has participated in fourteen movies, and in the next year, she was in eight. Though this were mostly uncredited appearances, she became widely noticed in the industry, and in 1932, she starred in the iconic movie Scarface as Cesca Camonte. In this period of her life, she became extremely active professionally, and always had work in excess. Both Dvorak herself and Hollywood took advantage of her youth and exotic appearance; in her early twenties, she became a star on the rise. 

From then on, Dvorak’s future in the industry was practically assured. She would star in several important motion pictures, achieving a respectable degree of notoriety, that a lot of other actresses of her generation – for lack of talent, opportunity or both – wouldn’t be able to match. Dvorak managed somehow to always star as one of the main characters, or to effectively secure the lead role, in the movies that she was cast. In 1934, Dvorak portrayed Myra, in the drama Heat Lightning, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, Marguerite Gilbert, in the romantic movie Side Streets, directed by Alfred E. Green, Joan Morley in the crime film Midnight Alibi, directed by Alan Crosland, Nan Reynolds in the drama film Housewife, also directed by Green, Barbara in I Sell Anything, directed by Robert Florey, Susan Merrill in the drama film Gentlemen Are Born, also directed by Green and Judy in the action film Murder in the Clouds, directed by Ross Lederman. 

In the next year, she starred as Bonnie Haydon, in the musical Sweet Music – another movie directed by Alfred E. Green –, Jean Morgan in the crime drama film G Men, directed by William Keighley, where she acted alongside American screen legend James Cagney, Fay Wilson, in the drama Bright Lights, directed by Busby Berkeley, Josephine Gray, in the crime film Dr. Socrates, directed by William Dieterle and as Sally Mason, in the musical Thanks a Million, directed by Roy Del Ruth. In the forties, Dvorak slowed down, reducing her workload to two films per year. She would break this pattern only in 1950, one year before her retirement, participating in four films. 

Mostly active in the thirties and forties, Dvorak retired in 1951 – only forty years old –
 after her last movie, The Secret of Convict Lake. In total, between short movies and full length features, Dvorak made almost ninety films, in twenty-two years in the movie industry (although becomes twenty-four, if we add her two years as a child actress). 

 In 1959, forty-eight years old, Dvorak decided to move to Honolulu, Hawaii, with her third husband, Nicholas Wade, to live a quiet and peaceful life there. They married in 1951 – precisely when Dvorak retired from the movie industry – and remained married until his death, in 1975. Previously, Dvorak was married to Igor Dega, from 1947 until 1951. Her first marriage was to Leslie Fenton, a well-known actor and filmmaker, that coincidentally retired from the industry about the same time as Dvorak. 

Dvorak died of cancer, sixty-eight years old, in Hawaii, in December 10, 1979. Despite her decades long absence from the screen, she remains one of the most iconic and significant actresses from the first half of the twentieth century American cinema. Her legacy remains as one of the most relevant for classic movies enthusiasts, and for the cinematic arts as a whole.  


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Tomisaburo Wakayama – born Masaru Okumura in September 1, 1929 – despite having died almost thirty years ago, in April 2, 1992, at sixty-two years old, remains as one of the most important and relevant Japanese actors of all time. Highly prolific, Wakayama’s output encompasses several genres, despite the fact that he became more widely associated with samurai and ninja action films. Working in the industry as an actor, fight choreographer and stuntman, it’s impossible to define precisely in how many movies Wakayama was involved throughout his four decades long career, but speculations are as high as five hundred. 

Born into a family of actors, Wakayama already in his childhood followed his father’s footsteps, becoming involved in the kabuki theater. His younger brother Toshio Okumura also developed a profound interest in the profession, and became an actor. In adulthood, he would find fame and notoriety in the Japanese movie industry under the name Shintaro Katsu, becoming also one of the greatest actors of his generation. 

Eventually, though, Wakayama became more interested in martial arts. He started to study and practice judo, and acting became secondary. In the beginning of the fifties, though, he accepted an invitation to tour the United States with a theater company, for a series of spectacles that lasted nine months.

Nevertheless, his martial arts background opened doors for him in the movie industry, as a movie company, Toho, was seeking for performers with real ability to star in their action films. Wakayama, always looking for the improvement of his skills, studied several martial arts, like kenpō, kendo, bōjutsu and iaidō, to be able to achieve a degree of realism close to perfection. From then on – despite the fact that he was a very skilled and versatile artist – he became widely associated with the action genre, more specifically, period pieces featuring samurai and ninja stories. His fame, though, would be majorly consolidated in six movies, that were adaptations of the manga Lone Wolf and Cub, created by writer Kazuo Koike and illustrator Goseki Kojima. The first four of these movies – Sword of Vengeance, Baby Cart at the River Styx, Baby Cart to Hades and Baby Cart in Peril – were released in the same year, 1972. The fifth installment, Baby Cart in the Land of Demons, was released the following year, 1973. The last, White Heaven in Hell, was released in 1974. The second movie, Baby Cart at the River Styx – containing eleven minutes of footage from the first movie, Sword of Vengeance – was released for the American movie market in 1980 as Shogun Assassin. The third movie, Baby Cart to Hades, was released as a sequence, titled Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. In 1980, Wakayama starred as ninja avenger Kaiketsu Kurozukin, in the marvelously fabulous movie Black Hood. His character was remarkable for the fact that, besides his skilful abilities with swords, he also used firearms, which was uncommon for a ninja.

Despite his reputation, though – acquired through decades of diligent and impeccable work – Wakayama was barely known outside Japan. He had roles in only two American movies: the 1978 comedy The Bad News Bears Go to Japan, directed by John Berry, and the legendary 1989 police thriller Black Rain, directed by Ridley Scott, and starred by Michael Douglas and Andy García. On this movie, Wakayama portrayed Sugai, a Yakuza chieftain, that serves as one of the story’s main antagonists. 

With a consistent and perfectionist style, that contributed substantially for the development of the action movie genre as period pieces quintessential for the consolidation of Japanese cinema as a major exponent of sublime art, it’s no exaggeration at all to affirm that – in the second half of the twentieth century –, samurai and ninja warriors portrayed onscreen were largely a definitive feature of Tomisaburo Wakayama. 

With a mordacious seriousness and a spectacular degree of realism that definitely surpassed the highest expectations, his legacy and proficient dramatic abilities had made him one of the greatest actors of his generation, and one of the most recognizable faces of Japanese action period movies. With a fantastic degree of density – and a passionate sensibility that allowed him to fully surrender to his characters –, Tomisaburo Wakayama has proved in hundreds of movies, though only a handful of these were necessary, why he deserves to be qualified as one of the greatest actors that ever lived. 


Wagner

Lee van Cleef – whose birth name was Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr. – was an American actor, active for almost four decades, from the late forties until the late eighties, retiring a year before his death, in December 16, 1989, at sixty-four years old. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, in January 9, 1925, Lee van Cleef achieved notoriety mainly for his prominent roles in Spaghetti Westerns of the sixties and seventies, of which the most famous is probably the now classic 1966 production The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, where he shared the screen with Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach. On this movie, Cleef portrayed the “Bad” from the title, a malicious character named Angel Eyes.

Lee van Cleef started his acting career in the late forties, after leaving the United States navy. After a series of roles in theater plays, he was spotted by a talent scout, who drove him to a renowned agency. His entrance ticket for the motion picture industry, though, came after a few years, when – after seeing him performing in a play in Los Angeles – famous Hollywood director Stanley Kramer invited Cleef to be part of his next film, High Noon, which would be the actor’s big screen debut. The movie – a western starred by Gary Cooper – was produced by Kramer and directed by Fred Zinnemann. Cleef had a very small part, as a character named Jack Colby. The movie was released in 1952. In this same year, van Cleef also debuted on television, appearing in shows like Sky King and Boston Blackie, as well as The Lone Ranger and The Range Rider. In these last two, he would be cast in episodes until the following year. 

While this period in van Cleef’s career was significant, given the fact that he had managed to break into the movie and television industries, despite being a terrifically skilled and versatile actor, he would very soon start to suffer from a terrible plague that frequently affects people in the business: typecasting. 

After portraying some villains – the most remarkable in this early period of his career was probably the one in the 1952 movie Kansas City Confidential, where van Cleef portrayed Tony Romano, a cold and selfish gangster that, together with three other men, robs a bank, after which the group manages to frame an innocent man for their crime, and eventually this man, Joe Rolfe, portrayed by John Payne, elaborates a highly intelligent plan of vengeance to redeem himself, successfully subduing his antagonists in the end – van Cleef unfortunately became too associated with criminals, offenders and outlaws. He hardly would manage to break out of this vicious circle. 

As time passed – more than a decade went by –, van Cleef managed to participate in moderately successful films, sometimes in good and relevant roles, sometimes doing minor parts in not so remarkable movies. His fortunes changed, though, when Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone decided to cast him in the 1965 western For a Few Dollars More, where he would star alongside Clint Eastwood. On this movie, van Cleef plays a character named Douglas Mortimer, while Eastwood portrays a tough individual that answers by the alias of Manco. Both are bounty hunters, that fight to survive the implacable ordeals of the old west. The movie also starred notorious German actor Klaus Kinski, in a villainous role. 

This movie – alongside with a handful of others – was the main responsible for giving birth to a subgenre of western movies, that would later be called western spaghetti: low-budget westerns, that were shot primarily in Italy. Lee van Cleef would star in several of these movies, eventually becoming an icon of the genre. In the following year, he starred again with Clint Eastwood in a Sergio Leone production, a western spaghetti titled The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, already mentioned. This legendary film acquired cult status since it was released, in 1966, and became a highlight of the genre. 

After these movies, Van Cleef consolidated his reputation as a major celebrity, with his image closely associated with western spaghetti. He would star in several other movies in this particular genre – frequently in leading roles –, like 1969 Sabata, and 1971 Return of Sabata. Unfortunately, he became typecast one more time in his career, but now as an old west though type of guy, and would hardly find any work outside of it. Nevertheless, he found fame and stability, and became recognized as a good actor, that managed to captivate audiences in the big screen, conveying veracity to the characters he played. 

In the seventies and eighties, van Cleef worked on television only sporadically. On this period he concentrated almost exclusively on film, since he was rarely out of offers, though invitations to star in movies also started to decline. In 1981, he co-starred with Kurt Russell in the John Carpenter directed science-fiction feature Escape from New York.

Suffering from bad health – more specifically from a heart condition – since the late seventies, in the eighties van Cleef had to undergone a surgery, where doctors implanted a pacemaker. Forced to slow down, he acted in only a few more movies. With an exotic appearance that made him look easterner, in 1984, van Cleef was cast in the main role of John McAllister, a ninja, despite the American name, in the NBC television series The Master. The show was cancelled after only thirteen episodes, and was the last television show in which van Cleef had participated, and the only one he had done in the eighties. 

In the last decade of his life, van Cleef was featured in nine movies. His last film was 1988 Thieves of Fortune, a movie directed by Michael MacCarthy, on which he played a character named Sergio Danielo. The actor died in his home in California, in December 16, 1989, at sixty-four years old. Besides his heart condition, he also had throat cancer. With a legacy encompassing almost ninety movies, and more than thirty television shows, Lee van Cleef has left crime and western movie enthusiasts in a rapturous urge of passionate and belligerent grace, whenever he was on the screen. 


Wagner

Michiyo Kogure was one of the most relevant and talented Japanese actresses of the 20th century, having starred in approximately eighty nine movies, in a forty five years career, beginning in 1939, and finishing in 1984, with the climax happening in the 1950’s. She starred in several movies with the lead actors and actresses of her generation, including Kazuo Hasegawa and Raizō Ichikawa (whose life and career were analyzed on an article that I wrote, that you can read here). 

She starred with Kazuo Hasegawa in the 1951 drama film The Tale of Genji, an adaptation of the eponymous 11th century classic Japanese literary work, written by Murasaki Shikibu. 


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In 1955, Michiyo Kogure starred in the 12th century historic drama Shin Heike Monogatari, a movie on which she played Fujiwara no Taishi, the mother of Taira no Kiyomori (played by Raizō Ichikawa), a renowned samurai and military strategist of the Heian period, known for pioneering samurais as a government ruling class. 

Two years later, she starred again in a movie with Raizō Ichikawa, the 1957 film Freelance Samurai, directed by Kenji Misumi. Another period piece – though this time fiction – on this movie, Michiyo Kogure starred as Kosuzu Hanabusa, a woman that gets enamored of Momotarō (the character played by Ichikawa), a Ronin that discovers that he has a twin, the noble hereditary leader of a dynasty, and uncovers a plot from a rival clan to kill him. 

Her most relevant roles, though, were as Taeko Satake, in the 1952 movie The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, directed by legendary Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu, and as Miyoharu, the main character in the 1953 film A Geisha, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, another virtuous talent of Japanese cinema.

These are two exceedingly marvelous and splendorous movies, that I think deserves to be highlighted, and meticulously analyzed. They are certainly among the best films that I have ever seen. Both are touching, humane, gracefully artistic and deeply poetic, and the performances delivered by Michiyo Kogure on these two majestic motion pictures display exceptionally fantastic, wonderful, consistent and discreet, yet monumental interpretations of vivid, intense, beautiful and fragile characters. 

In The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, Michiyo Kogure starred as housewife Taeko Satake, an unhappy woman, that gets bored and disillusioned with her life. She becomes unsatisfied and disappointed with her husband, Mokichi Satake (played by Shin Saburi); he is a kind and hard-working gentleman, but she eventually starts to despise him, becoming tired of his somewhat calm and serene nature, that she interprets as lethargic and condescending. She arranges all kinds of excuses to pass the largest amount of time possible with her female friends, going to spas and trips, and her husband – acknowledging her free-will temperament and indulgent personality –, let her do exactly what she wants. 

Despite her relatively good relationship with her niece, the young Setsuko (played by Keiko Tsushima), Taeko puts pressure for her to attend a matchmaking session. She is resistant at first, telling to a male friend of her that she finds this matchmaking social obligations an archaic and retrograde tradition, and – although she is young –, she wants to feel as an independent woman. Eventually, though, Setsuko agrees to participate, only to escape after arriving there, which leaves her aunt Taeko, that had accompanied her, severely distressed with her disappearance. Setsuko then goes to her aunt’s home, where she finds her uncle, and explains to him what happened. He advises her to return, but she refuses. When Taeko comes home, and finds Setsuko, she demands an explanation. Setsuko then tells her aunt what she really thinks about arranged marriages, and then leaves. Taeko tells her husband that Setsuko is too much of a carefree spirit, and needs to be reprimanded, to learn how to properly behave, and to follow costumes and tradition. Mokichi then tells her, in his characteristic calmness and serenity, that it will be of no use, since this could produce another couple like them. 

Eventually, Mokichi has to go to Montevideo on a business trip, but Taeko leaves, without informing him of her precise whereabouts. Mokichi sends a telegram to her asking her where she is, and asking her to join him, informing her about his immediate trip. She ignores his solicitations, though, and does not go to the airport to accompany his departure, nor to say goodbye, like all other families traditionally do. After a few hours, though, Mokichi comes home. He informs Taeko that was a problem on the airplane, so all the passengers had to disembark, and were scheduled for the next flight. He will be leaving tomorrow. 

More solicit and emphatic, Taeko asks Mokichi if he needs anything, and he says he is tired, but also hungry. She offers herself to go to the kitchen, to take some food, and she joins him in the meal. Both go to the kitchen together, to pick up all the necessary things to eat. Taeko asks forgiveness for her husband for leaving without informing him where she was going, and promises not to do that anymore. Then, in a very beautiful, touching and emotional scene, she says she feels guilty, and is profoundly sorry for the terrible and difficult behavior she has displayed lately, towards him. He warmly accepts her apologies, and the two reconcile. 

Later, Taeko is seen with her friends, very happy, saying that she is the most fortunate woman for having a man like Mokichi as her husband. She now values everything he does for her, and she says that – despite the fact that she used to see him as a very lethargic and complacent man – she came to discover that a woman never really knows what a man has to go through, in his working life, on a daily basis. Maybe he has to pass through great lengths and sacrifices to give her the good life that she has, and she never realized before that maybe she doesn’t know everything that he has to confront, to give her the prosperity that she enjoys. She seems peaceful and grateful for all the things she has, and now values the decent man to whom she is married, saying that she couldn’t ask for a better husband.     

In the final scene of the movie, we see Setsuko talking to her friend from earlier, the one upon which she complained about arranged marriages. It leaves the audience to decide if they are just good friends, or if they are – or will become – a couple. 

A marvelously fantastic masterpiece, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice has a dense and consistent history, sidelined with profoundly dramatic, but gracefully humane elements. The impeccable direction of Yasujirō Ozu, that knew how to capture in detail – though with an expressively dynamic vivacity – the splendid dichotomy of relationships, exposed with veracity and formidable vitality the exceptional layers of the human behavior, in a very cohesive and sensible story. 

With an astounding cinematography, and exceedingly wonderful visual qualities, as well the phenomenal versatility of Michiyo Kogure – who inserted a subtle, though profoundly existential density into her character – The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice certainly can be considered one of the greatest movies ever made in the history of Japanese cinema. Its aggrandizing virtues display such a glorious level of excellence and refinement, both in the creative and technical elements, that its astounding perfection in all aspects is simply undeniable. 

In the 1953 movie A Geisha, Michiyo Kogure plays Miyoharu – the title character –, that accepts Eiko (played by a then young Ayako Wakao, which would later become another famous Japanese actress) as a maiko, an apprentice of Geisha. Eiko is seemingly desperate, because her mother recently died, and her father is a very negligent parent. She also has an uncle, that she refuses to live with, as he constantly demands sexual favors from her. Since she has debts related to her mother’s funeral, she is desperate to earn some money. Initially having doubts concerning her potential, Miyoharu eventually becomes sympathetic towards the girl, and accepts her as an apprentice. 

Initially, conforming the girl to Geisha standards proves to be a difficult task; Miyoharu becomes indebted by enrolling her in a prestigious school, and Eiko – who earns the apprenticeship name of Miyoei – gets drunk at parties, hardly behaving with any grace, elegance and sophistication. As the girl becomes somewhat solicited at parties and venues, her father tries to extort money and goods from Miyoharu. Eventually, she is contacted by a group of businessmen, that wants her to seduce a potential client – a man named Kanzaki (played by Kanji Koshiba) – in a deal that could bring her great prosperity. While this man becomes attracted to Miyoharu, another one, Kusuda (played by Seizaburō Kawazu) becomes fond of the young Miyoei.

Nevertheless, Miyoharu becomes disillusioned of the way the deal goes, and not interested at all in Kanzaki, subtlety avoids him. They never consummate, something that frustrates Kanzaki. To get matters worse, Miyoharu becomes severely worried when – at a party where all of them are – Kusuda stays alone with Miyoei in a room. The girl manages to avoid the man’s advances, though. Miyoharu never surrenders herself to Kanzaki, nor Miyoei to Kusuda. It becomes clear that Miyoharu wants to protect Miyoei at all cost, and does not want her to have sex against her will, and with such a young age, willing to go to great lengths to protect her from the vicissitudes of a life of geisha. Since the deal is broke, she starts to be sabotaged from venues, and all her other appointments are cancelled. Miyoei, eager to sacrifice herself for the honor of Miyoharu, decides to present herself to be taken by Kusuda, but this cannot happen without Miyoharu’s approval, that is not granted. 

Knowing that she has to do something to improve their situation, Miyoharu decides to sleep with Kanzaki, as long as they made a deal, that consists in Kusuda forgetting Miyoei. The deal is arranged, and after that, things return to normal. Eventually, Miyoei gets suspicious, and asks Miyoharu if she slept with Kanzaki, saying that she will be very angry and disappointed if that would be true. Miyoharu confirms her suspicions, but says that she did that for her own well-being. She doesn’t care to anything that happens to her, but she is very protective of Miyoei, desperate to prevent her from the traumas and afflictions that comes with the profession. Willing to preserve her purity and innocence, Miyoharu acted to protect her, and soon thereafter, pupil and mentor reconcile, rejoicing at their reacquired good fortunes. 

One of the greatest movies that I have ever seen – besides the marvelous, profound and incomparable acting abilities of Michiyo Kogure – this story of abnegation, altruism, love and sacrifice displays the preservation of innocence in a corrupt and lustful environment. We can easily think that the main character, Miyoharu, experienced hard times as a geisha, and never had anybody to defend her, to protect her or to stand for her. Exactly for this reason, she decides to protect the young Eiko at all costs, being a shield for the young girl against the miseries of life, determined to protect her from the horrible and disgraceful ordeals of existence, more specifically against the burdens, disillusions and disappointments inherent to the life of a geisha. So, she decided she would be to Eiko the protection that herself never had in her life. 

A marvelous movie with a groundbreaking degree of artistry, that combines a diligent and profound story filled with realistic historical elements, the characters are marvelously elaborated, and amazingly portrayed. A period piece that certainly has so many virtues as a result of the fabulous and exceptional direction of Kenji Mizoguchi, this majestic movie is one of those that deserves to be appreciated several times. Its formidable qualities have such distinct combinations – and so peculiar commonalities –, that this aggrandizing and masterful state of the art work certainly deserves to be vastly acclaimed as an unprecedented accomplishment of not only Japanese, but worldwide cinema.
 
Michiyo Kogure was one of the most talented actresses of her generation. With a versatile, but candid and sincere brightness, that transpired a mordacious, but at the same time exceedingly elegant vivacity in each one of the characters that she played, Michiyo Kogure deserves to be remembered by her splendorous and extraordinary talent, that so much glorious virtues and singular nuances aggregated to the movies in which she had participated. A lot of them displayed artistic vitality and extravagant beauty exactly because of her presence. 

Unfortunately, Michiyo Kogure never became widely known outside Japan. Nevertheless, her virtuous talent has proved to be one of the greatest triumphs for the cinematic arts in her home country, whose eighty-nine movies that featured her graceful appearance certainly makes a consistent legacy, especially to people that appreciate classic Japanese cinema. Michiyo Kogure was born in January 31, 1918 and died at seventy-two years old, in June 13, 1990. 


Wagner

Shima Iwashita is one of the most recognizable faces in Japanese cinema. With a career spanning more than sixty years, the actress was born in Tokyo, in the middle of World War II, in January 3, 1941. She started her professional career very young, at seventeen years old, in 1958.

With more than one hundred movies and forty television productions to her credit, the first film Iwashita landed a role was the 1960 The River Fuefuki, a movie directed by renowned Japanese filmmaker Keisuke Kinoshita. She became widely known, though, after starring in the acclaimed 1962 movie An Autumn Afternoon, a masterpiece made by legendary Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu. Previously, Iwashita had a very small part in Ozu’s 1960 film Late Autumn.

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In  this movie – An Autumn Afternoon –, Iwashita plays Michiko Hirayama, a twenty-four years old, that is fully devoted to her family, which consists only of her father Shūhei Hirayama (portrayed by renowned veteran Japanese actor and regular Ozu collaborator Chishū Ryū) and her twenty-one years old brother Kazuo (portrayed by Shin'ichirō Mikami). She also has an older brother, Kōichi (portrayed by Keiji Sada), who is thirty-two years old, and is married. He lives in another home with his wife. Michiko is the typical Japanese girl. She is subservient, diligent and very helpful, and takes care of basically everything at home. 

Shūhei – who is a widower –, attends regular meetings with several friends in a restaurant. In one of these reunions, his former teacher, Sakuma (portrayed by Eijirō Tōno), joins them. Eventually, the story discreetly reveals details that made clear that Shūhei is a war veteran; he had fought on the Second World War as a naval officer, as most of his friends, probably. After the meeting – that was full of nostalgia and memories –Shūhei and another friend leave Sakuma at his home. They eventually discover that now he is the owner of a cheap restaurant, that he administers with the help of his daughter.

As the story revolves, and Shūhei starts to frequent the restaurant of his former teacher, one day Sakuma laments that because of his selfishness, his daughter is condemned to a life of solitude, as she is too old to marry now, and is destined to an existence of solitary confinement and permanent hard work, having to take care of the restaurant mostly by herself, since he is too old. Eventually, Shūhei realizes that he is doing exactly the same thing with his daughter, Michiko. If she not marries soon, she will be condemned to a life of loneliness.

Shūhei realizes that, by maintaining Michiko at home, he is being selfish and negligent; like all other women, she probably wants to marry and to have children. So Shūhei talks to her daughter about a prospective marriage; at first she completely denies the possibility, but Shūhei decides to look for a potential husband for Michiko anyway.

Eventually, Shūhei discovers that Michiko has feelings for a man named Miura, a friend of Kōichi, and he asks his son to talk to him. Eventually, Kōichi discovers that Miura is already engaged. He confesses to Kōichi that he was smitten for Michiko in the past, but at the time, Kōichi didn’t give any attention to the possibility of a romantic relationship between the two. Miura reveals that if he was single, he wouldn’t disregard the opportunity, but since he is committed to someone, he does not want to break off the engagement. 

After leaving, Kōichi tells the news to his father. When Kōichi and Shūhei tells the unfortunate truth to Michiko, she pretends to be fine; the two men think she reacted nicely to the sad news, but then she retires to her room to cry, and later they realize her disappointment. 

Her father then proposes to her to go to a matchmaking session someone has arranged for her. Michiko agrees. Then the movie cuts directly to the wedding day. In the final moments, Michiko is seen in a traditional Japanese ceremonial dress, though the groom is never seen, and the marriage is never shown. She does not appear to be happy, but does not appear to be sad either. She looks like a woman perfectly resigned to her fate. 

A formidable, sensational and spectacular movie, full of a genuine and colorful vitality, its fundamental elements decipher the sincere and graceful density that emphasizes the most subtle and discreet aspects of the human existence; most specifically, how they are intrinsically felt and dealt with in Japanese culture. An Autumn Afternoon is a majestic state of the art work, a poetic and exceedingly harmonious motion picture, whose greatest virtues rely on the fearless combination of a cohesive storyline, the wonderful and realistic acting skills of the cast – especially on the parts of Chishū Ryū as Shūhei Hirayama and Shima Iwashita as Michiko Hirayama – and the formidable direction of Yasujirō Ozu, that definitely knew how to express a genuine drama in an exceedingly sober and proverbial perspective. An Autumn Afternoon was Ozu’ last film, before he died, in December 1963.

Her next remarkable movie was 1963 Twin Sisters of Kyoto, on which Iwashita played two roles, Chieko and Naeko. The plot centers around the character of Chieko, that one day discovers that she was adopted. She eventually finds that she has a twin sister named Naeko, and that she was probably stolen after she was born by her adoptive parents. As the sisters gets close to each other after a chance encounter, and starts to be involved in each other’s lives, Chieko has to decide if she stays with her adoptive family and carries on her father’s kimono business, or if she leaves to have a life of her own and possibly marry, since she feels urged to walk her own path in life. A very interesting story, the movie was based on the literary novel The Old Capital, by legendary Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1968. Despite all of its qualities, though, like a compelling and captivating storyline, as well as the efficient and dynamic direction of Noboru Nakamura, the double presence of Shima Iwashita – with all her grace, stunning beauty and profound, splendorous, realistic, but at the same time serene and soft dramatic skills –, was undoubtedly the greatest triumph of the movie.   

Beginning in the early sixties, Shima Iwashita rose to be an exponent of her generation in Japanese cinema, as she performed relevant roles in several major movies throughout a brilliant career, that grew to achieve iconic status in her country. Considered one of the greatest actresses of her generation – with a remarkable legacy in the big screen – Iwashita, seventy-eight years old now, is semi-retired since the early 2000’s, acting only in a sporadic basis.  

Undoubtedly having a charisma, a charm, a graceful beauty, a sincere, latent, tempestuous and vivacious disposition of soul and a natural talent that enabled her to display her formidable acting skills, one of the triumphs of Iwashita was the opportunity she had throughout her career to work with some of the greatest directors of her country, whose fame and reputation eventually grew, to achieve worldwide status. Definitely, the combination of a cohesive drama, skilful acting and sagacious directing – virtues that were always perfectly arranged together in the Japanese motion picture industry – inadvertently produced some of the greatest treasures of twentieth century cinema in Japan. Shima Iwashita is part of this legacy, since her contributions to the artistic development of the arts certainly deserves all recognitions. 


Wagner

Jing Tian is a prominent Chinese actress, that started her career a little more than a decade ago. So far, she has been in fifteen movies and eight television productions. Her talent – exacerbated by her looks of extravagant beauty –, certainly has made her one of the greatest triumphs to come out recently from the Chinese screen.

Probably her greatest role to date have been on the 2016 movie The Great Wall, a big budget production, directed by legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Despite being a movie entirely shot in China, the stars of the cast were American actors Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe, something that deflagrated a heated controversy. 

The movie is about two obscure merchants, William Garin and Pero Tovar – portrayed by Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal, respectively – that are wandering through China to seek for gunpowder, expecting to make money out of this. They are initially part of a group, but they are attacked by a brutal and violent monster; most of them are savagely killed by the beast. Only Garin and Tovar survives, as Garin manages to fight back, even cutting off what appeared to be the arm of the creature. They are eventually captured by a group of warriors, members of the mysterious Nameless Order. 

Then they are taken to a great palace to meet the leaders of the order, and there they meet Commander Lin Mae (portrayed by Jing Tian) and Ballard (portrayed by Willem Dafoe), a foreigner that is somewhat being held captive, since he is not allowed to leave the order; there, Garin and Tovar learn that the creature that attacked them are Taotie, furious evil beasts that periodically attacks China, and the main reason behind the existence of the Nameless Order is to fight back these malevolent creatures.

When Garin reveals his fabulous skills as an archer, and hints at a possible weakness the creatures may have, that allowed him to cut off the arm of the beast that attacked his group – that he had brought together with him, and he shows it to the order’s leaders – the initial hostility and distrust that was present between them disappears, at least for a while. Eventually, the two foreigners are involved in an epic fight that soon ensues, when a gigantic horde of Taotie attacks the great walls. There, they testify the colossal military strategies adopted by the brave warriors to fight those evil creatures, as well as the technology the order has in its power to subdue the threat. All of the subsequent action present in the movie revolves around this premise.  

A marvelous movie at least in the visual aspects, as well as with Raise the Red Lantern and The Flowers of War, Zhang Yimou proved one more time why he is one of the greatest directors alive. An exceedingly formidable motion picture, that has everything to be considered a classic in the not so distant future, if the plot can be tiresome and even monotonous – following some generic formulas – at certain points, nevertheless, several other elements compensate its minor deficiencies, like the epic scale of the movie, the astounding, artistic and fantastic visuals, the characters – that are dense, multilayered, overall dramatic, realistically portrayed and convincing – and the sensational acting skills of everybody involved, are qualities developed high enough to satisfy the audience. 

Despite all of its virtues, though, the presence of Jing Tian in the movie is like a hidden triumph that discreetly embraces and revolves around the film, as her character always departed from a deeply graceful and majestic perspective, displaying an affable – though courageous and sometimes rude – personality, that added a cohesive density to the storyline, as well as for the motion picture in its entirety. 

Though Jing Tian is young and her career is only beginning, her marvelous potential was showcased in a greatest scale in this fantastic epic movie. Not only her fabulous acting skills could be highlighted in a greater perspective, her beauty, combined with the profound density of her character – aligned with the fact that she was one of the movie’s protagonists – certainly has enabled her to be projected as one of the greatest acting talents of her generation. 

Already acclaimed as a television favorite and a movie star in ascension in China, Jing Tian is a marvelous actress that has a fantastic future ahead of her. She certainly has potential to develop her sensational talent, as long as she manages to have relevant roles.   



​Wagner