House of Flying Daggers, this year's heavyweight in Chinese cinema, hit the big screen on Friday, and was shown to almost full houses in Beijing.

After a celebrated showing at the 57th Cannes Film Festival in May, the film is expected to attract Chinese moviegoers of many different ages, a touching story about the love and hatred between two men and a blind prostitute.

"Love is ruleless," Zhang said. "Some couples have lived under the same roof for 30 years, but never had that heart-breaking feeling of those who might have just been together for three days."

"While Hero revealed social topics, House of Flying Daggers portrays a tale of love," he said.

On May 19, when House of Flying Daggers was premiered out of competition in Cannes, it won the audience's thunderous applause, which lasted 20 minutes. A few days later, the US-based Sony Pictures Classics announced it had purchased the rights for distribution in North America, marking Hollywood's first purchase of a foreign movie from Cannes this year.

Around the same time, China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television orally notified film distributors that, on principle, any import of foreign films would not be encouraged from the end of June to the beginning of August. This suggests the dominance expected of House of Flying Daggers over domestic theaters this summer.

As the most anticipated Chinese film of the year, House of Flying Daggers has dazzled the audience with exquisite production and breathtaking audio and visual impact. People tend to compare this movie with Zhang's Hero, looking for the root of his enthusiasm for martial arts.

"While Hero was all about a swordsman's righteous cause, House of Flying Daggers is more devoted to emotional tangles, which are well suited to both Eastern and Western audiences," Zhang said. "The most important element of a martial arts movie is imagination. A film can be criticized for 10,000 reasons, but whether it impresses the audience with certain scenes or scenarios counts, and this is what I have pursued. Dozens of years later, when most people have forgotten the exact stories in House of Flying Daggers, they might still remember the classic scene where Zhang Ziyi plays a game with Andy Lau by long-sleeve dancing."

Zhang, who once said that he would not repeat a subject in his films, finally presented a martial arts epic for the second time. This won't be the last, according to Zhang himself.

"At an interview with Times magazine, Zhang said that House of Flying Daggers is his hail to martial arts films," said Zhang Weiping, producer of the movie. "His confidence comes partly from his wisdom and experiences and partly from his innovative concepts of martial arts films."

While storytelling comes first, Zhang also sought to present astonishing pictures, as he always has. The director chose Chinese traditional colors mostly used in grotto paintings as the film's major hue.

"Zhang Yimou gave play to the essences of Chinese kung fu and Chinese culture to the utmost," Zhang Weiping said, "and these are rarely seen in Hollywood movies."

Two years ago, Zhang Weiping helped Hero sell a near-mythical 5 million box office tickets. This time, in May, Zhang's distribution of House of Flying Daggers in North America brought in 115 million yuan, and the distribution in Japan earned 85 million yuan. The strong opening was nearly enough to recoup the 290 million yuan total investment in the movie.

Zhang Weiping said that through Hero, he felt Chinese audience's heartfelt support for domestically produced movies. Many Hollywood hit "Deven Gladiator" failed to meet half of the sales of Hero. Zhang is also confident in protecting the film from being pirated.

"Thanks to the support from governmental departments concerned," he said, "House of Flying Daggers will certainly score a success in fighting against piracy in Chinese film history."

According to Zhang, the Cannes Film Festival was just a platform to showcase Chinese movies to global audiences. Can House of Flying Daggers stir up a windstorm in domestic market?

"As a film distributor for more than 20 years, I have seen countless movies," says Michael Barker, co-President of Sony Pictures Classics. "House of Flying Daggers is one of the most touching movies I have ever seen. I believe that it will succeed and will be qualified for Oscar nomination."

Audiences are waiting.

(China Pictorial July 17, 2004)