PAINTED SKIN: THE RESURRECTION

画皮2

Directed by Wuershan

Asia Pop! / China / 2012 / Fantasy, Romance, Thriller / 131 mins / Mandarin with English subtitles / DCP

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PAINTED SKIN: THE RESURRECTION

UltraStar Mission Valley
November 3, 2012 7:40 pm

PAINTED SKIN: THE RESURRECTION

UltraStar Mission Valley
November 7, 2012 8:20 pm

Description

Opening Night Film, 2012 Shanghai International Film Festival

Love can mend hearts and bring people together. Love can also destroy kingdoms and cause war. Love can bring about desperations and bargains with demons. In PAINTED SKIN: THE RESURRECTION, love steamrolls through all on a beautiful cinematic canvas of lavish sets and ornate costumes.

Princess Jing (Vicky Zhao) journeys for the man who failed to protect her in her youth, Huo Xin (Chen Kun), now a general. She does this not for revenge, but to reignite love. However, instead of finding the general, she encounters two sumptuous demons: Quer (Mini Yang), a bird demon, and Xiaowei (Zhou Xun), a fox demon, both in search of a human heart. As the princess finally catches up with the General, she is rejected, and she blames her disfigured appearance, which has haunted her much of her life. In desperation, Jing strikes a deal for the beauty of Xiaowei, who in turn gets that much closer to the beating heart she craves.

What follows is a sensually-charged action/adventure with the fate of hearts, spirits, and nations teetering to the whims of passion and jealousy. What sets PAINTED SKIN: THE RESURRECTION apart from other mainland big-budget fantasies (including Gordon Chan’s 2008 stab at the Painted Skin saga), is its audacious sense of fun and its sinister exploration of beauty, gender, and the skin trade. Already the highest-grossing film of all time in China, PAINTED SKIN: THE RESURRECTION brings Mongolian director Wuershan (The Butcher, The Wife, and The Swordsman) to the top ranks of Chinese storytellers. –Phillip Lorenzo

Co-presented by: San Diego Chinese Historical Museum