Asian Beauty Appreciation

Painted Skin (Wa Pei) is a fantasy tale based off the classical Chinese novel of Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio) and is directed by Gordan Chan. It starts out with general Wang Sheng (Kun Chen) and his army invading and inevitably demolishing a bandit outpost in the middle of the desert. The action choreography is too pretty and perfect as only the bandits take a beating, leaving the army unscathed. The battle includes decent wire work as the general and his legion jump up walls and on top of buildings.

As general Wang Sheng fights his way through, he comes upon a graceful and stunning beauty (Xun Zhou) amid the dirty bandits. She lies barely covered by an animal pelt next to a murdered man and as the general makes his appearance, she is noticeably intrigued by him. He carries her to safety and as his army make their way back, a lone lizard looks on almost as an omen as the titles come up.

At the army’s return to their city, Wang Sheng’s wife Chen Peirong (Wei Zhao) appears and is instantly and understandably wary of the young looking Xiaowei’s proximity to her husband. This early sense of danger leads her to future revelations regarding the newly rescued damsel.

As evening settles, two new visitors make their appearances not only on the unsuspecting town but the minds and memories of Wang Sheng and Peirong.

First the army chases down a dangerous and stealthy killer but as he vanishes, a familiar soul is waiting outside the city gate. It turns out to be the former army general Pang Yong. He had turned his back on his legion two years prior when the woman he loved married Wang instead, and has since been a drifter and vagabond. As thoughts weigh heavy on Wang’s mind, his wife attempts to console him and they end up making love but afterward Wang awakes suddenly after having a wet dream of Xiaowei. These ominous dreams continue as they slowly change his attitude towards her.

Zhou Xun

Brother Yong awakes the next morning, visibly experiencing a hangover and leaves despite everyone’s invitations. He makes his way to a neighboring town where he attempts to find future drunken solace in a local restaurant.

There he meets a young woman by the name of Xia Bin who shares her meal with him. I initially wanted to review this film for the beauty of Xun Zhou and Wei Zhao but then another appears in Betty Sun Li .

Her look is dressed down to give off a rough and tough tomboy charm as she is a Demon Buster on the look out for a cunning fox spirit/demon who her grandfather hunted at one time. Her skills soon come into play as Peirong enters the establishment and explains to her former love Yong how she suspects Xiaowei to be a demon set out to part her from Wang. Bin and Yong eventually team up to unmask the demon but this is not the only union to come from this section of the film.

As a demon, Xiaowei wears human skin as we wear clothes, but it ages quickly and must be sustained by the eating of human hearts. For this dirty little task she employs a lizard demon, the stealthy killer mentioned earlier, who obviously loves and worships her.

Betty Sun Li

As the plot thickens and the hunt continues, a discrepancy in Xiaowei’s background is called in to question. This allows Yong and Bin to enter Wang’s household and watch her more closely, causing her to speed up her plans to become the general’s wife. Her new plot not only puts Peirong in mortal danger but Wang’s loyalty to his wife is severely tested. This is where the final battle is staged and the final love is chosen. The fantasy element of the film is done well with decent special effects and fitting set and costume design.

At first I was turned off by the cinematography for it is not aesthetically impressive, but this aids in not focusing too much on the beauty of the setting but more on the story and weaving turns of the plot. The editing at times makes the film feel rushed but to a certain extent this is a plus, so the viewer doesn’t have to deal with a 120-150 minute film but instead a mere 100 minutes. Painted Skin has its faults in a lower than average production value but makes up for this by focusing more on an entertaining story than on sparkling visuals.