Blanca
and Verta are like the Clooney Sisters of demon snakes. God help the mister who
comes between Verta and her sister—especially if he is a measly mortal—but God
help the sister who comes between Blanca and her [hu]man. The ancient Chinese
legend that inspired Tsui Hark and numerous Chinese operas gets an animated
prequel treatment in Amp Wong & Zhao Ji’s White Snake, which screens
today at the 2019 New York Asian Film Festival.
Blanca
is a restless snake demon. Perhaps that is why the snake demon queen dispatches
her to assassinate the evil Taoist general, who has been rounding up snakes to
drain their life force in order to attain powers of immortality for the emperor.
The mission is not a success. Blanca barely manages to escape, but when she
come to in a village of human snake-hunters, she has temporarily lost her
memory.
Ah
Xuan is not much of a snake-hunter, but he is a stout-hearted lad, so he and
Blanca inevitably fall in love. Unfortunately, their temporary romance will not
last. Blanca’s enchanted hairpin and the jealous Verta will bring her back to
reality and the cold hard fact humans and demons cannot mix. Of course, Ah is
willing to trade in his humanity, but by the time he returns as a minor demon
with a puppy dog tale, he will find his old human village trapped in the
crossfire of a war between the snake demons and the General’s forces.
Ah
also has a talking dog, Dodou, so you know you can’t go too far wrong with White
Snake. It also boasts some of the most impressive Chinese animation yet
(representing Warner Brothers’ first animated Chines co-production), even eclipsing
Big Fish & Begonia. The main characters are definitely attractive
and heroic looking, but the grand natural vistas and fantasyscapes are truly awesome.
The humor is a bit hit-or-miss, but it is mercifully used sparingly.
Plus,
it is weirdly fascinating to parse the meanings behind a film that pitches the
Taoism of the Darth Vader-like General versus the Buddhism of the Demon Snakes
(besides Blanca and Verta, most of them are pretty creepy). However, the film
clearly suggests there is more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamed of
in the Communist Party’s philosophy.
White
Snake has
some wildly cool martial arts sequences and its animation is consistently
top-notch. Unfortunately, it shares the shortcoming of most fantasy films and
anime, when the climax largely jettisons the human element in favor of a maelstrom
of fire balls and death rays, whirling about in a visual blur. Still, that is a
minor complaint that is not unique to White Snake. Highly recommended
for fans of animation, wuxia, and fantasy films alike, White Snake screens
today (7/7) as part of NYAFF ’19 and for those who will be in Montreal later in
the month, it screens on July 27th during the upcoming Fantasia Film Festival.
