Of Flying Swordmen, Bamboo and Brash Sluts

The House of Flying Daggers
one of the most entertaining martial arts movie i've seen since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. (Incidentally, these are the only two of said genre.)
Apart from the cliches, Zhang Yimou himself claims he had to include,
i.e. Bamboo forest fights, flying kung-fu duels, excessive coughing up of blood and a muse in the form of Zhang Ziyi

The perks of the film:
1) Takeshi Kaneshiro with immaculately styled side-burns, looking good in period drama clothing, damn he looks good in anything.
2) Cheena-Japanese sounding soundtrack and girl-power packed oomph song sung by ZZY about the power of a pretty girl up north leaving nations and kingdoms in ruins.
3) Panoramic view of the Russian landscape, open field of wild flowers
4) Dance sequence by ZZY which was aesthetically pleasing to the eye but the peony brothel and geisha-like harlots contribute repetitively to cliched mise-en-scenes in oriental movies

Like the title, the movie has no lack of flying daggers
in a vast array of shapes and sizes,
made from every available material; wood, bamboo, metal
basically anything that flies, kill.

Now, not wanting to be a party pooper,
i shall only say the movie climaxes to unfold a love triangle
between Takeshi, ZZY and Andy
(Obviously, ZZY falls for the better looking bloke! What do you think? She's really blind!?!)
All i can remember now is excessive blood and gore,
and laughing at Andy who gave a whole new meaning to the word "Backstabbed"

Other than that, you really have to watch this movie,
if for anything, girls: Takeshi, guys: ZZY (her hair's too flat)
Nah, seriously,
you should watch it because it tells of passion and love
and the circumstances it places one in;
the sacrifices one makes for it.

Still, there are somethings i can't figure
1) Why do people of the past like making love in the wilderness?
- cos their beds are also made of straw, so it won't make a difference?
- cos they lack self-control?
2) Aren't they suppossed to be leaving in the conservative ages? so why is ZZY so brash and horny? (to much delight of the guys)
3) People of the past probably never ever practised safe sex, cos condoms didn't exist then. This explains for the big extended families of the past.

AND one more thing, (on hindsight, applies to all movies)
Movies will never be an effective medium to educate the public on save sex. Cos there's never a moment to pause in a passionate sex romp to allow the male protagonist to put on a condom.
So much for safe sex.