Edrie

I went to Blood Brothers with Teru and Naz on Saturday. What a good film. You can certainly see many notes of later movies that pay respect to this one!

Blood Brothers by Zhang Che (Ci Ma, 1973, 118 min.). New 35 mm print. This widescreen epic of love, loyalty, and betrayal is based on actual events that have become legend, spawning several film versions. Zhang�s retelling finds David Jiang and newcomer Chen Guandai as bandit brothers who befriend young general Di Long after trying to rob him. The stage is set for tragedy when Di Long falls for Chen�s neglected wife. With three protagonists, Zhang fully indulges his passion for sadomasochistic displays of the male body under duress. This threesome, whose devotion eventually turns into jealousy, treachery, and revenge, prefigures John Woo�s Bullet in the Head. Indeed, Woo was assistant director on Blood Brothers.