WHEAT

Derek ELLEY is Senior Film Critic of the U.S.-based entertainment trade paper "Variety," which has been covering the international film business for over 100 years. Born in London, Elley has been writing about East Asian cinema for over 35 years, especially Chinese-language films, and has arranged numerous seasons both in the U.K. and elsewhere. In 1998, he co-founded the Far East Film Festival, in Udine, Italy, devoted to mainstream Asian movies. He has been visiting China regularly, both for business and pleasure, for over 20 years.

Two deserters during a civil war in Ancient China find themselves on the wrong side of the tracks in “Wheat,” a structurally simple but tonally ambitious dramedy that marks a quality return by writer-helmer He Ping six years after the misfire of Col Asia\'s “Warriors of Heaven and Earth”. Mixing moments of awesome visual lyricism with low comedy and nods to everything from Greek Tragedy to popular movie genres, strongly cast pic should harvest fest slots prior to specialist pickups.

Background is the chaotic Warring States period, a brutal, 250-year-long slugfest that finally resulted in Ancient China\'s unification under the Qin in 221 BC. He\'s lean script deliberately avoids getting bogged down in historical detail, as, after gorgeously lensed main titles, the camera moves through sun-blasted wheat fields to zero in on the walled Zhao town of Luyi, where all the men have left for war and the womenfolk wil have to bring in the harvest. In a brief, expository speech, Lady Li (Fan Bingbing), wife of absent Lord Ju Cong (Wang Xueqi), says victory over the Qin will bring their men back home soon.

Elemental nature of the story is underlined by dividing the yarn into five sections corresponding to the Chinese system of elements: metal (aka gold), wood, water, fire and earth. First seg, “Day of Gold,” shows the marriage of the young Lady Li and the middle-aged Ju Cong, in the midst of which news arrives that the state of Zhao is now threatened by Qin. Ju Chong immediately mobilises all men over 12 and sets off.

Cut to the aftermath (“Day of Wood”) of an exhausting battle (actually Changping). Two weary Qin soldiers, Xia (Huang Jue) and Zhe (Du Jiayi), decide to go AWOL and return to their village to bring in the harvest. Hiding in some wheatfields, they narrowly escape beheading by a Qin patrol and are washed downstream to Luyi, where they\'re taken in by the womenfolk (“Day of Water”). Realising they\'re in “enemy” hands, the two Qin deserters pretend to be Zhao soldiers and extemporise a tale for Lady Li describing Zhao\'s triumphant victory over Qin. But not all of the town\'s women, including Lady Li\'s female shaman (Wang Ji), are entirely convinced. And when some Qin-siding bandits, led by the crazed Lord Chong (Wang Zhiwen), arrive in town, Xia and Zhe have to do some fast thinking.

On a broad level, pic plays as a partly stylised dramedy on the lunacy of war - especially civil war - in which a change of side or simple rumors can decide one\'s fate in a split second. As Xia and Zhe desperately flim-flam to save their lives, word rapidly spreads through the town about the supposed victory, causing misplaced optimism among the women.