So I rented the movie Green Snake on a complete whim. The idea sounded interesting (two sister snake demons try to become human, piss osf a bad ass buddhist monk, hilarity ensues) and the trailer on youtube made me go “awesome!” which doesn’t happen as much as it used to. I was completely unprepared for the movie I saw.
It was astounding. The special effects played into the whole supernatural feel of the movie (yes, the special effects looked extremely fake, but they felt real to the world…it’s hard to explain the complexity of this) and the story line was an epic fantasy that was completely human at its core. Too often epic fantasy’s in the common western mindset fall into good versus evil without giving a face to either, or a humanity to either. It’s a struggle and nothing more.
But this story was epic in scale and kept a complex human interest. The snake demons were the key compenent to this- they were trying to be human, and in doing so defined the human experience more achingly powerful because of what they are trying to achieve. Like all great human stories there is love, loss, memories, family ties and betrayls. But there is so much more.
The snakes are contrasted with the buddhist monk, who through his meditation has left the humanity they are searching for behind. He has transcended his human emotions and embraced the void. The two polar sides war against each other, escalating constantly.
This is probably one of my favorite fantasy movies. And it does what the best fantasy movies do- it’s inspired me. It’s got my brain churning, thinking of ideas. Rent it. Rent it now. You won’t be disapointed.
Hey Paul, do you think you could shoot an email my way. I tried to contact you but with no luck…I hope all is well, Brendan