The hell movie had bamboo slips?

March 12, 2013 11:16 PM

What movie used these things?

I have a strong memory of seeing a movie sometime in the past few years, pretty sure it was live-action and pretty sure it was fantasy of some sort, where instead of paper, people wrote with paintbrushes on wooden slats that were tied together and then rolled up like a scroll. What movie was this? Mighta been a TV show, but ... ugggggh. I can't remember. Help?

posted by kafziel to media & arts (5 answers total)

Maybe it was the Jet Li movie Hero? I know there's a fight scene in a library of rolled up slips and I sort of recall there's some other scenes where calligraphy figures prominently. It's been a while since I've seen the film, though, so I might be mistaken.
posted by maniactown at 12:13 AM on March 13 [1 favorite]

The cowardly demon hunter in Painted Skin: The Resurrection had a demon encyclopedia made like that, I recall. The little sparrow demon was so cute, too.
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:32 AM on March 13

Frame grab. Blurry but best I can do from the Netflix app on my iPad.
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:45 AM on March 13

It might have been Hero? I distinctly remember someone rolling out a scroll on a table, which had a face drawn on it, and writing something. Was that in there?

Ugh, Netflix doesn't have that for streaming.
posted by kafziel at 12:49 PM on March 13

Having rewatched Hero, no, that's not the movie I was thinking of, though it does contain the exact kind of scroll I'm talking about. Also, never saw Painted Skin: The Resurrection, but that screengrab isn't right either.
posted by kafziel at 9:24 PM on March 13