The two main characters are governor and general Gao Shi (voiced as a young man by Yang Tianxiang, as an elder by Wu Junquan) and poet Li Bai (Ling Zhenhe and then Xuan Xiaoming).
Instead, Gao Shi gets to basically narrate the story of his and Li Bai’s entwined lives in one long flashback, told to a visiting luminary over the course of a single night before a decisive battle.
If you know nothing about this period of history, which unfolds during the Tang dynasty, you’ll certainly learn a lot, but you’ll need to pay close attention to the welter of journeys to far-flung provinces, battles fought in mountain passes, and characters of note met along the way.
The latter was considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese history, and the film honours him and his work by featuring dozens of his poems, often declaimed lustily by the character in various states of inebriation (he was a legendary drinker).
Gao Shi was also a poet of some note apparently, but the film makes it clear he was not in Li Bai’s league.
