What is more, the film brings a vivid immediacy to events which goes beyond anything on the written page, be it the face - to - face drama
of Jed's dialogues with Joe (conducted in the novel mostly through letters and phone - calls), or the
occasional brilliant reds (the balloon, blood, etc.) that
flash from the film's otherwise subdued palette, signifying all at once eroticism, danger and passion with a visual economy reminiscent
of the
colour - codings
of Zhang Yimou.
The varying greens
of the sea
of paddy fields, coconut palms, and banana trees were broken up by a burst
of brightly
coloured flowers, and the
occasional blue
flash of a kingfisher or orange blur
of a dainty dragonfly.