easternkicks.com » China

Blood Simple gets the Zhang Yimou makeover

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:00:35 +0000

Sure, I know what you;re thinking, but it’s true – Zhang Yimou (Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, Not One Less, Raise The Red Lantern) has remade the Coen brothers classic Blood Simple as a historical Chinese drama called A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop,aka A Simple Noodle Story.

Will it work? Who knows. Either Yimou is being rather clever or lost the plot completely, but it’s about time an Asian filmmaker got their own back for all the Western remakes. (Even if, if this trailer is anything to go by, it’s all a little close to the original…)

Coming soon to American theatres, from 3 September. As for when we’ll see it in the UK…?

14 Blades

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:00:24 +0000

Director Daniel Lee is back, this time with Donnie Yen and Vicky Zhao in tow – thank god this is an improvement on Three Kingdoms then…

The 14 Blades in question are a special weapon only bestowed on the leader of the Jinyiwei, a select group of secret guards to the Emperor honed from childhood into deadly martial art experts, subservient to his every merciless whim. Their current leader Qinglong (Donnie Yen, Ip Man, S.P.L.: Kill Zone, Bodyguards And Assassins) becomes aware of a power play by the leader of the Imperial Court eunuch Jia, abusing his monarch’s disinterest, but is bound by the Jinyiwei laws to follow the Emperor’s orders – even if in reality they come from Jia – only to find himself betrayed by one of his own men.

On the run from his own deadly Jinyiwei, Qinglong fins sanctuary with wine merchant Jiao Zhong (Wu Ma, A Chinese Ghost Story, Swordsman, Deadful Melody) and his daughter Qiao Hua (Zhao Wei, Mulan, Red Cliff, So Close) – until they realise just how dangerous a man Qinglong is to be around. In order to create a diversion and uncover eunuch Jia’s plan, he kidnaps Jiao.

He soon finds out that Jia plots with the exiled Prince Qing (Sammo Hung, Ip Man 2, Three Kingdoms, S.P.L.: Kill Zone) to take control of the kingdom, qnd has sent his deadly daughter Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui, 72 Tenants of Prosperity, Contract Lover) to do his bidding. Qinglong must stop this alliance from happening, but finds unlikely allies in the Sky Bandits led by Judge (Chun Wu, Butterfly Lovers), but can he truly start to feel beyond his duty?

After the abysmal and frankly embarrassingly condescending Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, Daniel Lee goes a long way to redeeming himself with this better paced, more fun action thriller. Sure, there are many common themes: Kate Tsui’s fem fatale is the spit of Maggie Q; there’s all that stupid, stupid dreadlock hair; hell, even most of the costumes look like they were left over. The film makes more of that spin on spaghetti westerns, and not just on the soundtrack this time.

Yet this time the characters get more of a chance to breathe. Wei Zhao is always a welcome presence (though my previously aired thoughts on Zhao in period dramas still stand – what, cast as another doting daughter?), and actually Yen is not at all bad. I rather like the way the film turns into a wuxia It Happened One Night for a while after Qinglong takes Jiao hostage. It’s all fairly predictable, but well played out.

And the action is particularly well choreographed by action director and Yuen Woo-ping collaborator Ku Huen Chiu (The Warlords, Fearless, Kung Fu Hustle, The Forbidden Kingd0m) – who even got a Best Action Choreography award at this years Hong Kong Film Awards for his troubles. After seeing Donnie Yen in so many more ‘grounded’ fight scenes, it’s actually rather fun to see him in a more ‘wire-fu’ based movie for a change. With such a long career in Hong Kong movies it is, of course, something he excels at.

The fights themselves are a delicious take on old school martial art movies, combining wire-fu with modern techniques they don’t overstep the use of CGI, a regular complaint of ours. (Though those hoping for a pre-emptive clash from Yen and Hung will still have to wait for Ip Man 2.)

Indeed, the whole film rather pays tribute to the martial art films of the 70s and 80s, updating them to a true 21st century look. The 14 Blades weapon itself recalls the increasingly inventive designs by Tong Kai for the Shaw Brothers for films like The Magic Blade and Deadly Breaking Sword, whilst the clandestine plan evokes Killer Clans. The pale eunuch a recurring figure during 80s/90s wuxia films, but most notably the villain of the original King Hu version of Dragon Inn. And just like then, it seems Hong Kong filmmakers hardly make films in Cantonese anymore, this is just in Mandarin.

Not perfect, but a lot of fun – this has enough going for it to appeal to Eastern and Western audiences alike.

14 Blades is released on DVD and Blu-ray (£17.99) by Icon Home Entertainment from Monday 16 August 2010.

Jackie Chan and the Kung Fu Kid

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:00:31 +0000

The Karate Kid isn’t the only adolescent trying to crib moves off Jackie Chan…

Zhang Yishan is a 15-year-old Chinese boy who idolises Jackie Chan. Living in Indonesia with his grandmother and in his last year of Chinese-speaking High school, his grades are slipping. Though he loves sport, his academic classes are of no interest, and ability to actually read or write Chinese are severely lacking. He’s dreading a trip to his Beijing based grandparents, until he learns that Jackie is shooting a film there.

Using it as an excuse to follow his hero, Yishan turns up without a clue on how to get to his intended destination. Unsurprisingly this causes him a few problems, but along the way the people he meet (interestingly mainly female) start to make him reappraise his priorities. But will he ever meet Jackie?

Oddly marketed almost as a documentary (it isn’t), Jackie Chan and the Kung Fu Kid (aka Looking For Jackie) exists in a rather awkward world between real life stars as themselves, like Jackie himself and Bai Bing (New Shaolin Temple, Crossed Lines), and the rather juvenile invention of the script. Jackie’s appearance itself comes across more like those uncomfortable moments in a soap opera when a ‘real life’ star appears, than say Being John Malkovich or even Billy Idol in The Wedding Singer… well, are you with me, anyone?

(Hell, even Jackie has made better appearances in this mode – even in the diabolical An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn!)

Jackie Chan and the Kung Fu Kid is almost like one of those Children’s Film Foundation efforts that we (in the UK) were brought up on in the 70s and early 80s: not terrible by any means, but rather cheap looking and never quite, you know, all that. And let’s be straight here: this is a kids movie!

The biggest problem with Kung Fu Kid seems to be how it has devoured plotlines from bad 80s movies as the basis for it’s ‘realism’. On the one hand presenting us with quite positive role models for China in the 21st century, intelligent and kind, against one-dimensional, cardboard villains who appear to have walked straight out of John Hughes comedies like Home Alone. Exactly what is this film trying to tell us?

One thing’s for sure, intentionally or not this says some pretty interesting things about middle class China right now, with plenty of very Western originated magazines like Bazaar lying around.

Perhaps it’s due to the stars who were so happy to give there time for (quite possibly) very little, if anything at all, but ultimately this comes across rather like an advert for the Chinese film industry. Far from dispelling the myth of a glamorous life in film, even with the rather discounted sets, the camera follows the stars like a faithful hound.

It also makes it seem like there’s films being shot all over Beijing all the time – maybe things have changed since the Olympics but that definitely wasn’t the case both times I was there. Perhaps the films actually been funded by the Beijing Tourist Board?

The interesting thing about that is just how ingratiated Hong Kong filmmakers are into mainland China now. It’s not just Jackie Chan, John Woo is mentioned and so are a bunch of other Hong Kong stars. Old fans of JC will be happy to see another ex-pupil of the same Peking Opera school Chan was brought up in, Yuen Wah (Kung Fu Hustle, Iceman Cometh). Of course it seems funny to make such a deal of it now, but for those of us who’ve loved Hong Kong cinema for a long time it still feels quite strange.

The thing is, the kung fu isn’t bad at all – mainly thanks to the involvement of another member of the Yuen clan/ex-Peking Opera student Yuen Bo (PTU, Election, Protégé). But by it’s very presence – where everyone seems to ‘know kung fu’, like a bleedin’ shaolin monk – seems rather absurd against the attempts to set this in the real world.

And it all leads up to a rather heavy handed sermon from Jackie Chan that seems more pointed generally at young Chinese teenagers who may be not be respecting their elders and keeping up with their school work, rather than directly at the little toerag that is Yishan. I mean, please!

Sure Kung Fu Kid is okay, but kids will probably prefer even the original Karate Kid to this – even if Ralph Macchio made the world’s least convincing karate expert!

Mulan

Andrew Heskins — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:00:11 +0000

The lovely Vicky Zhao stars in this fine live-action version of the famous Mulan legend – so why is there such an overwhelming feeling of Déjà vu…?

Thanks to the 1998 Walt Disney film of the same name everyone knows the Chinese folktale of Mulan, right? The young maiden who takes her poorly father’s place in the Chinese army and ends up becoming one of China’s greatest heroes in the process. Go on, girl power!

Directors Jingle Ma’s (Tokyo Raiders, Silver Hawk, Seoul Raiders) and Wei Dong’s take on the legend takes a different slightly direction to the Disney film, as you would hope in an adult film. As with the earlier film, Hua Mulan (Vicki Zhao, Red Cliff, Shaolin Soccer, Painted Skin) takes her father’s (Rongguang Yu, New Police Story, The Storm Riders, The East Is Red) place in the Wei army when she realises he is too old and weak to survive the conflict with the invading Rouran hordes.

In the encampment keeping her identity is paramount, particularly as women aren’t allowed there even as girlfriends, let alone as soldiers, but Mulan soon shows herself to be an exceptional warrior. Her remarkable courage and knowledge of the art of war quickly propel her through the ranks to the position of General. Her fellow comrade Wentei (Chen Kun, Painted Skin, Let the Bullets Fly) recognises just how great she could, if she can just leave behind her one weakness on the battlefield – her affection for him.

As seems to be the trend nowadays, the style of Mulan follows the rough and rugged look pioneered by Musa: The Warrior and the highly successful The Warlords, if somewhat less plausibly. Sure, it’s all a bit grimy, but never quite as dark as Peter Chan’s film. Unsurprisingly the early training sequence is played much for laughs, which brings co-star Jaycee Chan (Invisible Target, 2 Young) as close the sort of comedic performance we’d expect from his father Jackie yet.

But about half an hour in or so, I suddenly have a feeling I’ve seen all this before. It takes me a little while to place, then I realise I have – in the first part of John Woo’s Red Cliff II when Zhao’s character goes undercover in the enemy’s army! (Admittedly, Woo was in turn no doubt inspired by Mulan in the first place.)

This casting (Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Liu Yifei were allegedly also up for the role) brings other unfortunate comparisons: the action through most of the film does not compare to other recent historical dramas, even the otherwise terrible Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, despite action director Stephen Tung Wai’s other recent work on Bodyguards And Assassins. When it finally comes down to showing Mulan’s tactical genius, director Ma rather fudges it – instead showing a rather vague montage sequence (much like Three Kingdoms did).

What I’d really like to seen, at least once, is a finely orchestrated battle sequence in line with those in Red Cliff, something that proves just how clever she is.

Vicki Zhao, once again, gives a solid performance in the lead, though oddly decides to play the role in quite a feminine way. Perhaps this is too avoid overplayed, Yentel style deep voices, but it’s hard to imagine anyone being fooled into believing this very (very, very) attractive and somewhat emotional woman being anything but? Personally I still find Zhao a little incongruous when cast in historical roles, even though that seems to have been all she’s done lately. As with Red Cliff I’m happy to overlook that, but perhaps it’s time for Zhao to find a more up to date part?

There’s sturdy support from the cast, including Rongguang Yu, but once again it’s Hu Jun (Bodyguards And Assassins, Infernal Affairs II, Red Cliff) who excels at the villainous of the Rouran Dayan, Mendu, relishing evey minute of screen time as a thoroughly unlikable and dishonourable leader.

It’s obvious that it doesn’t take itself as seriously as many other recent efforts, and in doing so (as is obvious from behind the scenes footage included on the DVD/Blu-Ray) greatly enjoyed themselves on the set while making the film. This shines through, making Mulan a surprisingly enjoyable historical romp, and more enjoyable that many of its peers.

And hell, it’s Vicki Zhao. ‘Nuff said!

Mulan was released on 21 June by Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-ray.

Cinema: 24 City

Andrew Heskins — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 07:26:43 +0000

Jia Zhang Ke, widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading filmmakers, follows up his previous STILL LIFE with this seamless mixture of fiction and documentary.

Shot in Chengdu before the earthquake, 24 CITY chronicles the dramatic fall of a State-owned munitions factory and its conversion into a luxury high-rise apartment complex. In a film both artfully composed and rich in offbeat details, Jia weaves together the stories of three generations of factory workers into a fascinating oral history of China over the last 50 years, and a meditation on the great physical and psychological changes transforming the country. The history of one factory and its workers becomes a microcosm for the entire history of China over the same period from the huge sacrifices and personal upheavals of the early post-revolutionary years to the alienation of today’s comparitive prosperity.

The line between documentary and fiction blurs as interviews with real workers and ex-workers are intercut with acted stories and actual vignettes of people affected by the closure of the factory and the construction of the apartment block 24 CITY.

24 City is released by New Wave films at the ICA Cinema and Key Cities around the UK from 30 April.

In cinemas today: City Of Life And Death

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:00:10 +0000

Lu Chuan’s hauntingly beautiful City Of Life And Death, about the atrocities committed during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, is on theatrical release at the Curzon Mayfair and Gate & City Screen sites around the UK from today.

Read our review of City Of Life And Death here »

BFI Southbank celebrates Chinese New Year

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:14:34 +0000

It’s the Chinese New Year on February 14, year of the Tiger, and to celebrate the BFI are showing a short season of Chinese movies starting this Thursday. These include Xie Jin’s Two Stage Sisters from 1964, Chen Kaige’s groundbreaking Yellow Earth, featuring cinematography by Zhang Yimou, and Yimou’s own The Road Home. (Which is free, but only for seniors!)

Find out more and book tickets online from the BFI’s website »

City Of Life And Death (LFF)

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:00:23 +0000

Lu Chuan’s latest film about the rape of Nanjing may be in black and white, but his characters most definitely are not…

It was over three years ago when I spoke to Lu Chuan about his fabulous second movie Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, then about to begin a limited theatrical release in the UK courtesy of Axiom films (despite the fact it had previously been released by Sony on DVD). At the time I asked him what his next film would be, and without any hesitation the answer came back that it would be ‘Nanjing! Nanjing!’ (the original Chinese title of the film). Of course, while it’s usual to ask directors their future plans it’s all the more exciting when they actually come to fruition…

Introducing the film to an audience at the London Film Festival, Lu Chuan revealed the film had been in production for over four years, with much of that time taken up with meticulous research into the situation not only from a Chinese perspective, but also from that of the occupying Japanese soldiers. Unsurprisingly, it makes for grim if undeniably compelling, viewing.

With the Japanese Imperial Army at gates of Nanking, from vignettes the story builds up a broader picture of the travesties committed and motivations of those involved: from the doomed Chinese resistance leader who leads a group that includes children against the might of the Japanese forces (Liu Ye, Curse of the Golden Flower, Purple Butterfly); to the Japanese soldier confused into believing a real relationship could develop between him and a –so-called ‘comfort woman’ (Hideo Nakaizumi); to the anxious Chinese secretary of a German missionary, forced to compromise loyalty to his own nation in order to keep his wife and child alive (Wei Fan, A World Without Thieves).

As you might expect from Lu Chuan’s previous work Kekexili, the picture he paints is not a simplistic version of events where Chinese are the persecuted and heroic, the Chinese secretary effectively sells out his own nation to keep himself alive, while the Japanese soldier is overwhelmed by his own forces merciless treatment of the Chinese. Yes, the film may be in black and white, but when it comes to conflict, Lu Chuan’s loyalties are decidedly grey.

Of course, this has made the film rather controversial in China, where neither a sympathetic Japanese nor a dishonourable Chinese character are particularly favourable. But of course, that’s Chuan’s point – in war we do what we must to survive. It’s not a judgement but an honesty so often missing from films based around war.

Lu Chuan candidly admitted in a Q&A after the LFF screening that his choice to shoot the film in black and white came from his dislike of the sight of blood. He felt it would be too distracting against carnage that was, frankly, horrific enough. (Ironically the same was true of another film screening at the 2009 London Film Festival, Polytechnique, based on the Montreal Massacure of 1989.)

This can’t help but bring Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, but those hoping for a similar uplifting final segment to truly lift the soul won’t find that kind of simplicity here. City Of Life And Death is a haunting but elegant take on the monstrosities of war.

City Of Life And Death will be released by High Flyers Films on 16 April at Curzon Mayfair and selected cinemas around the UK.

On DVD and Blu-ray: Red Cliff, international version

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:30:32 +0000

Easily the most palatable Chinese historical drama in ages, John Woo’s Red Cliff comes to UK DVD and Blu-ray today courtesy of Entertainment in Video. Oh, and it’s the best film he’s done in a long time too, so if you’ve yet to catch it, this is a must!

(Shame it’s not all four hours plus??)

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:00:10 +0000

From the same novel that spawned John Woo’s Red Cliff comes Three Kingdoms, surrounding the legend of Zhao Zilong who became known as The Undefeated General. But do we need another hysterical – I mean historical – drama…?

(And no, it’s not about resurrecting that dragon – they haven’t found a way to bring back Bruce Lee… yet!)

Zhao, played by Andy Lau, is a commoner who joins Liu Bei’s forces in the hope of helping end the wars between the three kingdoms in China. With his courage and exceptional martial art prowess Zhao soon rises through the ranks, becoming of of Liu Bei’s five generals (who also include 70s Shaw Brothers star Ti Lung as Guan Yu) – particularly when he saves Liu Bei’s baby son from the forces of Cao Cao (in an all-too-fleeting cameo by Damien Lau) – a scene also shown in Woo’s Red Cliff, where Jun Hu played Zhao.

Several years later Zhao finds himself still fighting for new leaders, the country still torn apart by war. Deceived into a trap that brings him full circle to the outpost where his calling began, he finds himself up against Cao’s daughter Ying (Maggie Q, Die Hard 4.0, Mission: Impossible III, Gen-X Cops 2), and an inevitable showdown…

Guanzhong Luo’s 14th century historical novel, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms is said to be one of the four classic Chinese novels, alongside Journey To The West, The Water Margin and Dream of the Red Chamber. (And yes, I admit even I had to look up that last one…) Unlike Woo’s more recent Red Cliff, director Daniel Lee’s (Black Mask, What Price Survival?) script and direction does little to honour that novel, encompassing both too little of the source material, and too much of Zhao’s life span. (And it’s nothing to do with Lee’s loose take on the material, either, Woo was just as free with the details.)

In fact, the battle for Red Cliff itself is not even eluded to, perhaps due to Lee wanting to distance himself from Woo’s long promised and undoubtedly epic take on the novel. Yet by trying to show us how Zhao first became a legend, cover the battles he fought and bring us to his disillusioned end, Lee simply glosses over his characters, providing none of them with any depth to like, let alone get caught up in the sentimentality heaped on us.

I’ve begun coining the phrase ‘hysterical dramas’ (rather than historical) for films like this, the mounting levels of melodrama and hysteria having become so over-the-top. It’s something The Warlords did, which also starred Andy Lau, but did well, and Red Cliff, somehow, managed to avoid. Yet Lee even makes a mess of that. We don’t care about the one-dimensional characters, or what happens to them. He lazily inserts flashback after flashback to attempt to pull at our heartstrings, yet only infuriates as they often come within minutes of being originally shown. Gone are the days when we’d get a classic Woo cum Peckinpah flashback of friends in happier times, before seeing them blown to pieces one last time. You can’t help but feel Lee would have been better placed concentrating on the latter part of Zhao’s life.

It’s heavy handed, simplistic and somehow very patronising – I can’t help but feel like Lee is aiming his sights purely on the Chinese market, and that says something rather sad about how sophisticated an audience he considers them. At best it’s a misguided attempt to recreate the simplicity of the Shaw Brothers classics of the 70s that starred Ti Lung and Damien Lau.

It’s also strangely nihilistic. Having fought so many years and given up any happiness of his own, only to find himself in exactly the same out that his heroic journey began, now betrayed by his oldest friend, and even used as a pawn by the great strategist Zhuge Liang. This is the part of the film where the lead is supposed to find a resolution, a meaning for his life, and the true elevation of dying with honour (I hope I’m not spoiling the plot here) yet as with director Lee’s sweeping generalisations, this rings as hollow and unconvincing. There is no discernable victory to be found, let alone moral high ground. (Zhao doesn’t even honour his own words to die defending the outpost.) Could this be deliberate – probably not, and hardly has the desired result.

On the positive side, the action choreography by co-star Sammo Hung and fellow Peking Opera student Yuen Tak, who both attended the same school with Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, is outstanding. (Even if the scale is dwarfed by Woo’s production several times over.) The cinematography is also impressive, the great, dusty, desolate golden-saturated landscape created by director of photography Tony Cheung mirrored in a main theme that is more than slightly reminiscent of a spaghetti western.

The cast, however, get such a bum deal with the script there’s little for them to sink their teeth into. Andy Lau, initially rather miscast as the young Zhao, is disappointing and rather unconvincing in the lead role. Just compare with his recent performances in Protégé, or even the similarly themed The Warlords – this is more an actor simply going through the motions, but with this script who can blame him. Similarly, Sammo Hung’s support is fine, but not exceptional.

Instead it’s Maggie Q, whose casting was heavily criticised when the film was released in Asia, who actually makes quite a promising appearance as the daughter of Cao Cao, as does Andy On as Zhao’s second-in-command Deng Zhi. It’s just with such a short amount of time devoted to their part of the story, we don’t see enough of them!

Yep, this might sound a bit harsh, but you’re better off trying to catch the theatrical release of Red Cliff while it’s still playing in cinemas. Overall this is a disappointing ‘historical drama’ that should be left to true fans of the genre.

easternkicks.com » China

Blood Simple gets the Zhang Yimou makeover

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14 Blades

14 Blades is released on DVD and Blu-ray (£17.99) by Icon Home Entertainment from Monday 16 August 2010.

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Jackie Chan and the Kung Fu Kid

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Mulan

Mulan was released on 21 June by Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-ray.

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Cinema: 24 City

24 City is released by New Wave films at the ICA Cinema and Key Cities around the UK from 30 April.

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In cinemas today: City Of Life And Death

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BFI Southbank celebrates Chinese New Year

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City Of Life And Death (LFF)

City Of Life And Death will be released by High Flyers Films on 16 April at Curzon Mayfair and selected cinemas around the UK.

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On DVD and Blu-ray: Red Cliff, international version

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Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon (cert. 15) is released today on DVD (£17.99) and Blu-ray (£24.99) by Icon Home Entertainment.

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