Red Cliff - Some Random Thoughts

As expected, John Woo's Red Cliff (赤壁) , the most expensive movie in Chinese film history, has broken opening day records in mainland China and topped the box-offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea over the last weekend. The US$80 million historical epic has already earned US$26 million on its opening weekend across these five Asian territories* and looks set to become the highest grossing East Asian hit movie this year. This is the first of a two-parter for Asian audiences and the sequel is scheduled to be released early next year. For audiences outside Asia, a condensed 2½ hour version will be released in January 2009.

I got to watch this highly anticipated movie over the weekend and I was largely satisfied with the performances in the film. From Tony Leung's portrayal of the calm yet brilliant Zhou Yu, to Takeshi Kaneshiro's portrayal of the witty Zhuge Liang, to Chiling Lin's beauteous Xiao Qiao, every member of the cast did a satisfactory job of bringing their characters to life. I was especially impressed by Zhang Fengyi's portrayal of the dominating and ruthless Cao Cao, although he is the singular lonely villian in the story, he still looked like he could eat every member of the gang of good guys - Liu Bei and his generals, Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, Sun Quan, Sun Shang Xiang and Xiao Qiao, for lunch. It's one against many yet the many seem to have a real hard time dealing with the ONE (Cao Cao), who looks to be the smartest of the lot ;-)

But what impressed me the most were the battle scenes, these do not disappoint and are the best parts of the movie. I could honestly say that these are some of the best battle scenes I have ever seen in an Asian movie. John Woo is really the master of action sequences and the battle scenes in this film retain his signature style ( lots of slow motion and sweeping moves) without losing the feeling of realism. Look out especially for the exciting battle scene just before the movie's end, for this is the part where we can finally understand and experience Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang's military genius (even though according to Wikipedia, this battle is purely fictional ;-P).

But the movie is not without faults, perhaps because of the plot, there is little human drama that is memorable. After watching the movie, except for the battle scenes, there were hardly any scenes that sticked in my mind. Lovebirds Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao do not generate a lot of romantic sparks and Cao Cao's obsession with Xiao Qiao somehow also comes out a but strange, maybe because it is quite unbelievable that a man like Cao Cao could be so obsessed over a woman, to the extent of going to war for her... And I also feel that the soundtrack could be improved, some of the film's music just sound too modern and do not seem to fit the time period of the movie.

All in all, I think this is one of the best big-budgeted Chinese historical epic that I have seen so far, definitely much better than the too-extravagant-for-its-own-good Curse Of The Golden Flower ;-P

Tags: Red Cliff, Chi Bi, John Woo, historical movie, Chinese film, Tony Leung, Chiling Lin, box-office.

Source: *http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/15/arts/AS-MOV-John-Woo-Red-Cliff.php,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cliff_(film)

Picture from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cliff_(film)

John Woo's Next Project After Red Cliff - 1949

John Woo's mega production Red Cliff is set to be released in July this year in Asia and a spate of new trailers for the movie have just been released (one of them below). High profile appearences by John Woo and the the cast of the movie including Tony Leung (Zhao Yun), Lin Chiling (Xiao Qiao), Chang Chen (Sun Quan), Hu Jun (Zhao Yun), Vicky Zhao (Sun Shang Xiang) and Zhang Feng Yi (Cao Cao) at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival have generated much buzz for the film.



And while we are still anticipating the arrival of Red Cliff, John Woo has already announced his next project at Cannes - 1949, a US$40 million epic romance set during the tumultous WWII era which will star Chang Chen and Korean actress Song Hye-kyo (left picture). As Song will play a Shanghai lady in the film, she will be taking Chinese language lessons in preparation for her role. This film will start shooting in December this year and is set for release in December 2009.

John Woo is one busy man ;-)

Picture from http://news.yule.com.cn/html/200805/9954.html
Source: http://www.movieweb.com/news/76/28776.php, http://news.yule.com.cn/html/200805/9954.html

Tags: Red Cliff, 1949, John Woo, upcoming movies, Chinese movies, Chinese film, Tony Leung, Chiling Lin, Chang Chen, Song Hye Kyo.

Character Posters For John Woo's Red Cliff

Character posters for the 8 major characters in John Woo's mega production Red Cliff were presented at the recent Hong Kong Filmart. Just click on the names of the characters below to check them out.

Zhao Zilong - played by Chinese actor Hu Jun. Hmmm, I like Hu Jun but his Zhao Zilong really looks a bit too burly and tough.... isn't Zhao supposed to be a rather debonair and dashing general? For another version of Zhao Zilong, check out Andy Lau's version of this heroic figure in the YouTube trailer for his upcoming new movie Three Kingdoms - Resurrection Of The Dragon below - in case you are wondering, yup he is the guy in the "WWII" combat helmet ;-P
(Wikipedia entry for Zhao Zilong aka Zhao Yun)

Zhuge Liang - played by Takeshi Kaneshiro. OK... he looks suave and scholarly enough...
(Wikpeda entry for Zhuge Liang aka Kong Ming)

Zhou Yu - played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai. Not bad at all. He looks more tanned and buff here compared to his Lust, Caution days. (Zhou Yu On Wikipedia)

Xiao Qiao - this ancient beauty is played by modern beauty Chiling Lin. Much much better here than I expected :-P

Cao Cao - played by Chinese character actor Zhang Fengyi. Fits the widely accepted image of Cao Cao. (Cao Cao on Wikipedia).

Sun Quan - played by Chang Chen. Not bad too. (Sun Quan on Wikipedia)

Sun Shang Xiang - played by Vicky Zhao Wei. Me thinks that glow from her forehead is caused by the reflection from the glass pane in front of the poster, it should not be in the poster itself :-P

Gan Xing - played by Japanese actor Shido Nakamura.

All in all, the characters don't look too bad at all. The film will be released in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong on 10 July this year just before the Beijing Olympics and in Japan in October.

Here is the Japanese version of the trailer:



And here is the trailer for Andy Lau's Three Kingdoms - Resurrection Of The Dragon:



Tags: Red Cliff, John Woo, Tony Leung, Vicky Zhao, Zhao Wei, Chiling Lin, Hu Jun, Chang Chen, Shido Nakamura, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Andy Lau, Three Kingdoms, trailer, upcoming movies, Chinese movies.

Lust, Caution Takes Home 7 Golden Horses

As expected, Lust, Caution is the big winner at this year's Golden Horse Awards held on December 8 in Taipei, Taiwan. The Ang Lee thriller won 7 awards including Best Film, Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), Best Director (Ang Lee) and Best Newcomer (Tang Wei) among others. Best Actress was also won by a Lust, Caution alumni - former Golden Horse Award winner Joan Chen for her portrayal in The Home Song Stories. The full results can be found at

http://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/gh_main/gh/gh-e-5.aspx

And here is a clip of a rather interesting moment that happened when Ang Lee and Sandra Ng (a Hong Kong actress well-known for her talent in comedy) were about to give out the Best Actor award, rather unexpectedly Sandra Ng tore the sealed envelope containing the results without opening the envelope (for comic effect perhaps?), shocking the normally sedate Ang Lee into a minor panic who then hurriedly tried to piece the torn pieces together, dropping the bits of paper in the process... hmmm... poor Ang Lee, he looked really distressed by Sandra's er playful act ;-P But I guess this was just a minor blip in an otherwise fantastic night for the cast and crew of Lust, Caution.



Tags: Golden Horse awards, Ang Lee, Lust, Caution, Tang Wei, Tony Leung, Chinese films, Chinese Movies, Chinese Film Awards.

Characters In Costume On John Woo's Red Cliff

Photos of Taiwan's "Number One Beauty" Chiling Lin in costume as the major female lead character Xiao Qiao in John Woo's epic movie Red Cliff have been released recently and it seems that reactions to her "new look" in the film have generally been pretty good.

Here are the photos of Lin Chiling as Xiao Qiao: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/28/content_6807931.htm
My take: She exudes a classic beauty and looks really demure but still... I feel that she looks like she belongs in a Japanese Samurai-era movie instead of an ancient Chinese historical pic... Hey, but what do I know maybe that is exactly how Chinese women in that period should look like ;-P For a picture of how she looks like in modern day clothing and some background info on the movie, click here.

And here are some candid camera moments of the other actors in costume on the set of the movie:

http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-08-08/12081668206.shtml
3rd picture from the top: Tony Leung - last seen in Lust, Caution, as General Zhou Yu (the pic only shows him with the hairpiece :-P wonder how he looks like in full costume...) and
4th picture: Hu Jun as Zhao Yun

http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/p/2007-08-08/12021668195.shtml
1st picture from the top: You Yong as Liu Bei,
2nd picture: Guan Yu, 3rd picture: Zhang Fei
(Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were major characters in the saga of the The Three Kingdoms but it seems that they may not play such a big role in John Woo's Red Cliff...?)

http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-08-08/13191668321.shtml
A series of pictures of Vicky Zhao Wei as Sun Shang Xiang (clicking on each of the pics opens up a bigger image). Hmm, she looks pretty manly...

http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-08-08/12121668209.shtml
Hou Yong as Lu Xiao (3rd and 4th picture from the top)
Interesting...

Filming for the move is still ongoing and the movie is set to be released in July 2008 ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Technorati tags: Red Cliff, John Woo, Tony Leung, Chinese historical movie, Three Kingdoms, Chiling Lin, Vicky Zhao.

Very short trailer clip of Ang Lee's Lust, Caution

Sorry, haven't been posting as often as I should... I will post more interesting East Asian movie and drama posts very soon, promise :-)

But for now, check out the URL below for clips of Ang Lee's Lust, Caution in this promotional advertisement by Focus Features for their upcoming releases in the second half of 2007. You will need to wait some time for the mov file to load though. The screen shots of the movie are somewhere in the middle of the clip.

http://www.focusfeatures.com/clips/about_focus/spring07-480x260.mov

Enjoy the clip :-)

Tags: Lust, Caution, Ang Lee, Tony Leung, Wang Lee Hom, Tang Wei, Chinese Movie, Chinese Film.

Casting Troubles At The Red Cliff

Casting problems on the set of the in-production mega Chinese movie Battle Of The Red Cliff (赤壁) seem almost as exciting and unpredictable as the plot of the film itself.

The latest news is that Tony Leung Chiu Wai has rejoined the cast and may be taking over Chow Yun-Fatt's role of Zhou Yu after Chow left the cast last week. Leung was originally slated to play Zhuge Liang but his role was handed over to Takeshi Kaneshiro when he quit early this year.

The latest cast as per news reports:
Tony Leung as Zhou Yu (?)
Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang
Hu Jun as Zhao Yun
Zhang Fengyi as baddie Cao Cao
You Yong as Liu Bei
Chang Chen as Sun Quan
Chiling Lin as ancient hot babe Xiao Qiao
Vicky Zhao Wei as Sun Shang Xiang
Zhang Jing Chu as Da Qiao

This John Woo film will be divided into two parts, with the first part scheduled to be released before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the second part at the end of 2008.

Hmm... hopefully the casting troubles will not affect the film too adversely...

Good luck to John Woo :-)

Also, check out this site below (in Chinese) for some nice pics of the cast and the characters in the movie: http://ent.tom.com/movie/f/chibi.html
And for some background info on the movie, check out my previous blog post here.

[information from articles in the following sites:
http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1294807.php/Tony_Leung_rejoins_Woos_The_Battle_of_Red_Cliff’_ http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/04/17/chow-yun-fat-drops-john-woos-battle-of-red-cliff/
http://ent.tom.com/movie/f/chibi.html]

Tags: Battle Of The Red Cliff, Chi Bi, John Woo, Chow Yun Fatt, Tony Leung, Lin Chiling, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chinese Movie, Chinese Film, Historical Movie.

Clip From The Departed's Asian Cousin - Infernal Affairs

After watching Oscar Best Picture The Departed a few days ago, I can't help but notice the striking similarities between this movie and the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs. But of course they are similar -The Departed is an adaptation of Infernal Affairs. Silly me haha.

I think The Departed is a really fantastic movie but since I watched it after I watched Infernal Affairs, the remake can never really match up to the original... Because while I was watching Leonardo DiCaprio acting as the undercover cop, I was thinking of Tony Leung and while I was watching Matt Damon, I can't help comparing him with Andy Lau... Especially in the second half of the movie when many of the scenes were so similar.

For example, this scene (one of the most powerful moments in the movie) that I found from Youtube:



Remember how it was shot in The Departed? I actually preferred this version over the one in The Departed, somehow I just felt more pathos here especially with the great background score and the flashbacks.

Enjoy the clip. And watch Infernal Affairs if you have not done so, it really is a great movie :-)

Technorati tags: The Departed, Infernal Affairs, Best Picture, Oscar, Academy Award, Hong Kong movie, Tony Leung.