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The 44th
Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Awards Nominees
(Golden Horse Film Festival) |
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October 27, 2007 |
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(Image:
goldenhorse.org.tw. ) |
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The nominees of the 44th Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards have been
announced. Films by makers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland
China all have very strong presents in the nomination. The awards
are defending the un-official title of "the Chinese Oscar", though
Taiwan's ruling DP Party has been trying so hard to declare that
Taiwan has nothing to do with China or Chinese.
Not surprisingly,
Lust, Caution,
by Ang Lee, the most famous man from Taiwan, received 11
nominations.
The Home Song Stories, an
Australian-made Chinese language movie is running in the second,
with 7 nominations. Singer/actor Jay Chou's directorial debut Secret
collects 5 nominations. Mainland director Wang Quanan's
Tuya's Marriage
gets 4.
Click here for the complete nomination list.
Update:
Tuya's Marriage
and
Blind Mountain, two
mainland Chinese films have been pulled from the competition. It is
reportedly that the Chinese government bans mainland movies
participating any award in Taiwan.
Tuya's Marriage
was nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Leading
Actress and Best Original Screenplay.
Blind Mountain
was nominated for Best Director.
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More
Stills from Stephen Chow's A HOPE (aka. Long River 7)
(Sina.com) |
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October 27, 2007 |
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(Images:
Star Overseas, China Film Group Corp. ) |
More:
A
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C
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Opening
This Week: October 13 - 19
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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October 26, 2007 |
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The Case |
Chinese Father |
Amour Legende |
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(Images:
The Propaganda Department of the Yunnan Branch of the CPC, Beijing
Ying Ke Wang Chuan Mei Co., Ltd.,
Rye Films.) |
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Yunnan New Film Project is launched for financing
ten movies directed by ten little known women Chinese directors and
shot in China's southern province of Yunnan. As the first two movies
of the project, The Case and Chinese Father are
started showing in Chinese theaters this week. The Case tells
how a man's life is disturbed by a suitcase he discovered in the
river. Chinese Father is about a father, looks for a mate for
his daughter and ends up finding a mate for himself. In Hong Kong,
two mainland movies have been released in small scale. Li Yang's
Blind Mountain tells a surviving story of a young woman being
kidnapped and sold to a mountain village as a strange man's bride.
Sparking Red Star is an animation with the main crew actually come
from Hong Kong. It is about a young boy's fight against an evil
local lord. In Taiwan, one local film has been released. Amour
Legende, about a man loss everything, including his memory in a
car accident at a strange country. All he has is a women who is
actually her mistress.
Click here for detail
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THE WARLORDS Stills - Takeshi
Kaneshiro
(Sina.com) |
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October 25, 2007 |
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(Image:
Media Asia Films, Morgan & Chan Films, China Film Group) |
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In The Warlords, three men, imperial
Chinese general Pang (Jet Li), bandit leader Zhao and young outlaw
Jiang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), form an odd brotherhood during the
chilling war against the Taiping Rebellion. Pang's regiment is
growing strong and greed for more power is also making him ruthless.
Zhao, who believes deeply in code of honor, does not share Pang's
ambition. The brotherhood eventually collapsed when Pang murders
Zhao and takes Zhao's wife Lian away. At the inauguration of Pang's
governorship, an assassin shows up. He is Jiang, the third brother.
The Warlords
reinvented the story told in martial-art director Chang Cheh's
Ci Ma at a much bigger scale. In fact, the story of Ci Ma was
inspired by a true incident, the assassination of Governor Ma Xinyi
by Zhang Wenxiang in the summer of 1870. There have been many
theories for explaining the truth of the incident and none of them
is conclusive. But it has never stopped novelists and playwriters to
invent their own stories behind the assassination.
The Warlords
started with a remake of Ci Ma and ended with something
not-a-remake, according to director Peter Chan. Shot at remote
locations near Beijing, The Warlords is Chan's most ambitious
project so far (His last one is
Perhaps, Love, a musical
with a love triangle.) Chan intends to show the rawness of war.
Thousands of extras were asked to wear dirty and rusty uniforms to
act in battle scenes, which in nowadays are more often done by CG
animation. From the trailers we can see the imperial soldiers and
the rebels are fighting with a mix of weapons seems from different
centuries, swords, spears, bows, muskets and cannons. This is
authentic for that war between the crippled empire and the equally
corrupted Taiping from 1851 to 1864.
Click here for more pix of Takeshi Kaneshiro.
More about
The Warlords.
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ASSEMBLY Character Posters
(Sina.com) |
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October 24, 2007 |
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Nine posters showing the major characters of Feng
Xiagang's US$11 million Assembly (formerly known as: The
Assembly) have been released by Beijing-based studio The H.
Bros. (Huayi Brothers). Based on short story The Lawsuit, which was
inspired by a true event, the story of Assembly begins in
1948, right at the high point of the bloody civil war of China. A
communist-led army captain is ordered to commend his company to
defense a position by all costs and he is allowed to retreat once
the assembly call was blown. The call never comes and after a
horrific fight, the captain finds out he is the only survivor. By
the time he make it back to the army, he is told his entire company,
including himself, are simply listed as missing. He rejoins the army
and follows it to the end of the civil war and the start of the
Korea War. While fighting in battle one after the other, he is also
struggling with the red tape. All he wants is to let the authority
recognizing his men really died like real soldiers.
Produced by private-owned Huayi Brothers and it's
Hong Kong-based strategic partner Media Asia and directed by
independent director Feng Xiaogang (i.e., he is not employed by any
state-own studio), Assembly has been called the first
Chinese-made modern war epic which does not serve any purpose for
propaganda. It was premiered at the recently closed Pusan
International Film Festival and got very positive reviews. Feng said
he hopes it made a significant step away from the propaganda tone of
other Chinese war movies. In his war movie, he shows the communist
soldiers?fears in battle. The battle scenes are also more bloody and
gory, which is heavily inspired by Steven Spielberg's Saving
Private Ryan and Korean-made Taegeukgi. Set to be
released in the mainland China December 20 this year, the movie has
been sold to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The deals for
Korean and Japanese rights are also likely to be sealed. It will be
showcased at the American Film Market opening next week in LA.
Click here for six more posters.
More about
Assembly
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Tsui Hark Thinks about JUDGE
DEE
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
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October 23, 2007 |
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(Image:
China News Agency.) |
Tsui Hark just made a low profile visit to
Hengdian World Studio of eastern China to scout sets and locations
for his next pic, Di Renjie (working title). Di or Judge Dee/Di
(630 - 700) was a Tang Dynasty chief justice of emperor Li Zhi and
later the Prime Minister of Empress Wu Zetian. Largely fictitious
stories of Di investigating cases were featured in a novel written
in the Ming Dynasty (1368 ?1644). 's story has been featured in many
novels and plays. During the 1940s and 1950s, Dutch diplomat Robert
Van Gulik, had read the novel, wrote his own version of Di's
investigation stories.
As for Tsui Hark's trip to Hengdian, he was
accompanied by Wang Zhonglei, president of Beijing-based The H.
Bros., which will producing the project. Wang said the story would
be very original an based on none of the previously published
novels. Making a story about Di has been in Tsui's mind for over a
decade. Currently the script is still not done and no one has been
cast yet. though the production has been set to start next spring.
One reports suggests in the movie, Di will be a "Sherlock Holmes who
knows kung-fu." |
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Chin Tsi-Ang,
China's First On-Screen Martial-Art Heroine Died at 99
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
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October 22, 2007 |
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(Image:
?.) |
Chin Tsi-Ang, known as
China's first, or at least one of the first, on-screen martial-art
heroine, has passed away October 15 in Hong Kong. Chin was born in
Shanghai in 1909. She joined Chin Woo Athletic Association at 9
became an actress of Shanghai's Lang Hua Film Studio at 16. She
starred in a large number of films, including Nan Hua Meng,
Hong Gu Niang and Qing Chang Guai Ren. In 1930, 21
year old Chin Tsi-Ang had her breakthrough role in Jiang Nan N?/span>
Xia, by Shanghai's Great Wall Films.
In late 1930s she moved to Hong Kong with her husband and quit
acting soon after. In 1962, she began playing small roles in many
Hong Kong movies. One of her last on-screen appearance was the old
maid in Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love. Martial-art star
Sammo Hung is one of Chin Tsi-Ang's grandson.
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Germany and China to Tell the Story of JOHN RABE, the Good
Nazi Who Saved the Lives of 250,000
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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October 21, 2007 |
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(Image: ?) |
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John Rabe (1882 - 1950) was a German citizen and
devoted National Socialist (Nazi). From December 1937 to February
1938, in Nanking (Nanjing), he was the head of an international
committee, which was responsible for saving the lives of 250,000 men
and women from being slaughtered by the Japanese army after the
Chinese capital city fell. Shortly after returning to Germany, Rabe
actively denounced the Japanese atrocity he witnessed and wrote to
Hitler asking him to use his influence to persuade Japan to stop
killing. He was soon arrested by Gestapo and was released three days
later under the condition of stop speaking about the Rape of Nanking.
After the war ended, he was arrested first by the Soviet and then
the British, but an investigation concluded he was not a Nazi. From
1945 to his death five years later, Rabe lived in poverty and he was
greatly supported by donations from China.
This US$20 million biopic is jointly produced by
Hofmann & Voges Entertainment GmbH (Germany), EOS Entertainment
(Germany), Majestic Filmproduktion (Germany) and The H. Bros.
(China). The film is written and directed by Florian Gallenberger ( Schatten
der Zeit,
Honolulu,
Quiero Ser -Gestohlene Trame).
Ulrich Tukur (The Lives of Others,
The Ax,
Solaris) will play John
Rabe. The cast also includes Dagmar Manzel (According
to the Plan,
Vier Tothter, Der
Junge ohne Eigenschaften)
as Mrs. Rabe, Gottfried John (Flood,
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes,
Cowgirl) as Trautmann,
Steve Buscemi (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,
Fargo,
Reservoir Dogs) as
American missionary doctor Robert O. Wilson and Zhang Jingchu (Rush
Hour 3,
Protege,
Peacock) as a Chinese school girl.
Shooting has already begun last Thursday in Shanghai.
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How Leon
Lai and Zhang Ziyi Look in Chen Kaige's MEI LANFANG Biopic
(Sohu.com) |
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October 20, 2007 |
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(Images:
Sohu.com.) |
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In the biopic now in production in Beijing, Leon Lai pays Mei
Lanfang (1894 - 1961), a mater Peking opera artist, who was known
for only playing women's role on stage; Zhang Ziyi plays Meng
Xiaodong (Meng Hsiao-tung), another Peking
opera artist (only played bearded men), who had a very short-lived
married with Mei. These pictures were taken at Beijing's Beihai
Park, a former imperial garden.
Click here for more.
Related Stories:
Camera Rolls for Chen Kaige's MEI LANFANG
(...)
July 21, 2007
Chen Kaige's MEI LANFANG Biopic
in Production Next Month
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
June 23, 2007
Zhang Ziyi's Involvement in Chen
Kaige's MEI LANFANG Biopic Confirmed?
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
April 19, 2007
MEI LANFANG Biopic Cast List
Partially Revealed
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
April 13, 2007
Zhang Ziyi Wants to Be a Cowgirl in
LAUNDRY WARRIOR and Wife of MEI LANFANG?
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
April 2, 2007
Leung Chiu-Wai, Leon Lai Are
Frontrunner to For Chen Kaige's MEI LANFANG Biopic
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
March 2, 2007
Chen Kaige Gets to Direct Mei Lanfang
Biopic
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
August 6, 2006
Leung Chiu-Wai Might Portray Peking
Opera Legend Mei Lanfang in Director Stanley Kwan's Next (MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive)
January 19, 2006
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Opening
This Week: October 13 - 19
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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October 19, 2007 |
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Brothers |
Crazy Lottery |
5 Gun of Mercy |
Unfinished Girl |
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(Images:
Beijing Yi Duo Lan Media Investment, Beijing Forbidden City &
Trinity Pictures Co., Ltd., Beijing Seaking International Movie
Investment Co., CCTV Media, Shenzhen Film Studio, Focus Films
Limited.) |
This week Hong Kong
director Chiu Sun-Kee's Brothers has been released locally
and in the mainland. It tells the mistrust and feud between two
brothers, sons of a late crime boss, through the eyes of a cop.
Three local titles are made available to Chinese theaters. Crazy
Lottery is a dark comedy about how a lottery tickets threatens
his marriage and the friendship with his childhood buddy. 5 Gun
of Mercy is a thriller tells a prison guard and three inmates
get separated from others while running away from the rising water.
Unfinished Girl tells a girl, who is dying from a brain
tumor, suspects her brother-in-law was responsible for the death of
her parents...
Click here for detail
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THE MUMMY
3's Desert Sets Exposed
(Sina.com) |
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October 18, 2007 |
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(Images:
Southern Metropolis Weekly, The Beijing News.) |
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No security for Rob Cohen's
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Reporters are visiting the sets near Beijing without being
stopped. The sets built in a very small desert, include an
underground tomb guided by a giant statue of an ancient general, a
great wall under construction (reportedly some real great wall can
be seen on the mountains near the set), five free-standing gates, a
pit filled with dead labors and a camp of modern
archeologists/tomb-robbers. Shooting at the set has being going on
for over a week and will end by mid November. More scenes will be
shot at
Hengdian World Studio (for the
ancient empire) and
Shanghai Film Studio at Chedun (for
the modern world -1946).
Click
here and
here for more set photos.
Check out Rob Cohen's blog.
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Opening
This Week: October 6 -12
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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October 12, 2007 |
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Trouble Maker |
The Promise |
The Drummer |
Kung Fu Fighter |
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(Images:
Qian Xi Film & TV, Jin Bang Zhong Shi, Biao Zhun Yin Xiang, PKU
Star, Xiangxiao Film Group Corp., My Way Film Company Limited,
Sil-Metropol Organization, Ltd., Emperor Classic Films Company
Limited, Kenbiroli Films, Twenty Twenty Vision.) |
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This week in the mainland China, two abnormal
politically-correct films have been released. In Trouble Maker,
a party representative to a little village is trying to take down
four gangster brothers who are backed by a corrupt government
official. It is abnormal because the film is allowed to talk about
government corruption, one of the biggest social problems in China;
and it is politically-correct because the hero fighting corruption
is a party member. In The Promise (not that Chen Kaige's
junk), three guys join the Chinese Red Army after a girl says she is
marrying anyone who do so. It is abnormal because our three heroes
become revolutioners only for getting the girl; and it is
politically-correct because, you know, it is a movie about the
revolution. Both movies were shot as comedies in order to appeal the
young audiences, who are pretty much the audiences in China.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the new releases are
The Drummer and Kung Fu Fighter, both features a story of
how a young man's life changes by coming to a new place and learning
some new skills. The Drummer, written and directed by Kenneth
Bi (Rice Rhapsody) and starring Jaycee Chan (The Sun Also
Rises, Invisible Target, 2 Young), about a Hong
Kong kid runs to Taiwan and joins a local band of drummers. He
learns the ancient skill of drumming as well as how to live as a
decent man. Review of this drama is fairly good. By the way, The
Drummer is also becoming available this week in Taiwan. Kung
Fu Fight tells a young man comes to the 1930s Shanghai to look
for his unseen father and somehow get himself into the middle of a
gang war. The story, the setting, and the rest are everything but
original. Even the majority of the supporting cast is recycled from
Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle.
Click here for detail
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Opening
This Week: September 29 - October 5
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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October 5, 2007 |
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Four mainland Chinese titles are released this week locally.
World Second, a comedy
about a
down on his luck security company owner participated in a
martial-art contest in order to pay his debt with the winning prize;
Sparking Red Star, an
animation
about a little boy fighting an evil local lord;
The Dream Is Alive,
a propaganda film about the construction of a new harbor; and
A Railway in the Cloud,
another propaganda film dramatizes the constructions of the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
Triangle, by three Hong
Kong master directors, Tsui Hark, Ringle Lam and Johnnie To, is also
screened in the mainland China starting this week.
Click here for detail
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