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Harvey
Weinstein Interested in CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
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March 25, 2009 |
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Harvey Weinstein calling it “astonishing” (or a
word similar) and Marc Mueller, director of Venice Film Festival,
calling it “perfect” (or a word similar), according to the Chinese
press.
City of Life and Death,
the result of Chinese director Lu Chuan’s four-year long non-stop
effort, is set for a theatrical released in China next month.
The film is a dramatized story of the
Nanking Massacre, aka. The
Rape of Nanking, with hundreds of thousand of POWs and civilians
being slaughtered after Nanking (Nanjing), the Chinese capital city
fell to the hand of the Japanese.
It follows the fate of several fictional and
non-fictional characters, a Chinese soldier struggling to survive
the horror, a Japanese soldier trying to live through the killing, a
German businessman working very hard to protect more lives with two
assistances, a doctor and a woman school teacher.
Made as a black-and-white film, the stories of
Japanese side are inspired by memoirs of real Japanese soldiers.
Director Lu Chuan intents to portray the Japanese as human beings,
rather than bloodthirsty monsters.
This film just survived the painstaking
censorship process by the Chinese authority and what have been
changed and what have been deleted remain as mystery.
Several big names in the world film industry have
seen a work-in-process print of the film, including Harvey Weinstein
and Marc Mueller. According to a press release by China Film Group,
one of several studios produced the film, Weinstein watched the
print in Hong Kong, and in the next day, flow to Beijing to meet Han
Sanping, president of China Film. He was impressed how the war
scenes were handled in the film and said the style was something
never seen in any other war movie. Weinstein has asked to purchase
the film’s international rights and offered some movie deal to
director Lu Chuan. A script and contract have been passed to Lu’s
manager, reportedly.
The Weinsteins are really known for making indie
art films bankable, by any mean possible. In the pass, large amount
of films, many are from Asia, were re-edited and dubbed before
release in North America. I am just hoping he would not do it again.
P.S.,
Lu Chuan’s last work, Kekexili:
The Mountain Patrol, about a group of volunteers fighting against
the armed and ruthless antelope poachers, received a 98% tomatometer
when released in America in 2006.
Teaser poster
Stills
Posters, stills, production photos
Teaser trailer
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Opening This
Week: March 14 - 20, 2009
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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March 23, 2009 |
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The Rebirth of the Trilobite |
Xie Xie Nong |
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Jing Gang
Liang Yuan Qi Yu Ji |
A Very
Short Life |
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(Images: Jin Shen Film and TV, Kai Yue Hua, Jin Shen Film and TV, Kai
Yue Hua, Dongshan Town Government, China Film United Ad., Zhangjiagang
Brewery, China Star Entertainment, Point of View Movie Productions, One
Hundred Years of Film Company.) |
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Three new movies come out this week in China are only in very
limited scale.
In
The Rebirth of the Trilobite,
a guy caught in the middle of a conspiracy over a piece of trilobite
fossil, a antique bronze pot and a ancient book.
In
Xie Xie Nong, a crab
restaurant is run by a single young women, who just hired an
ex-security guard as her new assistant.
And in
Jing Gang Liang Yuan Qi Yu Ji,
a Beijing women gets lost in the city of Hong Kong.
A Very Short Life is a Category III (adult only) film released in
Hong Kong. It tells a respectable woman Police Commissioner is
re-investigating the murder case of an 11 year old girl. The girl's
mother has confessed she is the murderer but, even under intense
interrogations, refused to admit that she knew all along that her
boyfriend was raping her daughter at home.
Other movies released this week in the following
regions:
China:
Alone in the Dark
(Canada / Germany / USA)
Dragonball Evolution
(USA)
Hong Kong:
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
(USA)
Departures
(Japan)
He's Just Not That Into You
(USA / Germany / Netherlands)
K-20：Legend Of the Mask
(Japan)
The Reader
(USA / Germany)
Vals Im Bashir / Waltz with Bashir
(Israel / Germany / France / USA)
Taiwan:
Home Less Boy
(Japan)
Make It Happen
(USA)
Somers Town
(UK)
Taare Zameen Par
(India)
Young at Heart
(UK)
Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans
(USA / New Zealand)
Click here for detail
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Opening This
Week: March 7 - 13, 2009
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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March 20, 2009 |
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China:
none.
Hong Kong:
Orz Boys
(Taiwan),
Big Stan
(USA),
Blindness
(Canada / Brazil / Japan),
Dragonball Evolution
(USA),
Gran Torino
(USA / Australia),
Wake of Death
(France / South Africa / USA / Germany),
Taken
(USA).
Taiwan:
Damage
(UK / France),
Dragonball Evolution
(USA),
Slumdog Millionaire
(UK),
Taken
(France).
Click here for detail
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Stars Line Up for a "Main Melody"
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
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March 11, 2009 |
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Then: In 1945, Mao Zedong (R) flew to Chongqing
to have talk with President Chiang Kai-shek (L). |
Now: Two popular stars, Tang Guoqiang (R) and Zhang
Guoli (L) are cast to play Mao and Chiang. |
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(Images: ?) |
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What would picture in mind, if you are told the
cast of a new movie include Andy Lau, Leon Lai, Jiang Wen, Chen
Daoming, Vivian Wu, Chen Kaige, Feng Xiaogang…? A martial-art film
set in an ancient dynasty, a modern day crime thriller in Hong Kong,
or a comedy with a love-triangle?
None of the above. It’s titled Jian Guo Da Ye
(roughly means: “The Great Cause of Founding the Nation”, a
propaganda film, backed by China’s top state-run studio China Film
Group, in attempt of telling the country’s history from 1945 to
1949.
Here is some history 101: When the second great
war ended in 1945, the country was controlled by political forces,
the ruling Nationalist and the Communist. A peace talk delivered
nothing and civil war broke out a year later. Then in 1949, the once
much weaker Communist controlled the mainland and forced the
Nationalist government to be relocated to Taiwan. In the same year,
Chairman Mao declared the founding of a new nation, The People’s
Republic.
Though in English, such films are commonly
labeled “propaganda”, the Chinese government prefers to call them
“main melody”, which refers to movies, TV shows and plays, are not
only approved by the authority but also recommended by the
authority. Often such movies, having politically-good subjects and
well-funded by the state, are cursed to fail in the box-office or
even went-straight to library shelf to eat dust. China is now
embracing capitalism, so letting “main melody” profitable is also
politically-correct. “Main melody” movies are getting more artistic,
or funnier, and big movies stars have shown up in the cast list. All
these attempts, designed to attract more public attention, have
failed to make any difference.
Jian Guo Da Ye, is only one of 50
“main melody” movies with the official status of “present to the
60th Anniversary of the People’s Republic.” Majority of these movies
are made by state-run studios and funded by various governments. In
fact, many small local state-run studios’ survival is depending on
making such “main melody”. Recently director
Feng Xiaogang, calling these
movies “formulated presents” which are “wasting tax-payers’ money.”
His words are well reported by many Chinese newspapers, all
state-run. Ironically, these papers have also run stories to promote
such “presents.”
Variety's story on the same subject. |
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CONFUCIUS!
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
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March 10, 2009 |
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Chow Yun-Fat: I'm using my own beard this time. |
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(Image: ?) |
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Here is a old news. Chinese women director Hu Mei
has a gigantic plan of telling the life story of the
Confucius on the big screen
for the first time. The story will reflect eight historical events
in the life of the great philosopher and the final film will be
split into two episodes (inspired by John Woo’s Red Cliff?).
Chen Daoming (played the emperor in Zhang Yimou’s Hero) will play
another great philosopher Lao Tzu and Zhou Xun will play Confucius’
one-time love interest Nan Zi. The crew will include cinematographer
Peter Pao (won the Oscar for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
and art director Yee Chung-Man (nominated for the Oscar for Curse
of the Golden Flower). Filming will kick off later this month in
Yi County (near Beijing), which recently hosted John Woo’s Red
Cliff, and will moved to Hengdian World Studios (near Shanghai),
provided sets for many historical films, like Chen Kaige’s The
Emperor and the Assassin and Zhang Yimou’s Hero and
Curse of the Golden Flower). It will be ready for bidding the
Oscar (Best Foreign Language Film mostly) in 2010.
What an ambitious Confucius! Who will ply
the Confucius? Chow Yun-Fat! That’s right. Chow has personally
confirmed he would do it last week in Hong Kong, when on a
promo-tour for Dragonball Evolution. He even started growing
beard for the role. Chow is expensive and the payment to him will
probably equal to a third of US$21 millions, budgeted for the film.
But director Hu said it was well worth.
Here comes some confusion. Pu Cunxi, a pretty
well-know actor in China, recently claimed he read the script and
refused to play Confucius. He said the script was bad and portraying
Confucius as a martial-artist was ridiculous.
The director Hu strikes back. She said there was
25 editions of the script and it took them two years to develop the
final draft. What Pu read was very different from the one given to
Chow Yun-Fat. She said the final draft was approved by several
historians and every story in it was backed by historical record.
She claimed Confucius knew how to drive a cart, how to shoot arrows,
and even once commanded a little war. Some historical book describes
Confucius as a big guy who was "strong enough to fight a bull."
Confucius was living in the Spring and Autumn Period, during which
China was still a collective of dozens virtually independs states.
He was the Justice Minister of the state of Lu and when he was
already 55, quit his post after getting disillusioned by his ruler,
the Duke of Lu. He then started traveling to other states to promo
his own philosophy and political beliefs, but no state ruler took
his thoughts seriously. He had many students following him around,
very similar to the experiences of Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha),
Jesus and Muhammad. Instead of being a religion founder, he became a
teacher. His thoughts, known as Confucius, was carried on by his
followers and then, six centuries after Confucius' death, was
formally adopted in the Han Dynasty as the only philosophy for
governing the country. In the next two millenniums, Confucianism
were developed and even manipulated constantly to serve the purpose
of imperial rule, all in the name of Confucius, who was worshipped
with a god-like status.
Started in late 19th Century, western-influenced scholars in China
began criticizing Confucianism as part of the effort of ending the
corrupted Qing Dynasty. The anti-Confucianism movement continued
even after the dynasty was long gone and then
in the Cultural Revolution, for serving political purpose, Confucius
was under harsh attack.
Starting in the 1980's, both Confucius and Confucianism have
resurrected in China. Confucius' thoughts have once again become the
subject of studying, only without much political influence, and
Confucius has once again praised by the government, only more as a
great thinker than as a quasi-god. Confucius Institutes have been
established throughout the world, by the Chinese government, to
promote Chinese language and culture. Very interestingly, this film
was produced by China Film Group, the biggest studio owned by the
Chinese government.
Concept drawing released last year:
1
2
3
4
5
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Opening This
Week: February 28 - March 6, 2009
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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March 6, 2009 |
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24 City |
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(Image: Shanghai Film Studio, Xstream Pictures,
China Resources (Group) Co., Ltd., Bandai Visual Company, Bitters End,
Office Kitano.) |
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This week, Golden Venice Lion winner Jia Zhangke's 24 City is
released in China.
In 1958, a factory was relocated from the northeast China to the
southwest city of Chengdu. Now the gigantic factory is in a
countdown of demolishing. This film, with a docudrama taste, tells
the stories of three worker women of the factory in the past five
decades.
Other movies released this week in the following
regions:
China:
Claustrophobia
(Hong Kong),
Les Deux Mondes
(France),
The Rock Climber
(Russia).
Hong Kong:
The Equation of Love and
Death
(China / Hong Kong),
Coming Soon
(Thailand),
Frost / Nixon
(USA),
Gu Gu the Cat
(Japan),
Hotel for Dogs
(USA / Germany),
Rachel Getting Married
(USA),
The Red Thread
(Japan).
Taiwan:
Nocturna
(Spain),
PACO and the Magical Book
(Japan),
Push
(USA),
Rumba
(France / Belgium),
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
(USA).
Click here for detail
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Opening This
Week: February 21- 27, 2009
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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March 6, 2009 |
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Love in Translation |
Basic Love |
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(Images: Zhang Jiang (Group) Co., Ltd., Boyü Culture Development Co.,
Ltd., Universe Entertainment.) |
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Valentine is over, for two weeks. But new movies coming out this
week are still telling love stories.
In
Love in Translation, a
French college girl meets a migrate worker from Chinese countryside.
For them, falling in love is just the easiest part of crossing the
cultural boundary between them.
Basic Love
is about, two girls and a boy,
something other than simple friendship is among them.
Other movies released this week in the following
regions:
China:
Valkyrie
(USA / Germany).
Hong Kong:
L-O-V-E
(Taiwan),
Confessions of a Shopaholic
(USA),
Slumdog Millionaire
(UK),
T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous
(IMAX) (USA),
Winged Creatures
(USA),
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
(USA).
Taiwan:
Ip Man
(Hong Kong / China),
Confessions of a Shopaholic
(USA),
Departures
(Japan),
Defiance
(USA),
Gran Torino
(USA / Australia),
Waltz with Bashir
(Israel / Germany / France / USA).
Click here for detail
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