|
|
|
|
|
Chinese title
|
|
Ji Jie Hao |
|
|
|
Literal title |
|
The Assembly Call |
|
|
|
English title |
|
The Assembly |
|
|
|
Status |
|
Released |
|
|
|
Release date |
|
Dec. 12, 2007 (China) |
|
|
|
Plot outline |
|
I The
Assembly tells in 1948, at the high point of the bloody Chinese
civil war, a company leader of the communist-led Liberation Army was
ordered to command 47 men to defend a position four at least four
hours. They would be able to retreat once they heard the assembly
call. The call never came and everyone except the company leader
died. Then he spent many years to search for the reason he never
heard the assembly call and to prove all his men died like real
heroes.
|
|
|
|
Official website. |
|
|
|
Posters:
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Trailer:
teaser |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSEMBLY Review
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
|
|
|
December 27, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
(Image:
Huayi Brothers, Media Asia Films, Ltd.,) |
|
|
|
|
Though labeled as a war epic, Assembly
is not a war. It is a soldier's story, how he managed to
survives the war one after the other, and during the peace time,
how he tried to dig out some inconvenient truth about the war,
which everyone seams prefer to forget. The movie works because
the story is not about a war but about the men who fought in the
war.
The movie started in the winter of 1948,
during the climate of the blood Chinese Civil War, which broke
out shortly after the end of WWII. Gu Zidi (Zhang Hanyu), a
captain of the communist Liberation Army, leads his 9th Company
to sweep through a narrow street with an unknown number of
Nationalist soldiers hiding inside ruined houses. Their call for
the Nationalist to surrender is unanswered and Gu ordered his
man to sneak in, not knowing they are working into a trap. Then
the quiet street suddenly turns to hell. Rifles and machine guns
start firing, pre-planted dynamites are ignited and an artillery
starts shelling on the crowd. They push hard, enemies shooters
are terminated one by one, and by the time the cannon is knocked
out, the Nationalist soldiers finally decide to surrender.
Click here to continue...
More about
Assembly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Opening This Week: December
15 - 21
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
|
|
|
December 21, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
Assembly |
The Red Awn |
Trivial Matters |
|
|
(Image:
Huayi Brothers, Media Asia Films, Ltd., XiuDong
Hao Ye Investment & Consulting Ltd., Wan Ji Culture Promotion Co.
Ltd., Making Films Production (Hong Kong), Not Brothers.) |
|
This week in China, Feng
Xiaogang's war epic
Assembly,
about an army captain fighting to gain recognition for 47 of his
comrades who died in action, has been released in massive scale;
while Cai Shangjun's
The Red Awn,
about
a father decides to take his neglected son on a trip across the
country with his red combine harvester, has been released in tiny
scale. In Hong Kong,
Trivial Matters, a comedy contains seven mini stories, has
been made available in local theaters. It is based on director Pang
Ho-Cheung's
same title story collection.
Click here for detail
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSEMBLY Theme Song Video
(Sina.com) |
|
|
|
November 19, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Soundtrack Cover |
|
|
(Image:
HY.
Brothers) |
|
The video of the song, titled "Brothers" contains some "very
expensive" war shots, cut from the movie. Assembly, also known as
The Assembly, is produced by Beijing-based HY. Brothers, China's
biggest private-own movie studio and
it's Hong Kong-based
strategic partner Media Asia. The story,
based on a real story inspired short novel, is set in 1948 during
the battle of Huai-Hai, the biggest during the bloody Chinese Civil
War (1946 - 1949). The battle involved 600,000 communist-led
soldiers versus 800,000 Nationalist government soldiers. The
Nationalist lost, never recovered from the defeat and soon retreated
to Taiwan. The story starts with a community captain being ordered
to command his men to defend a position until he hear the
assembly call. The call never comes and the captain becomes the sole
survivor of the bloody fight. He managed to get back to his troops
and is told his men are simply labeled missing. He rejoins the force
and fights till then end the civil war and then goes to Korea to
fight in another war. He fights against red-tapes to ask the army
recognize his men died like real soldiers. Even though
the main characters are
communist soldiers,
Assembly
is still called the first Chinese-made modern war epic which does
not serve any purpose for propaganda. However, in the war movie
directed by Feng Xiaogang, one of China's most bankable movie
directors, many communist soldiers are no longer brave but rather
are scared to dead during battle, and the Liberation Army is no
longer right all the time but rather filled with red tapes.
Assembly was premiered at the recently
closed Pusan International Film Festival and got very positive
reviews. 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 was also showcased at the American Film Market opening
next week in LA.
Click here for the video.
Official website.
More about
Assembly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSEMBLY Character Posters
(Sina.com) |
|
|
|
October 24, 2007 |
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HY. Brothers
Launches Official Site with Trailers for ASSEMBLY, BLOOD BROTHERS...
(...) |
|
|
|
June 19, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
(Image:
HY. Brothers) |
|
|
|
|
Beijing-based HY. Brothers has finally got an official site
for exhibiting its works directly. Until now, promotional materials
were usually released through such websites as Sina.com and
Sohu.com. Not any more. Now we can watch trailers with
relatively good quality and enjoy movie stills without scar-like
logos.
The site has a better version of the
Assembly
trailer released a few days ago (click
here); two full trailers of
Blood Brothers (one of them is brand new.
Click here), and
an
official site of
The Matrimony,
a supernatural thriller has been released in several regions in
Asia.
It seems the top executives have been struggling on how to call the
studio in English for many years. As the most productive
private-owned movie studio of China, it had multiple English names
in the past decades. It was originally called Hua Yi Brothers Taihe,
then it known as to Huayi Brothers, later shown as The H. Brothers
and finally changed to HY. Brothers.
Click here for the official site. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posters - THE
WARLORDS, THE ASSEMBLY, BLOOD BROTHERS
(movieXclusive.com /
Sina.com) |
|
|
|
June 17, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
The Warlords |
The Assembly |
Blood Brothers |
|
|
(Images:
Media
Asia, China Film Group, Morgan & Chan,
HY. Brothers) |
|
|
|
|
The Warlords
poster (left) is posted on Singapore-based movieXclusive.com.
It looks like a screen capture of the
official website.
Zhang Wenxiang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), holding a man's head, stands in
the middle of a horrific battle fought between the imperial army and
the Taiping rebels.
The Assembly
poster (middle), from Sina.com, shows what "the assembly"
really means - a bugle call. It shows Gu Zidi (Zhang Hayu), who led
47 men to block the enemy's advance and in the end became the sole
survivor of a bloody fight. The lower part actually shows scenes of
two wars - the Chinese Civil War (1946 - 1949) and Korea War (1950 -
1953). The
Blood Brothers
poster (right), also from Sina.com, shows seven leads - (left
to right) Tony Yang, Li Xiaolu, Liu Ye, Sun Honglei, Daniel Wu, Shu
Qi and Chang Chen.
(Thanks to Jet Liang for
The Warlords
poster.)
Related Stories:
More about
The Warlords
BLOOD BROTHERS Poster
(Sina.com)
June 7, 2007
Newer, Bigger and QuickTimer
Trailer of BLOOD BROTHERS
(Twitch)
May 30, 2007
Newer, Bigger and QuickTimer
Trailer of BLOOD BROTHERS
(Twitch)
May 30, 2007
BLOOD BROTHERS Stills
(...)
May 24, 2007
Fortissimo to Sell BLOOD BROTHERS
outside of Asia
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive)
February 2, 2007
Fortissimo bonds with 'Blood
Brothers'
(Variety)
February 1, 2007
John Woo Produced BLOOD, BROTHERS
Meets the Press
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
November 13, 2006
BLOOD BROTHERS Poster
(Twitch)
November 15, 2006
John Returns Home to Produce GATE TO
HEAVEN
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
May 24, 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE ASSEMBLY's New Trailer
(Sina.com) |
|
|
|
June 16, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(HY.
Brothers, Media Asia.) |
|
Click here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSEMBLY's
Teaser Posters
(...) |
|
|
|
May 24, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
(H.
Brothers Films, Media Asia.) |
|
|
|
|
On the left, a version of
international teaser poster revealed in Cannes, and on the right, a
horizontal banner designed to tease theater lines in China.
The first
war movie by Chinese director Feng Xiaogang,
Assembly, formerly known as "The Assembly",
tells in 1948, at the high point of the bloody Chinese civil war, a
company leader of the communist-led Liberation Army was ordered to
command 47 men to defend a position four at least four hours. They
would be able to retreat once they heard the assembly call. The call
never came and everyone, except the, company leader died. A Few
years later, while fighting another war in Korea, he was still
searching for the reason he never heard the assembly call and trying
to prove all his men died like real heroes. Beijing-based H.
Brothers Films and Hong Kong-based Media Asia is selling it in
Cannes right now. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bootlegged Clip of THE ASSEMBLY Promo Reel Shown in Cannes
(Sina.com) |
|
|
|
May 22, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
(Huayi Brothers.) |
|
|
|
|
A 7 minute promotional video of Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's war
movie
The Assembly
has been screened in Cannes. The Movie
tells in 1948, at the high point of
the bloody Chinese civil war, a company leader of the communist-led
Liberation Army was ordered to command 47 men to defend a position
four at least four hours. They would be able to retreat once they
heard the assembly call. The call never came and everyone except the
company leader died. Then he spent many years to search for the
reason he never heard the assembly call and to prove all his men
died like real heroes. This bootlegged clip acquired
by Sina.com is only 37 second long.
Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE ASSEMBLY Poster
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
|
|
|
April 3, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
(Tianjin Daly) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE ASSEMBLY Teaser Trailer
(CCTV / Sina.com) |
|
|
|
March 28, 2007 |
|
|
|
 |
|
(Huayi Brothers.) |
|
|
A teaser trailer of Mainland Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's war
drama The Assembly is now available here.
This trailer, is in fact a slide show of dozens of production
photos. Based on a short story, which was inspired by true story,
The Assembly tells in 1948, at the high point of the bloody Chinese
civil war, a company leader of the communist-led Liberation Army was
ordered to command 47 men to defend a position four at least four
hours. They would be able to retreat once they heard the assembly
call. The call never came and everyone except the company leader
died. Then he spent many years to search for the reason he never
heard the assembly call and to prove all his men died like real
heroes. Now in post-production,
The Assembly
will be released in China the coming December. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE ASSEMBLY Promotional Stills
(Sina.com) |
|
|
|
March 26, 2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
(Huayi Brothers.) |
|
|
Beijing-based powerhouse studio Huayi Brothers
just released over a dozen promotional stills for director Feng
Xiaogang's
The Assembly, a war drama
cost over US$10 million.
Click here for more promotional stills.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Stories:
More Photos from Feng Xiaogang's
THE ASSEMBLY
(...)
January 20, 2007
More Videos from Feng Xiaogang's
THE ASSEMBLY
(CCTV / Sina.com)
January 13, 2007
More Videos from Feng Xiaogang's
THE ASSEMBLY
(CCTV / Sina.com)
January 8, 2007
Feng Xiaogang's THE ASSEMBLY
Opened for the Press
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
January 4, 2007
THE ASSEMBLY Location Video
(Sina.com.cn)
November 28, 2006
Props Burnt Before Feng Xiaogang
Launches His War for THE ASSEMBLY
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
November 27, 2006
Pictures from a Muddy Location of
Feng Xiaogang's THE ASSEMBLY
(Sina.com.cn)
November 20, 2006
Spy Photos from the Set of Feng
Xiaogang's THE ASSEMBLY
(...)
October
31, 2006
More Detail on Feng Xiaogang's THE
ASSEMBLY CALL
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
September 26, 2006
Feng Xiaogang to Blow an ASSEMBLY
CALL for a WWII Epic
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
August 10, 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Directed by |
|
FENG Xiaogang |
|
|
|
Writing credits |
|
LIU Heng |
|
YANG Jinyuan (novel) |
|
|
|
Cast |
|
ZHANG Hanyu
TANG Yang
DENG Chao
WANG Baoqiang
LIAO Fan
LI Naiwen
REN Quan
ZHAO Shaokang
FU Heng
YUAN Wenkang
YUAN Hongtao
HU Jun
LI Chen |
|
|
|
Produced by |
|
CHEN Kuo-fu (Exec.)
John CHONG
FENG Xiaogang
WANG Zhongjun
WANG Zhonglei (Exec.) |
|
|
|
Cinematography by |
|
L?/font> Yue |
|
|
|
Original music by |
|
WANG Liguang |
|
|
|
Visual effects by |
|
Phil JONES |
|
|
|
Production by |
|
Huayi Bros. |
|
Media Asia |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
