The Sword Identity

[GeneChing]

This sounds strangely intriguing, but then again, I was amused by Mr. and Mrs. Incredible (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59591)...:o

The Sword Identity 倭寇的磫跡 (http://www.filmbiz.asia/reviews/the-sword-identity)
China
Costume martial arts drama
2011, colour, 1.85:1, 110 mins
Directed by Xu Haofeng (徐浩峰)

The Sword Identity
By Derek Elley
Mon, 12 September 2011, 17:10 PM (HKT)

Original, lowkey satire of martial-arts codes that's too academic for its own good. Festivals, especially Asian and genre.

Story

Shuangye town, southern China, late Ming dynasty. For 200 years there has been a rule that newcomers can open a martial-arts school only if they can best all four of the existing ones. One morning two men in straw hats and with elongated, Japanese-like swords enter the town and challenge the status quo. After a fight in Wuyi Alley against students of the four schools, and the schools' overall leader Qie (Ma Jun), one is killed and the other escapes to a boat on which there are four travelling dancers. The mysterious swordsman (Song Yang) is the last surviving bodyguard of General Qi Jiguang, who defeated Japanese pirates by using Japanese swords. He teaches one of the dancers, Sailan (Xu Fujing), a single move with a bamboo pole by which she can repel attacks on the boat from behind a curtain. The martial arts students, beaten off one by one, have all been told the boat is full of Japanese pirates. Meanwhile, venerable martial artist Qiu Dongyue (Yu Chenghui), once the town's number one, returns from the mountains to which he'd fled after discovering his young wife (Zhao Yuanyuan) was having an affair with her bodyguard Gan Gang (Ma Ke). After also being defeated by Sailan's bamboo pole, he's carried to the home of Qie. Meanwhile, the mysterious swordsman attacks Qie's home and comes across Qiu's wife, who has come looking for her husband. The swordsman teaches her a single move based on the position of an attacker's shadow, and she uses this to defeat more locals who come in search of a rumoured Japanese pirate. But when her lover returns, Qiu schemes to have them both kill each other by mistake. And Qie still thinks he can defeat the "Japanese pirate" behind the curtain on the boat.

Review

A straightfaced send-up of the rigid codes of combat that ruled the martial-arts world, The Sword Identity 倭寇的磫跡 is a nice idea that's treated way too academically for a full-length movie. First-time director XU Haofeng 徐浩峰 is the only martial-arts novelist (plus Beijing Film Academy 北京電影學院 graduate, drama director, film critic, Taoist scholar and martial artist) to have become a film-maker. But what works on paper in his mould-breaking novels (Departed Warriors 逝去的武林, 2006, Taoist Mountain 道士下山, 2007) seems stiff and arch on the big screen, more suited to a half-hour short than almost two hours.

Adapted by Xu from one of his old novellas, but considerably altered in the process, the film has a neat comic premise: that trained swordsmen, because they're locked into a rigid mindset, can be defeated by a simple trick with a bamboo pole by a dancing girl. And the movie, immaculately researched down to the smallest details of late Ming dynasty dress and weaponry, has a refreshingly different look from most swordplay movies. But between all the period detail and martial egos, Xu too often loses sight of narrative concerns, making the plot difficult to follow with its many ellipses and losing the thread of black comedy that should propel the whole concept into a piece of entertainment.

Xu has also worked as martial-arts consultant on WONG Kar-wai 王家衛's long-gestated The Grandmasters 一代宗師, and the fights are deliberately staged in a swift, "hard" way in which a couple of moves decide the outcome. This approach isn't new to the genre; but along with his avoidance of any visual effects it bolsters the satirical take on regular swordplay movies, as well as being intermittently entertaining. After the first half-hour, however, Xu brings no new ideas to the table, and the movie more and more becomes a scholarly exercise that goes round in circles, with even the bursts of action losing their freshness.

Photography in a southern canal town has a greyish look — spotted with dashes of colour by the dancing girls' costumes — that fits the "realism" of the movie. Among a cast of largely newcomers, BFA graduate SONG Yang 宋洋 has an easy charm as the mysterious swordsman who undercuts the status quo, and quarter-French model-turned-actress XU Fujing 徐副晶 adds some welcome (and very pouty) humour as an ethnic-minority dancing girl. Of the two veteran cast members, MA Jun 馬君 manages to look exactly like an imposing Terracotta Warrior as town baddie Qie, while real-life martial artist YU Chenghui 于承惠 (who starred opposite Jet LI 李連杰 in The Shaolin Temple 少林寺 (1982)) looks like he's stepped straight off a Chinese scroll in his long white hair and conical hat.

Xu, who produced, wrote, directed, edited and choreographed the movie, has the clear makings of an original film-maker but also needs to work alongside experienced collaborators to realise his particular vision. The film's original title could roughly be translated as On the Trail of Jap Pirates, the Chinese using a somewhat derogatory period term for Japanese (倭) which can also mean "dwarf".

[doug maverick]

im surprised you didnt post the teaser and teaser scene:

teaser scene:http://vimeo.com/28474028

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BOXvMcHLFY&feature=player_embedded

[GeneChing]

It's a team effort here, monitoring all these films. ;)

"The Sword Identity" Premieres on the Mainland (http://www.chinesefilms.cn/1/2011/11/03/201s5563.htm)
2011-11-03 13:19:07

http://www.chinesefilms.cn/mmsource/images/2011/11/03/5942e92344624143a4589453da8e02ee.jpg
Cast in the Press Conference [Photo: qq.com]

http://www.chinesefilms.cn/mmsource/images/2011/11/03/20de3666b7384de6bcfa93b2535b3b1b.jpg
Zhao Yuan-yuan [Photo: qq.com]

Recently, the sixth Chinese Young Generation Film Forum (CYGFF), hosted by the China Filmmaker Association and operated by the Film Art magazine, raised its curtains in Beijing.

Director Xu Haofeng's debut film "The Sword Identity", was screened as the opening film. That evening, the director appeared on the set accompanied by lead actors including Yu Chenghui, Zhao Yuan-yuan and Song Yang, mtime.com reports.

The film "The Sword Identity" tells the legendary story of a sabre coming out from a military camp, wanders from place to place, making ripples on the world of martial arts, before finally being recognized by orthodox denomination of martial arts .

Zhao Yuan-yuan, a recent graduate from the Beijing Film Academy, portrays two characters in the film who live during the same period but have entirely different identities and destinies.

The film has successively been shortlisted for the "Horizon" segment of the 68th Venice International Film Festival, and the "Discovering" segment of the 36th Toronto International Film Festival. It has also been invited to be screened at the Pusan International Film Festival.

Furthermore, Director Xu Haofeng has been listed in the 48th Golden Horse Awards as one of the Best New Directors. The director will be joined by the production team and Zhao Yuan-yuan to attend the award ceremony of the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, during the final ten days of November.

By Zhang Ting

[GeneChing]

I fell behind on posting news on this. I've just heard some interesting things about it, so I'm catching up now.

Posted: Sun., Oct. 16, 2011, 2:36pm PT
Busan
The Sword Identity (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946360/)
(Wo kou de zong ji)
(China)
By Richard Kuipers
'The Sword Identity'
http://images1.variety.com/graphics/photos/reviews/rsword_identity.jpg
Song Yang, right, carries an illegal weapon in “The Sword Identity.”

A Gootime Cultural Communication production. (International sales: Golden Network Asia, Hong Kong.) Produced by Li Rui. Executive producer, Li. Directed, written, edited by Xu Haofeng, based on his novella.
With: Yu Chenghui, Song Yang, Zhao Yuanyuan, Ma Jun, Xu Fujing, Ma Ke, Liu Zhexin, Yao Weiping, Ou Keqin, Li Guisheng, Bo Bing. (Mandarin dialogue)
Nifty martial-arts moves and shots of smart satire are undercut by muddled plotting and a running time that's far too long for the slim story of "The Sword Identity." The uneven helming debut of Chinese author and scholar Xu Haofeng (screenwriter of Wong Kar Wai's upcoming Ip Man actioner "The Grandmasters"), this period drama about a mysterious swordsman taking on the whole town may appeal to students of the genre but faces a mighty battle attracting a wider audience. Following a high-profile international launch at Venice, Toronto and Busan fests, the pic opens in China on Nov. 30.

Adapting his own novella as well as editing the film and serving as action choreographer, Xu injects plenty of punch into the opening sequences in which an unnamed swordsman (Song Yang) arrives in the coastal town of Shuangye and announces plans to open a martial-arts school. Local rules demand hopefuls can set up shop only after they've defeated fighters from all four of the town's established academies.

The trouble for the swordsman is that he's carrying what appears to be a Japanese weapon and is disqualified under laws forbidding the use of foreign arms. The enforcer of the code and uber-boss of all four schools is Qie (Ma Jun), who convinces everyone the stranger is really a Japanese pirate. In truth, he's the last surviving bodyguard of a famous Chinese general who defeated Japanese invaders with swords modeled on those of his enemies.

With eye-catching combat and bone-dry satire of the unyielding rules and regulations governing martial-arts disciplines, the story motors along nicely as the swordsman outguns and outruns an army of would-be assassins and holes up in a boat housing a quartet of traveling dancing girls. Entertainment level peaks at around the half-hour mark, when the swordsman gives a crash course in fighting to bubbly hoofer Sailan (Xu Fujing), enabling her to hold off the hordes while he sneaks back into town.

At this point, the narrative bogs down and humor all but disappears in lengthy and convoluted forays into the activities of boss Qie and Qiu Dongyue (Yu Chenghui), an ancient master who's come down from his mountain retreat to take on the swordsman. Many auds will find it difficult to keep track of revolving-door personnel and plot mechanics involving Qiu's much younger wife, Madame Qiu (Zhao Yuanyuan); her bodyguard lover, Gan Gang (Ma Ke); and Liu Kai (Liu Zhexin), the blustery commander of the local coast guard.

Perfs are more engaging than the stop-start storyline. Newcomer Song is likable as the invincible hero, Xu is a delight as his game comrade-in-arms, and veterans Yu and Ma Jun are rock-solid as the establishment figures.

Filmed in muted tones that give a distinctly different look from that of most comparable martial-arts films, "The Sword Identity" sports the impeccable costuming and production design of the late-Ming-dynasty China. Other technical work is pro.
Camera (color, HD), Sha Jincheng, Meng Xiaoqing; music, Zhang Yang; art director, Xie Yong; costume designer, Liang Tingting; sound (Dolby Digital), Zhang Yang, Aya Yama****a; martial arts director, Xu; line producer, Lu Lu; associate producer, Mao Xiaorui; assistant director, Zhang Zhe; casting, Gu Xiaofei. Reviewed at Busan Film Festival (A Window on Asian Cinema), Oct. 9, 2011. (Also in Venice, Toronto, Vancouver film festivals.) Running time: 110 MIN.


TIFF 2011: THE SWORD IDENTITY Review (http://twitchfilm.com/reviews/2011/09/tiff-2011-the-sword-identity-review.php)
by Todd Brown, September 11, 2011 11:12 AM

http://twitchfilm.com/reviews/SWORDidentity-Photo4.jpg
Everything old is new again in Xu Haofeng's The Sword Identity. Written and directed by the screenwriter for Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmasters - Xu also handles fight choreography here - The Sword Identity announces the arrival of a significant and unique new talent. Xu presents a fascinating fusion of influences with a film that owes as much to the classical styled Japanese chanbara films of the 70s and the austerity of the vintage American western - right down to the strategically placed screeching eagles scattered throughout the sound design, though they're never seen on screen - as it does to Chinese masters like King Hu. Though the tale of a wandering swordsman looking to create a legacy for his dead master is a familiar one Xu presents it with such a distinctive style that the whole affair comes to fresh life.

Song Yang stars as Liang Henlu, the faithful servant of a now dead General - a General who developed a new weapon and new fighting technique to fight off the Japanese pirates plaguing the coast. Though his methods were enormously successful this General's techniques are at risk of slipping away into obscurity with his passing and Liang wishes to establish a new martial arts school to keep his legacy alive. Easier said than done, however, as in order to do so he must first beat the masters of four martial arts schools and the final one refuses to fight him having mistaken his unusual - and unusually long - sword for a Japanese katana, the use of which is forbidden by the Chinese martial arts purists. And so Liang needs to use somewhat less direct tactics to get his case heard.

A philosophical and highly meditative approach to the genre punctuated by impressively realistic forays into on screen action and sharp bursts of humor, The Sword Identity is completely unlike any martial arts picture of the past twenty years. In addition to his film work Xu is a respected novelist and scholar and though he certainly aims to entertain his audience with the picture he also has goals beyond that, goals to present a larger and more encompassing philosophy and system of thought that often gets lost in the outright search for spectacle.

Xu's characters are rich and complex people - the tension between the old ways and the new, the melting pot of different cultures within mainland China, the conflict between love and honor all factoring in to their behavior. He doesn't shy away from articulating the philosophies behind each of the arts at play, frequently taking the time to present the various masters' thought processes as they sort through which technique and strategy may be most appropriate to each situation and why. He does this in an entirely visual way, capturing each option and its consequences on screen taking great care to show rather than just telling, and the result is a fascinating look into the psychology of his players.

But more than just presenting an intellectual portrait of the forces at play Xu gives his characters character. Though his mission is a serious one Liang has a sly playfulness to him, one matched by the gypsy girl who he enlists as an ally and by the leader of the local Coast Guard who wants nothing in life more than a suit of iron armor. On the other side of the coin an aging master returned from the mountains when he hears (false) word of a Japanese pirate attacking his ancestral home fills the picture with a deep soul, a tragic story of love gone wrong.

The Sword Identity will never be mistaken for an adrenaline fueled adventure and god bless it for that. There are more than enough people traveling that road right now and Xu provides a very welcome trip in another direction. The level or art and craftsmanship in his work is remarkable and he is possessed with a strong and sure authorial voice. May this be the first of many from the multi-talented director.

[GeneChing]

Kung Fu Goes Virginal in The Sword Identity (http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2012/02/10/Kung-Fu-Goes-Virginal-in-The-Sword-Identity)
Submitted on Feb 10, 2012 12:00pm by
Marilyn Mai

For those who tire of the formulaic martial arts aesthetic that dominates in everything from Chinese epics to the likes of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes franchise, this indie film with a purist attitude will be a breath of fresh air. (And a very nerdy one, at that.) Xu Haofeng, whose credentials include martial arts training, a major in film directing and several successful novels under his belt, released his directorial debut, The Sword Identity, last year. (He's also the scriptwriter for Wong Karwai's highly-anticipated Ip Man biopic, The Grandmasters.)

In this film, the story unfolds around a fighter trying to open a new martial arts school to keep his master's legacy alive, but who faces resistance from the old guard because they mistake his weapon for a Japanese katana – a big no-no in that day. The film was praised for its directorial precision, character development and no-nonsense aesthetic after its showing at the Toronto International Film Festival, and now BC MOMA's hooking us up with a Beijing premiere (tonight, Feb 10) and followup screening Feb 18. But first, we chat with the director to plumb the depths of his martial arts cred ...

From martial arts novels to your first film. How did you make the jump?
I majored in movie directing at university. So going from novel writing to movie directing was not a plan so much as it was my fate. During the first two years after graduating, I wrote a script in an effort to get funding so I could direct a film, but it went nowhere. I couldn’t bear the thought of the script wasting away (since scripts aren’t really a “finished” form in themselves), so I decided to make it into a novel.
Later on, I just started writing novels, imagining it would be easier to gain credibility with potential investors if I had my work in a literary magazine under my arm. I didn’t start off writing martial arts novels, but pure literature, novellas. The usual feedback I got was that they had a very strong cinematic sense. My professor at the Beijing Film Academy said, “We taught you that.”
I’ve wanted to be a movie director for years now. If the desire was never realized, my youth would have been wasted. I’ve met many a grey-haired alumni of the Beijing Film Academy Directing Department who said, “It’s a pity, I never directed a single movie.”

For this film, you decided to eschew the fancy visual effects that many wuxia films use. Why?
My martial arts background is based in the wushu clubs in the northern part of China during the Republican era. It focuses less on aesthetic and more on a certain kind of thrust technique. My knowledge points to this style, which points to a different look for the film. AlsoThe characters in my story don’t have superpowers. But they do have inner conflict. If I placed too much emphasis on the beauty of their movements, it would seem mismatched. So we’re not going for beauty so much as realism, even if it looks clumsier.



How do you think audiences will respond?
Since the film started screening, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback. Some people don’t like my camera work, saying it strips away the spectacularness you get from my novels. (Although really, my novels are quite restrained.) Those who are used to Hong Kong-style movies will likely be disappointed. But when the movie was shown in Toronto, a lady brushed by me in the darkness and said, "If my father were still alive, he would really like your movie." Now I always wonder who her father was.

One of the running jokes of your film features a dancing girl who uses a single pole to defeat martial artists one by one. How is she able to do this?
These types of unbelievable stories happened every day at the martial arts clubs back in the Republican era. Without them, you couldn’t keep a martial arts club going. In that world this type of thing was called "menzi" (traps), and they were cleverly designed. A club would post a challenge: “Strike faster than this guy.” But it would be set up so that you most certainly couldn’t strike faster, because when they counted off he’d move on “one” while you were told to move on “three.” And you’d never notice that slight difference. So it was very common for martial arts masters to be defeated by green hands ...
But my point wasn’t to demonstrate these traps in my movies. I wanted to show the absurdity of life. "One person with no martial arts skills defeats all the masters." This can provoke all sorts of thinking, which is my point. That’s why I don’t explain too much about the tricks themselves – to avoid distracting the audience.

[We'll just have to watch to figure that out, then. -Ed.]


So what’s your own martial arts background?
When I practiced martial arts while I was in junior high school, but stopped later because my master left. We hadn’t seen each other for ten years when I found him before he died and helped collect his memoirs. I guess we could say I’m helping carry on the culture of his martial arts, even if I didn’t carry on the martial art itself.



I've always wondered if trained martial artists enjoy martial arts movies on a whole 'nother level. What was your favorite from 2011? Are there any you're looking forward to in 2012?
I was pleasantly surprised by the scene in which Liu Dehua (aka Andy Lau) performed mind-and-will boxing in New Shaolin because that style is one of the treasures of the Shaolin Temple, but in Republican China it was deemed practical but ugly. The xingyiquan form that I learned was a revamped version of that. My master was ashamed to practice it and ultimately discarded the expressive technique. Yet for this style to be in a movie means people’s perceptions are changing. In 2012, I’m looking forward to The Grand Master, In the Qing Dynasty, and Outrage II.

Can you tell us your favorite scene from The Sword Identity?
My favorite scene comes when Qie Lao is saying goodbye to Qiu Dongyue. In Chinese culture, “saying farewell” is a colorful topic, and there are many poems and songs about it. There is a saying in Chinese, “Make light of life and death, but make much of parting ways." Death does not matter, but friends will be particularly sad when parting from each other – this is a unique aspect of Chinese culture. When saying goodbye, people should state clearly their ambitions and their final resting place. I feel I captured this sentiment with my lens in just ten easy steps. 



What are you working on next?
I just finished shooting my second martial arts film, The Arrow's Decision. It’s about a Chinese archer and explores philosophies of bows and arrows within Chinese culture. In China the bow is not just a lethal weapon. It's been a tool for developing social etiquette and training for over two millennia. To us, the bow is a metaphor for human nature. We can use it to correct our hearts.
Word is this is an old skool indie - it's not getting well received in PRC, but some old skool martial arts people really like it.

[GeneChing]

Read Yu Chenghui and THE SWORD IDENTITY (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1048) by me and Gigi.

Yu Chenghui is our cover master for our July/August 2012 issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1047).

[Hebrew Hammer]

I'd be interested in checking out his other film the Arrow's Decision as well.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Active trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=177x4iAj-UQ

[GeneChing]

It's not about the fight scenes.