Bruce Lee, My Brother

[GeneChing]

If the WSJ says it's so, it must be...

* November 26, 2010, 7:01 AM HKT
Talking Movies: Echoes of a Kung-Fu Master
By Dean Napolitano


Aarif Lee, who stars as the young Bruce Lee in an upcoming biopic.

Aarif Lee became one of Hong Kong’s hottest stars this year after appearing in the local box-office hit, “Echoes of the Rainbow.” Now he’s poised to raise his international profile by taking on the challenge of playing legendary kung fu star Bruce Lee.

“Bruce Lee, My Brother,” which opens this week around Asia, focuses on the iconic action star’s teenage years and family life in Hong Kong, where he first trained in martial arts and worked as a child movie actor.

The 23-year-old Aarif Lee began his career as a singer-songwriter, releasing his first album last year. But his acting career took off when he was cast in “Echoes of the Rainbow,” a sentimental drama from director Alex Law about a working-class family in 1960s Hong Kong. The movie became an unexpected hit and picked up four trophies at the Hong Kong Film Awards in April, including best newcomer for Mr. Lee.

Q. How did you prepare for the role of Bruce Lee?

A. I watched three of his movies, “The Way of the Dragon,” “Enter the Dragon” and “The Big Boss.” That was to pick up on how he presents himself when he was older. Although I am playing him when he was young, the director and I wanted to have a hint that even when he was young, he already had Bruce Lee trademark characteristics.

Q. What kind of fight training did you get?

A. Kung fu masters taught me wing chun and free-fighting for two months. And I had to do a lot of fitness training to make sure I could pull off the moves.

Q. What was the reaction from Bruce Lee’s siblings to your portrayal?

A. Robert Lee (Bruce’s younger brother) told me: “Don’t impersonate” him. Get into his world and try to understand what Bruce Lee is about. The first time I met his elder sister, Phoebe, I could tell she wasn’t really interested. But after watching some early scenes she came up to me and said: “I like the way you way played Bruce. I think it’s accurate.” And that gave me the confidence to power on through the rest of the film.

Q. You have a degree in physics from Imperial College in London. How has that helped your career?

A. Doing a hard science degree really trains your brain. It’s brain gym — working out on a daily basis. It’s really good for critical thinking and analyzing.

[GeneChing]

You've got to watch the video for this to make any sense... or not...

Nov 24, 2010
Singapore's Bruce Lee
By Elrica Tanu

FROM his simple white T-shirt, and black track pants down to his Kung Fu shoes and white socks, 31-year-old IT sales manager Thomas Hay certainly got his idol Bruce Lee's iconic look right. And he has the moves to boot.

The Taekwondo-trained Hay won a Bruce Lee look-alike contest held at The Heeren Shops last Saturday with his martial arts performance based on a fight scene in Bruce Lee's movie, Fist of Fury.

The contest was held in conjunction with the new movie Bruce Lee, My Brother, which will open on Thursday.

Hay chose to perform the famous scene where Bruce Lee's character, Chen Zhen, defended the honour of all Chinese by defeating the Japanese who insulted them by calling them 'weaklings' or 'sick men of East Asia' because he felt the scene covered most of Lee's signature moves.

Eight contestants gave their best impression of the late martial arts icon. Most performed martial arts sequences, while others imitated his voice.

[GeneChing]

So...who will get the first review here on this one?

Bruce Lee lacks punch at China box office

By Stephen Cremin
Wed, 01 December 2010, 11:16 AM (HKT)

Bruce Lee, My Brother (李小龍, 我的兄弟) made just RMB8.5 million ($1.3 million) at the box office in China over four days on release last week.

The biopic about the early life of the martial arts legend is directed by Hong Kong's Raymond Yip (葉偉民) and Manfred Wong (文雋). Yip and Wong collaborated earlier this year on sleeper hit Lost on Journey (人在囧途).

Brother was bested by two foreign films on their second week in cinemas, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 with RMB84 million ($12.6 million) and Resident Evil: Afterlife with RMB46 million ($6.9 million).

The two big-budget fantastical films, which are dominating cinema screens across the country, have grossed RMB165 million ($24.7 million) and RMB114.5 million ($17.2 million) respectively.

Brother, which opened on the 70th anniversary of Bruce Lee's birth, chose not to push back its release date and join the long queue of Chinese films trying to negotiate an increasingly competitive releasing calendar.

Several Chinese-language films open this weekend including Kevin Chu's (朱延平) comedy Just Call Me Nobody (大笑江湖) on Friday 3 Dec and Chen Kaige's (陳凱歌) drama Sacrifice (趙氏孤兒) on Saturday 4 Dec.

Wuershan's (烏爾善) The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (刀見笑), which had been scheduled to open on 25 Nov, will now coordinate its local release with its international distribution in 2011.

[edward]

interesting

trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esbB0GEDcbI

fight scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_435m-WoJY

[GeneChing]

Bruce Lee fans won't get kicks from new biopic
By Maggie Lee
Thu Dec 9, 2010 11:57pm EST

HONG KONG (Hollywood Reporter) -The great martial arts star gets upstaged by studio sets in "Bruce Lee, My Brother," a biopic centered on Lee's childhood.

Anyone raised or interested in Hong Kong won't want to pull their eyes off the exquisite production design, which captures the colony from the '40s to the '60s. But period atmospherics and a pageant of who's who in '60s Cantonese cinema are hollow stand-ins for true insight into how Lee's childhood impacted his character formation and lifelong quests in martial arts and filmmaking.

Buyers from over 10 territories reportedly scooped up the title at the American Film Marker in Los Angeles before its November release in China and Hong Kong -- a sign that worldwide fascination with the star hasn't subsided since he passed away in 1970. So the likelihood of a sequel is high, even if the direction and writing make the film the least exciting among a slew of homages marking Lee's 70th birthday.

At least, viewers can enjoy the dynamic presence of Aarif Rahman ("Echoes of the Rainbow"), who is arguably the most charismatic impersonator of the star to date. The rest of the cast is also excellent.

The film, co-directed by Manfred Wong and Raymond Yip, is narrated by Lee's brother Robert, on whose book the film is largely based. Robert also appears in an introduction with elder sister, Phoebe. Both stress that unlike previous biopics that portray Lee as a legend, this is a more personal account that also preserves their family's history. Maybe that's why the recalled events have scant entertainment value, even though theirs is surely no ordinary family.

Lee's father, Hoi Chuen (Tony Leung Ka Fai), is a renowned opera star married to Grace (Christy Chung), a Eurasian from a wealthy family. She gave birth to Bruce in San Francisco while Hoi Chuen was on a performing tour in 1940. In 1941, the Lees move back to his ancestral mansion in Hong Kong just before the Japanese occupation.

The resplendently lit and decorated interiors overflowing with authentic looking period props help one visualize Bruce Lee's childhood spent in the company of a traditional Chinese household of 30 members. However, neither his naughty pranks as a boy nor his penchant for street fights as a rebellious teenager are depicted with enough verve. His two smartass sidekicks are unlikeable at best, a plain nuisance at worst. His love problems with the daughters of two famous actors are even more lackluster.

Lee's experience as a child star might have provided a key to understanding his aspirations in the film industry. But instead of exploring how he coped with celebrity status from a tender age, the directors are content to recreate a few scenes from his classic films like "The Kid" and "The Orphan" (albeit done in stylish, authentic-looking black-and-white).

More realistic representations of slapdash filmmaking conditions in '50s and '60s Hong Kong would have provided a more solid background to his upbringing. In fact, child stars were notoriously abused, notably his co-star Bo Bo Fung (a Hong Kong equivalent of Shirley Temple), who makes a fleeting appearance. It would be fascinating to know if he suffered a similar plight.

Likewise, instead of probing what the period's top actors and directors taught him about acting, filmmaking or life, particularly how his father's opera and film background influenced him, all one gets is an Altmanesque presentation (without his wit) of cameos of screen luminaries impersonated by veteran actors -- like a dash through the Hall of Fame of early Cantonese cinema, which means very little to the uninitiated.

What really makes Lee's fans wring their fists in fury is the episode when he becomes the disciple of Wing Chun master Ip Man. This could have been the dramatic turning point when he discovers martial arts. One learns that Lee was highly theoretical, philosophical and iconoclastic in his approach to martial arts, so did he challenge what he was taught? Frustratingly, one never sees that process; one doesn't even see Ip Man's face, just his silhouette.

The last 40 minutes see a sudden spring into action, first with Lee facing off the police superintendent's son Charlie Owen in an intercollegiate boxing match, then with clash against gangsters to rescue his best friend Kong from drug addiction. The finale features a chase scene over tiled rooftops but, again, the spectacularly wrought set completely covered in scaffolding eclipses the actual action.

"arguably the most charismatic impersonator of the star to date"? I beg to differ. N!xau was the best ever in Crazy Safari.

[GeneChing]

Thu, Nov 25, 2010
Bruce Lee's legend is alive and... dancing?
By Tay Yek Keak



BRUCE Lee was a cha-cha dancer?

He was apparently pretty good at it too.

Because in the new movie - Bruce Lee, My Brother - the Little Dragon of the brawl-room is such a nifty dancer in the ballroom that he even won a dance competition.

The film features Lee (played by newcomer Aarif Rahman) as a cheeky bad boy in Hong Kong in the 1950s, just before he left for America to become the Greatest Martial Arts Star Ever.

The young Lee is restless and irrepressible as he gets into trouble with just about everybody - his parents, girlfriend, and especially nasty triad gangsters.

But that dancing angle is fascinating.

Imagine if he'd stayed in Hong Kong.

He might've made Dance Of The Dragon, instead of Way Of The Dragon.

Wait, wasn't Dance Of The Dragon a Fann Wong movie?

Sorry, I'm digressing.

Anyway, the Bruce Lee legend is digressing too - actually, it's transforming.

I guess it's to be expected when a popular guy dies too early (Lee conked off in 1973, aged 32).

Lee, however, is something special.

He's the one and only true international icon of the martial-arts world.

I'm not talking gongfu of the Jackie Chan comedy kind or Jet Li wushu type.

I'm talking Superman gongfu which inspires some fella watching Fist Of Fury from Ghana to Geylang to come out of the theatre thinking he can whack any 369 punk into calling 999.

That's what Lee stood for.

But now, in Bruce Lee, My Brother, is the dragon a contender for Dancing With The Stars?

Here's how it is with legends: We take a piece of his history here, snatch a bit there, claim some other part, and, like a pastry chef, come up with our own colourful concoctions to re-mould, revive and then cash in on.

Part of the success of the Ip Man movies was due to the Bruce Lee factor as Lee was the most famous student of the Wing Chun master.

In Donnie Yen's first Ip Man flick, Lee came to him as a ****y young boy.

In Bruce Lee, My Brother, audiences meet Lee as a ****ier young man.

Yen played Chen Zhen in Legend Of The Fist, the colonial hero Lee made famous in Fist Of Fury.

And Jay Chou will be starring as Kato in The Green Hornet, the chauffeur-a**kicker Lee made famous in the 1960s American TV series.

Dancer, driver, kid, young punk.

The new Little Dragon has been transformed to suit anyone's fancy.

No surprise, as the old one isn't here to kick anybody to the hospital anymore.

Of course, we all knew Lee was a Cha Cha Champ. That might be the only authentic part of this biopic.