The Grandmaster

[SimonM]

Was not a fan of Ashes of Time. Killing the pace of your story doesn't make it more profound, it's just clumsy storytelling.

[doug maverick]

the trailer is, but i refuse to post it..i was very disapointed with....they ip manifide it.. which may sound weird. basically instead of the artsy bio pic we thought this was gonna be its just another folk hero chop socky movie. death to the foreign devils propaganda bull$****.

[GeneChing]

That's the word of the day today! ip manifide. Looks almost latin, especially if I italicize it.
ip manifide.
See what I mean?

Honestly, I think Grandmaster has no choice but to capitalize on Ip Man in the early trailer. Gotta grab some eyeballs and get some buzz.

[GeneChing]

Anticipated films lock China dates
By Stephen Cremin
Wed, 18 April 2012, 09:15 AM (HKT)
Distribution News

Three long-awaited films have finally locked their China release dates after months of speculation.

WONG Kar-wai 王家衛's martial arts drama The Grandmasters 一代宗師 will open on 18 Dec, WEI Te-sheng 魏德聖's war epic Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale 賽德克・巴萊 on 10 May, and Dayyan ENG 伍仕賢's black comedy Inseparable 形影不離 on 4 May 2012.

The opening of the still-in-production The Grandmasters in mid-December puts it in the midst of one of the most competitive slots in China's releasing calendar. It will likely go head-to-head with Ang LEE 李安's Life of Pi, while Jackie CHAN 成龍's Chinese Zodiac 十二生肖, which opens 12 Dec, is still on release.

Warriors, which opened in Taiwan in Sep 2011 in two parts, was submitted to the State Administration of Radio, Film & Television (SARFT) 國家廣播電影電視總局 in December in its new international version with additional cuts made for violence. Further cuts were demanded last month.

Inseparable, which stars Kevin SPACEY opposite Daniel WU 吳彥祖, had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival 부산국제영화제 in Oct 2011. It opens in China one day before The Avengers and after a slew of late April films from local directors.

Next week, NING Hao 寧浩's Guns and Roses 黃金大劫案 goes head-to-head with Leon YANG 楊樹鵬's An Inaccurate Memoir 匹夫 on 24 May, followed four days later by the release of GUAN Hu 管虎's Design of Death 殺生. All are competing with each other and Hollywood films.

Alien invasion film Battleship opened at midnight today in China, 18 Apr, two days before originally scheduled. It is itself struggling to secure screening slots from Titanic (1997), which had taken RMB467 million ($74.2 million) by Sunday night after just six days on release.

PRC got Battleship a month before we will? Interesting...

[doug maverick]

im king shocked that titanic made 74.2million...yea no wonder hollywood wants in...lol...battleship hasnt tested well here...so they are releasing it foreign to build up momentum...they did the same thing with thor...

[GeneChing]

...been wondering what was up with this...

Zhang Ziyi Finally Finishes her Part in "The Grandmasters"
2012-07-18 10:40:08 Chinese Films


Zhang Ziyi celebrated Wong Kar-wai's birthday on the set of "The Grandmasters." [Photo: weibo]

According the Beijing News, Chinese movie superstar Zhang Ziyi finally finished her part in Wong Kar-Wai's Kung Fu blockbuster "The Grandmasters" after three years of shooting.

The actress posted a picture on her Weibo page yesterday and announced the news. In the picture, the production team was celebrating Wang's 54th birthday. Zhang missed many promotional events for her Sino-South Korean coproduction "Dangerous Liaisons" for the movie.

Sil-Metropole Organization Ltd., the production company for the movie, unveiled last year that the movie is set to release on December 18, 2012. Many doubt the date due to Wang's famous slow shooting pace. The director famously changes his mind after he finishes shooting. His cast members have to return to the set to reshoot their parts.

One official from the company confirmed that "The Grandmasters" is certain to be released during this year's Christmas slot.

By Chen Nan

[GeneChing]

Wong Kar Wai - The Grandmasters #1 trailer

[doug maverick]

here is a link to a mini doc on the movie unfortunately there are no sub titles. this movie is confusing me..while it seems to be about ip man, the title "the grandmasters" and the trailer show that its about many different styles of kung fu,

http://www.wongkarwai.net/the-road-t...-are-released/


so far... im still on the fence about it.

[GeneChing]

So much for Dec 18...

Wong Kar-Wai's 'Grandmasters' Bumped to 2013
11:19 PM PST 11/27/2012 by Clarence Tsui

HONG KONG – Amidst rumors of ongoing additional shoots, Wong Kar-wai’s martial arts drama The Grandmasters will now be released on mainland China and Hong Kong on Jan. 8, 2013 – three weeks after the original date.

Nearly 10 years in the making, The Grandmasters is set in 1920s and '30s China and revolves around a young Ip Man, the legendary martial arts expert who would later become the mentor of Bruce Lee. The film stars Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Chiu-wai (In the Mood for Love, Infernal Affairs) as Ip, and also features mainland actress Zhang Ziyi and Taiwan’s Chang Chen.

In June, The Grandmasters were slapped with a Dec. 18 release date on mainland China, with a Hong Kong opening confirmed later for Dec. 27. When reports of Wong still filming additional scenes appeared in the local media last week, one of the film’s co-producers, Sil-Metropol's Song Dai, insisted Wong’s film would hit Chinese cinemas “within this year."

But a spokesman for the production confirmed the 2013 release date, which first appeared on a new series of publicity poster. The delay is to “give directors enough time to release his energy," said the publicist to the newspaper Apple Daily.

Wong has been well-known for spending a long time finishing his films and his tendency of not adhering to production deadlines. The most legendary episode was in 2004, when the director was still working on the editing of his Cannes entry 2046 days before the premiere of the film; copies were reportedly transported to the cinemas straight from the labs.

Rumors of a Cannes berth for The Grandmasters have been circulating for years, so the announcement this summer of the film opening in December – which meant the absence of a world premiere at any of the main film festivals – was a surprise.

With Wong serving as head of the jury at Berlinale 2013, however, expectations are high for The Grandmasters to make its international premiere as an out-of-competition entry at the festival. There were even rumours of the film making its way to Cannes in May in some altered form – and Wong has had a previous record of achieving this, when he unleashed the “redux” version of his 1994 martial arts film Ashes of Time on the Croisette in 2008.

[doug maverick]

well considering this is now called "grandmasters" and not "the grandmaster" and that yip man is just one of the characters and not the main character...there should be a title change. idk...the trailer and all the info point to a martial arts film noir, which could be cool...but again idk. the trailers have been uninspiring to say the least.

[GeneChing]

Title changed.

It's that Wong Kar Wai factor plus the cast that is giving this film such buzz. Personally, I've never been a huge WKW fan, but I know a lot of film people that just go nuts over him. We'll see.

[GeneChing]

Wong was waiting for an international festival to premiere it at - what better one than one where he's the president?

Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster to open Berlin film festival
Matilda Battersby
Wednesday 19 December 2012

The Grandmaster will open next year’s Berlin International Film Festival as its
international premiere.

Directed by Wong Kar Wai, president of this year’s festival jury, the film is set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1930s China.

The film is inspired by Yip Man, legendary grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and master to Bruce Lee, about whom at least three films (Wilson Yip’s Ip Man and Ip Man 2, and Herman Yau’s Legend Is Born – Ip Man) have already been made.

The Grandmaster’s title was changed from Grandmaster Ip Man after it was discovered that it and another Ip Man film were being made totally separately at around the same time.

Wong’s film was originally intended for release in 2011 but it was plagued by production issues with three years of film production following almost a decade of preparation.

The film stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai who has appeared in a number of films directed by Wong, including Days of Being Wild and Happy Together. Co-stars include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon actors Ziyi Zhang and Chang Chen, Happy Times’ Zhao Benshan and A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop actor Xiao Shengyang.

“It is a special honour for us to open the 2013 Berlinale with the presentation of the newest film by this year's jury president, WONG Kar Wai. With The Grandmaster, Kar Wai has added a new and exciting facet to his body of works, and created an artful, visually powerful genre film,” says festival director Dieter Kosslick.

The world premiere of The Grandmaster will be on 8 January 2013 in China, and the film will open at cinemas in numerous countries worldwide in spring 2013.

Matt Damon film Promised Land is set to compete in this year's Berlin film festival competition. The film, which is also having its international premiere at the festival, will vie against five other movies in Berlin’s official competition next February.

[GeneChing]

I actually prefer longer movies. It comes from watching too much Bollywood. However, an excessively long Wong Kar Wai flick might do me in. While I respect Ashes of Time, I don't think I could have sat through it if it was much longer than it already was.

Wong Kar-Wai's 'The Grandmaster' Running Time Will Test Patience For Those Who Think Movies Are Too Long Now
by Kevin Jagernauth
January 2, 2013 5:17 PM

This awards season, certain corners of the internet have been complaining that movies are just too darn long. "Zero Dark Thirty," "Django Unchained," "Les Miserables," "Lincoln," "Amour" and "This Is 40" all broke the 2 hour mark. And some fidgety reporters who seemingly can't sit still for more than a couple hours will be disappointed that one of 2013's most eagerly awaited movies will test their bathroom break-timing.

Over on Twitter, Love HK Film editor Kevin Ma has pointed over to Hong Kong's Newport Circuit theater site, which reveals the runtime for Wong Kar-Wai's "The Grandmaster" as 133 minutes. It makes it his second longest film behind "2046," so don't order the jumbo soda, guys. The film has been a long time coming, featuring for the past five years on our Most Anticipated Movies list and being delayed each time for a variety of reasons. But it's coming for real in 2013: opening in China next week on January 8th, and making an international bow in February at the Berlin Film Festival.

As for when it will reach our shores? Who knows. Annapurna Pictures has the rights, but no U.S. distribution deal has been struck yet.

[GeneChing]

last minute drama queen.

Wong Kar-wai in Last-Minute Rush to Finish 'The Grandmaster' For World Premiere (Report)
8:33 PM PST 1/3/2013 by Clarence Tsui


The Hong Kong auteur is still putting final touches to his martial arts epic, with the film to be delivered to mainland Chinese censors hours before its first press screening in Beijing on Jan. 5

HONG KONG – Producers of Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster will be transporting the film for clearance with mainland China’s censors on the morning of Jan. 5 – just hours before a scheduled press screening in Beijing in the afternoon.

According to Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, Wong is still working on the film’s post-production in Thailand today (Jan. 4) with his production designer William Chang Suk-ping.

The report stated that the film’s financiers and distributors, Sil-Metropole Organisation, will deliver copies of the film to the Film Bureau in Beijing to secure a screening license in the country. The film will also be submitted to the Communications Authority in Hong Kong for a film classification in the city.

The world premiere of The Grandmaster will take place in the Chinese capital on Sunday (Jan. 6), with Wong attending a press conference beforehand with stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen. The film will then be released on Jan. 8, and then subsequently opening in Hong Kong, Wong’s hometown, on Jan. 10.

The Grandmaster was originally slated for release in China and Hong Kong in December. While the cast has been doing publicity for more than a month already, Wong has yet to grant interviews to the press. His assistants have responded to media requests saying the filmmaker remains busy at work finishing the movie, which will open the Berlin Film Festival – where Wong will serve as head of the official competition jury – on Feb. 7.

Sil-Metropole has already put in a place a 300-strong team ready to deliver digital prints to theatres across China once the film is green-lit by the authorities, according to the Apple Daily report.

The Grandmaster will be the sole major production to be released in China next week, and is widely expected to have a clear run at the box office before Skyfall opens on Jan. 21. The performance of Wong’s film will challenge the successful runs of festive hits Lost in Thailand and CZ12. The former has already secured 1.1 billion yuan (US$176.5 million) at the box office and is now vying to become the highest-grossing film in Chinese history, a record presently held by Avatar (which took 1.38 billion yuan/US$221.4 million in the country).

Nearly a decade in the making, The Grandmaster is a fictionalized account of the early career of Ip Man, a real-life martial arts expert and the mentor of Bruce Lee. Details of the story have been scarce but the film is understood to revolve around the rivalry and romance between Ip (played by Leung) and specialists from other martial arts schools in northeastern China.

While boasting a stellar cast and action choreography from Yuen Woo-ping (who designed fight scenes for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Matrix trilogy), production of the film has been subjected to a few hiccups, with Leung having broken his arm while training for his role before shooting began.

True to style, Wong has also subsequently conducted additional filming after principal shooting has ended, while also requiring his actors to be on stand-by for possible extra contributions to the film. Interestingly, Chang has spent so much time in practice that he became a real athlete himself, winning a mainland martial arts competition earlier this year.

With his films securing regular critical garlands in the film festival circuit – a Best Cinematography title for Ashes of Time (1994) in Venice, a Best director prize for Happy Together (1997) in Cannes and a Best Non-European Film gong for 2046 (2004) at the European Film Awards – Wong remains one of the most well-known auteurs to come out of Hong Kong in recent years.

The 54-year-old has become such an art-house brand that festival directors have given him much leeway in exchange for his films to take a bow at their events. The most memorable incident took place in 2004, when Cannes announced the inclusion of Wong’s erstwhile untitled (and unfinished) film in its official competition. The festival had to cancel the first screening of the film because Wong was unable to finish the film in time, and reports stated that a copy of the film was transported straight from the processing labs to the Grand Theatre Lumiere in time for its world premiere.

[GeneChing]

January 7, 2013, 2:23 PM
‘The Grandmaster’ Hits Theaters
By Dean Napolitano

After more than a decade in the making, Wong Kar-wai’s ‘The Grandmaster’ finally makes its premiere.



Wait no more.

Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s long-anticipated epic “The Grandmaster,” starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai as the legendary real-life martial-arts master Ip Man, opens this week in China and Hong Kong. The film also stars Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen.

Mr. Wong — the director of such films as “Days of Being Wild,” “Happy Together” and “In the Mood for Love” — devoted nearly a decade on preparation for “The Grandmaster,” which spent almost three years in production. The famously meticulous filmmaker appeared at a press conference with his cast on Sunday night in Beijing, where the film held its world premiere.

Mr. Wong said the film, which runs well over two hours, “could have last four hours, but I deleted a lot of scenes,” according to a report from Agence France-Presse.

The movie, set during China’s turbulent political and social period of the 1930s, is in both Mandarin and Cantonese.

International audiences will have to wait a bit longer before getting a first peek. “The Grandmaster” will open next month’s 63rd Berlin International Film Festival, where Mr. Wong is this year’s jury president.

I started watching some old WKW flicks on netflix. I'm still underwhelmed by his work. I see the artsy-ness of it all, but it still doesn't quite work for me personally.