I didn’t enjoy Zhang Yimou’s Shadow and One Second as much as I’d hoped, but Impasse / Cliff Walkers should be right up my alley. Granted, I’m not expecting the film to surpass The Message, but surely you can’t go too wrong with a cast like this?
Starring Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, Qin Hailu, Zhu Yawen, Ni Dahong and the director’s latest starlet Liu Haocun, the film is slated to premiere on April 30th.
Impasse 悬崖之上 stars Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, Qin Hailu, Zhu Yawen, Ni Dahong and new actress Liu Haocun, and follows the escape journey of a group of CCP agents who have obtained proof the Japanese are conducting unethical human experiments.
Zhang Yimou’s Shadow 影 will get a limited release in North America on May 3rd. Starring Deng Chao, Sun Li, Zheng Kai, Guan Xiaotong, Wang Qianyuan, Hu Jun, and Wu Lei, the film is about a shadow or stand-in whose job is to be killed in place of his master.
With SHADOW, director Zhang Yimou (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) once again pushes the boundaries of wuxia action to create a film like no other, masterfully painting a canvas of inky blacks and greys punctuated with bursts of color from the blood of the defeated. In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a “shadow”, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.
Below is the North American trailer. See list of theaters screening it here.
Zhang Yimu’s upcoming wuxia film Shadow has confirmed a premiere date of September 30th, and recently released a new trailer that seems to feature a monologue by Deng Chao‘s shadow:
No people. No light. No sound. All alone in the darkness, I moved my hands over every single crevice in the walls. It was proof that I wasn’t crazy. It was proof that I was still alive.
Which poster is your favorite so far?
Zhang Yimou’s Shadow 影 has released three more posters and ton of stills. Some of the images are quite stunning, and Zhang Yimou is a visual master, but If this film doesn’t get some major shadow reduction, no one’s going to see anything that’s going on in a dark movie theater.
In the first teaser for Shadow, we’re introduced to the son of an official Ziyu (Deng Chao), who has been sharing a life with his stand-in Jingzhou since the age of eight. It seems like that Jingzhou takes over everything at some point, including his wife Xiao-Ai (Sun Li).
Shadow is all about opposites – light and dark, yin and yang – and I’m hoping the future teasers will be as stylish as the posters. Deng Chao (The Liquidator) will be playing two characters, and Sun Li (Nothing Gold Can Stay) costars as his wife.
Plot summary:
Director Zhang Yimou‘s first Hollywood flick, The Great Wall, will feature Andy Lau,Jing Tian, Zhang Hanyun, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Lin Gengxin, Zheng Kai, Chen Xudong, Huang Xuan ,TF Boys’s Wang Kaiyuan, alongside Hollywood actors Matt Damon and Williem Dafoe. They’re really covering all the fan bases, but I’m hoping some of those will be cameo appearances since some of them really can not act.
Plot (script is written in English by a non-Chinese team) as follows per Hollywood Reporter, although Sina also mentions a female general aka stereotypical Asian love interest:
Damon, who is in final negotiations, will star as a soldier who is part of a group of mercenaries traveling to China in order to bring back gunpowder to Europe. When the group is attacked by mystical beasts, the man finds himself in a war between a secret warrior clan and the beasts.
sources: Legendary Pictures@Sina; Hollywood Reporter
Ge You and Jiang Wen as show masters in the upcoming movie, Gone With the Bullets.
The year is almost a quarter over (I know!), but 2014 is a really exciting year for Chinese film and it would be a waste not to take a look at all the great stuff that’s going to be released soon. This year, as some have noted, will be the year of big director comebacks, from Red Cliff’s John Woo to Zhang Yimou and many others. (Thanks to Mookie for everything about this post, I’m just here to spread the word.)
(Also, you’ll soon realize that Huang Xiao Ming does not rest… I believe he has at least 4 films this year alone, excluding dramas!!)
This list is in no way exhaustive. Continue reading
Zhang Yimou, prolific father and filmmaker
China’s most distinguished film director is being investigated for a violation of China’s One-Child Policy, the People’s Daily reported. Zhang Yimou 张艺谋, whose recent works include The Flowers of War 金陵十三钗 and the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, is rumoured to have fathered seven children with four women. The Wuxi Population and Family Planning Commission is probing the allegations which first spread online earlier this month. Wuxi is the residence of Zhang’s second and current wife, actress Chen Ting 陈婷.
If the allegations are proven true, Zhang could face a penalty of double his annual income, a total figure given at RMB160 million ($26 million). Wuxi authorities expect to finalise the report in a few days.
The One-Child Policy was first introduced in 1979 to curb China’s then population boom. The policy, which restricts couples to only one child, directly affects about a third of the country’s population.