Tuesday
Jul192011
"The Grand Masters" Teases
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 12:15PM The teaser trailer for Wong Kar Wai's 代宗師 (The Grand Masters), a biopic of sorts about Ip Man, a famous martial arts teacher who taught Bruce Lee among others has arrived renewing interest in the movie. It's been an easy movie to forget about since the gestation period has been so long. (And, yes, there's already been a competitive movie on the same topic that's already opened and closed.) I can't remember when they started filming but you may recall that one of our favorite movie stars on the entire planet, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai broke his arm early on in the production and we sent lustful sympathies. Here he is in training again after recovery.
Several websites are speculating about when this will be finished and open (late 2011 fest circuit? cannes 2012?) but we're guessing not until 2012. Since it reunites the acclaimed and very long-absent director with his longtime muse, we're excited no matter how long we have to wait. So long as we can remember it exists that is. (Tony broke his arm two whole years ago!).
The teaser isn't much to go on -- your typical battle scene -- and people have been stealing WKW's style for so long that this tiny tease even looks quite derivative but WKW's films are so stylish that there's every reason to hope this will be yummy eye candy. And with Leung at the center, it could be a new classic. They've already made so many great films together: Chungking Express, Happy Together, In the Mood For Love, etcetera.
Bonus Points: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon's young lovers Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen co-star, though they don't appear in this teaser.
Confusion: This title is printed differently everywhere you read about it: sometimes singular, sometimes plural, sometimes with spaces and sometimes as one long word "Grandmasters"
tagged The Grandmaster, Tony Leung, Wong Kar-wai
The Grandmaster, Tony Leung, Wong Kar-wai
Reader Comments (10)
Dear Nathaniel,
Do you plan on watching these two foreign pictures nominated for the Academy Awards?
Incendies
Outside the Law
I believe the second one opened in the US last year.
The first one opened this year.
They are excellent, especially the Canadian one.
Marcelo.
sorry for hijacking the thread, but have you read this?
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/07/19/stannis-melisandre/
great choices, and I know you like Carice a lot!
This looks super, super silly - ridiculous even, if stylish, for a biopic (although I'd accept the stylization for a fictional genre piece - I know you said "biopic of sorts". I should have considered myself forewarned?)
But suddenly I understand the lust, Nathaniel.
Everytime I see Tony Leung, I can't help but think, 'but where's Maggie?' Ah, Cheung and Leung, the dynamic duo of Asian cinema. If only they would make more movies together, but that would mean that Cheung would have to come out of retirement - and oft wished for dream, no doubt.
This film, will of course, be released in Asia before ever hitting North America or Europe (if ever). Therefore - though I shouldn't really be saying this - for those of you that don't want to wait, once the film has been released in Asia, go to your local Chinatown and browse among the dvd stores. There's bound to be pirated versions of the movie floating around...
I fucking LOVED Ashes of Time, so I am all for WKW + martial arts.
matrix 4?
just kidding, I love Wong Kar Wai, with flaws and all.
2046 is one of my 5 favorites movies of all time.
And what's the caption to that photo, Nathaniel? 'And then Donnie Yen did this and my arm broke.' Since Leung does more with his eyebrows than Donnie Yen with all his might martial arts skill, this is the Yip Man bio I'll be watching. I'm hoping it's going to be very languid and have lots of smoking in it.
Um, does Tony Leung ever age at all? I'm jealous. Happy Together is one of my favorite movies, and In The Mood For Love is downright hypnotic. I can't wait!
That's amazing. I have no doubt Wong and Leung will deliver something more interesting and to write home about than the two features starring Donnie Yen...well, I liked Donnie Yen as Ip Man but I'm pretty sure I will like this one really more!
New stills from my blog:
http://wongkarwainews.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/the-grandmasters-teaser-trailer/