That this movie is a biopic paying tribute to go master Wu Qingyuan is made very clear at the start with a brief sketch of Master Wu, at the age of 92, entertaining friends at home in China.
In his minimalist and sometimes stoic style, director Tian Zhuangzhuang tells the life story of Master Wu: learning the game from his Japanese teacher, early competition, marriage, entanglement with a mystical sect, surviving WW II in Japan, birth of his baby, furthering of his career, a traffic accident that is not fatal but damaging, and finally his retirement.
Wu is well known, and even a godlike figure to some, for one and only one reason his supreme excellence with the game. This biopic, however, seems to focus a lot more on Wu the man than Wu the go master. The titanic battles throughout his career are rarely depicted with more than one or two brief fast shots, if at all. They are reflected in various points in the movie almost as if they were an afterthought. On the other hand, we have detailed portrayals of him as a weak and gullible man sucked in by a sect reeking mysticism. That he was finally able to free himself of the hypnotic effect was due more to the determination of his sensible wife than his own wisdom. It is difficult to reconcile this persona with the godlike go master that we invariably perceive Wu as. But then the master, by personally appearing at the beginning, implicitly endorses this project.
After being banned in China for 9 years since his "The blue kite", director Tian comes out of the deep freeze in 2002 with a remake of "Springtime in a small town", the original, 1948 version of which has been considered by many as the best Chinese movie ever. It is understandable that against the bigger-than-life reputation of the original, Tian version will have a hard time holding its own. Having watched both, I would suggest that Tian's version does not suffer in comparison in any way. In "the go master", we see some of Tian's style in "Springtime" even though the subject matters are entirely different. There are the subtle tones and nuances that take communication beyond the dialogue, of which we have few. The mood of the hue of the photography, particularly what might have been blue filters, are perceptible.
One more thing and I'm done, and it's about the game of go. It is misleading to characterize it as "chess-like but simpler". The rules of the game are certainly simpler but if we follow the same logic of using the wrong criteria to assess certain things, we may as well say that bridge is a simpler game compared with rock-paper-cissors because the latter requires making your move simultaneously with the opponent while in bridge you make it after your opponent; or that the NFL playbooks are simpler than a guide to skipping ropes because a rope can be made into different shapes while a football cannot! Simple rules notwithstanding, the permutations and combinations in a go game are astronomical. While computer program "deep blue" beat world chess champion a decade ago, best computer programs on playing go routinely lose to talented children. For further references on the game, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_%28board_game%29
In his minimalist and sometimes stoic style, director Tian Zhuangzhuang tells the life story of Master Wu: learning the game from his Japanese teacher, early competition, marriage, entanglement with a mystical sect, surviving WW II in Japan, birth of his baby, furthering of his career, a traffic accident that is not fatal but damaging, and finally his retirement.
Wu is well known, and even a godlike figure to some, for one and only one reason his supreme excellence with the game. This biopic, however, seems to focus a lot more on Wu the man than Wu the go master. The titanic battles throughout his career are rarely depicted with more than one or two brief fast shots, if at all. They are reflected in various points in the movie almost as if they were an afterthought. On the other hand, we have detailed portrayals of him as a weak and gullible man sucked in by a sect reeking mysticism. That he was finally able to free himself of the hypnotic effect was due more to the determination of his sensible wife than his own wisdom. It is difficult to reconcile this persona with the godlike go master that we invariably perceive Wu as. But then the master, by personally appearing at the beginning, implicitly endorses this project.
After being banned in China for 9 years since his "The blue kite", director Tian comes out of the deep freeze in 2002 with a remake of "Springtime in a small town", the original, 1948 version of which has been considered by many as the best Chinese movie ever. It is understandable that against the bigger-than-life reputation of the original, Tian version will have a hard time holding its own. Having watched both, I would suggest that Tian's version does not suffer in comparison in any way. In "the go master", we see some of Tian's style in "Springtime" even though the subject matters are entirely different. There are the subtle tones and nuances that take communication beyond the dialogue, of which we have few. The mood of the hue of the photography, particularly what might have been blue filters, are perceptible.
One more thing and I'm done, and it's about the game of go. It is misleading to characterize it as "chess-like but simpler". The rules of the game are certainly simpler but if we follow the same logic of using the wrong criteria to assess certain things, we may as well say that bridge is a simpler game compared with rock-paper-cissors because the latter requires making your move simultaneously with the opponent while in bridge you make it after your opponent; or that the NFL playbooks are simpler than a guide to skipping ropes because a rope can be made into different shapes while a football cannot! Simple rules notwithstanding, the permutations and combinations in a go game are astronomical. While computer program "deep blue" beat world chess champion a decade ago, best computer programs on playing go routinely lose to talented children. For further references on the game, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_%28board_game%29