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Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan, who was previously behind “Kaili Blues” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” has his latest film, “Resurrection,” in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, which is now underway. Thankfully, Les Films du Losange dropped a teaser trailer that has made its way online ahead of the Cannes debut.

The script for “Resurrection” was co-written by Gan and Xiaohui Zhai with a cast that features Jackson Yee, Qi Shu, Mark Chao, Gengxi Li, Jue Huang, Yongzhong Chen, Zhijian Zhang, Chloe Maayan, Nan Yan, and Mucheng Guo.

Continue reading ‘Resurrection’ Teaser Trailer: Bi Gan’s Cannes-Bound Sci-Fi Detective Tale With Music From M83 at The Playlist.

It looks like Cannes was saving our most-anticipated premiere for last: it was just announced last week that Bi Gan’s sci-fi detective tale Resurrection has been added to the main competition. With a score by M83 and cast including Jackson Yee, Shu Qi, Mark Chao, Li Gengxi, Huan Jue, and Chen Yongzhong, the latest film from the Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey Into Night director is among the festival’s longest, clocking in at 160 minutes. Ahead of the premiere, a first teaser has now arrived.

Here’s the new synopsis: “In a world where humanity has lost the ability to dream, one creature remains entranced by the fading illusions of the dreamworld. This monster, adrift in reverie, clings to visions no one else can see––until a woman appears. Gifted with the rare power to perceive these illusions for what they truly are, she chooses to enter the monster’s dreams,...

Three years after her debut film, the excellent “B for Busy”, director and screenwriter Shao Yihui is back with another Shanghai-set comedy about friendship and family. This time, however, Shao is much more ambitious in her desire to tackle themes rarely heard about in Chinese cinema, like divorce and co-parenting, domestic violence, patriarchy and gender stereotypes. Judging by its large success at the box office, the film has struck a chord with Chinese audiences.

“Her Story” is Wang Tiemei’s story. Wang (very convincingly played by Song Jia) is a single mother in her forties doing her best, if sometimes awkwardly, to raise her nine-year-old daughter. She must also deal with her ex-husband (the adorable Mark Chao), an affable if bumbling man who frequently visits them and does not seem ready to move on. She must also manage a younger would-be suitor (the equally adorable Zhang Yu), a new job...

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“Her Story,” a Mainland Chinese comedy-drama film told from a largely female perspective, is set for a release in major international territories later this month that are coordinated with its wide opening in China.

The film is directed by Shao Yihui, who previously made a mark with her 2021 picture “B For Busy.” Its fast-paced story focuses on two women – one a recently unemployed single mom, the other a new neighbor who is more troubled than she appears – who become friends. Together they face up to various relationship challenges, including an abusive ex-husband and new romantic possibilities.

The cast is headed by Song Jia, Elaine Zhong, Zhang Yu, Mark Chao, Ren Bin, Zeng Mumei, Zhang Chi and Zhou Yemang. Production is by Maxtimes Pictures.

Rights outside mainland China have been picked up by Tiger Pictures Entertainment, which will operate a split strategy of itself handling the picture’s release in some...

The plot of the film, inspired by novels “Death of Shanghai” by Hong Ying and “Shanghai” by Yokomitsu Riichi, is set over the course of one week in December of 1941, just before the Pearl Harbour attack. The film, however, opens with the rehearsal of the titular play at Lyceum Theatre. The huge star of Hong Kong cinema Jean Yu is back after the years of absence to work with her former partner actor/director Tan Na (Mark Chao) on the play. But she is a woman with multiple secrets…

Read Marko Stojiljković’s review for Amp here.

Ye Lanqiu (Gao Yuanyuan) is a beautiful and successful young woman who, as the film opens, is diagnosed with an advanced lymphatic cancer that requires immediate treatment. Numb with shock, Lanqiu sits on a crowded city bus, hiding behind large sunglasses and completely oblivious to what is happening around her, not even registering the conductor’s persistent request that she give up her seat for an elderly pensioner. This moment of perceived incivility is recorded on a mobile phone by an assistant to journalist Chen Ruoxi (Yao Chen), and the zealous reporter quickly decides to go viral with the video, flooding the web with the footage of the callous “Sunglass Girl”. The video triggers a massive internet hate-mail campaign against the already stricken Lanqiu, and heralds even more catastrophes in both her personal and professional life. But fate is not yet finished with Lanqiu, and the chaotic course she has been unjustly set upon will,...

History struggles to come alive in the mainland Chinese WWII spy thriller “Saturday Fiction,” a poorly lit memory play about a doomed espionage mission involving a famous Chinese actress (Gong Li) and a prominent Japanese military official (Joe Odagiri).

Set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this sleepy and visually murky black-and-white drama belabors the same banal truisms about memory and role-playing during wartime –basically, it’s impossible to maintain your autonomy when you’re only a pawn in a complicated game — and tends to be more interesting to think about than to watch.

Filmed with stifling hand-held photography, many scenes plod along in real time without a momentous or compelling pace. The sound design’s focus on background noises, instead of a musical score, also soon becomes more irritating than intriguing. Gong and Odagiri do what they can with a generally thin scenario, inspired by...

At long last, the Lou Ye’s Venice 2019 premiere Saturday Fiction is arriving stateside. After some delays presumably caused by the pandemic, Strand Releasing will now bow the slow-burn spy thriller at IFC Center on April 22 and the first trailer has arrived.

Led by Gong Li and set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai on the cusp of World War II, the film follows acclaimed actress Jean Yu, who has returned to Shanghai from China after a long absence. Jean Yu is in rehearsals for a play to be directed by a former lover (Mark Chao), but she seems to have ulterior motives, functioning as a double agent and gathering intelligence for the Allies, including the fateful realization of Japan’s imminent attack on Pearl Harbor.

Mark Asch said in his TIFF 2019 review, “A filmmaker perhaps too prolific for his own good, Lou Ye takes his latest spin ‘round the festival circuit with Saturday Fiction,...

Instability benefits art and there is no other place than the Chinese language world that this axiom is more evident, as the all the sociopolitical issues that are tormenting China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have actually have released the creative forces of local filmmakers in superlative fashion, even among the main voices regarding censorship. In that fashion, the quality of Taiwanese productions remained in the high levels it has gotten during the last few years, China added a number of rather interesting documentaries along the plethora of festival-appealing, European style movies and blockbusters, and Hong Kong ended up with a film that is truly worthy of the Golden Age of local cinema, even if as a whole, the industry took another step back.

Without further ado, here are the best Chinese Language films of 2021, in reverse order. Some films may have premiered in 2020, but since they mostly circulated in 2021, we decided to include them.

“Postman” by Russian filmmaker Klim Tukaev has won the first prize at the sixth Nespresso Talents global short film competition.

“Bagman,” by Jan Kellner, took the second prize, while “Speaking in Flowers,” by Nicolina Sterbet, took third. Both are from the Czech Republic.

The winners were selected by the competition’s international jury, which includes actors Mark Chao (“Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings”) and Zita Hanrot (“Paul Sanchez est revenu!”), world explorer and adventurer Mike Horn, writer, director and Nespresso Talents 2020 winner Faride Schroeder (“Oasis”) and actor and director Sonia Rolland (“Madame”).

A total of 993 short films were submitted from 60 countries and 15 were shortlisted.

The awards ceremony took place on Friday at the Palais des Festivals with the participation of the jury members, guests and the winning filmmakers. Each winner received, in addition to the opportunity of attending the the Cannes Film Festival, a mentoring session with cinema experts and a cash prize.

Based on the Japanese novel series “Onmyoji” by Baku Yumemakura, “The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity” is another link in the long chain of fantasy blockbusters that have been coming from China in the last couple of years, which implements though, a genre mashup approach that allows it to stand out from the plethora of similar titles.

Centuries ago, an Evil Serpent demon was born from the desires of human. Four masters from four different sects gathered together to seal the snake within the Imperial City. As the years pass, Four Guardians were constructed in order to prevent the Evil Serpent from escaping and wreaking havoc on the rest of the world. Since then, four different masters would travel to the Imperial City to awaken the Four Guardians to trap the snake. With the threat of the Evil Serpent rising once more, four different masters come together once more: Hongruo,...

Netflix film "The Yin-Yang Master: Dream Of Eternity", based on the 1986 Japanese fantasy novel, "Onmyōji" by Baku Yumemakura, stars Mark Chao and Allen Deng, streaming February 5, 2021:

"...young 'yin-yang' master 'Qingming' (Chao) travels to 'The Capital' on his master's orders, where he attends a 'Heaven' ceremony. He is tasked with sealing a demon serpent for good, in order to prevent it from waking from its 300-year slumber and plaguing the people once again.

"However, the now released demon serpent is mighty and powerful. Qingming, together with a warrior named 'Boya' (Deng), 'Master Nanjiang' (Jessie Li), and 'Master Heshou' of the 'Imperial Observatory' (Wang Duo), set out to eliminate the demon serpent.

"In the midst of turmoil and crisis, an earth-shattering conspiracy involving the 'Princess' (Wang Ziwen) begins to surface..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Global streaming giant Netflix has acquired rights to “The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity,” a period fantasy action film by the ferociously talented and divisive director Guo Jingming. The film is set for a major theatrical release in mainland China on Dec. 25.

Netflix, which acquired rights excluding China, will release it in the rest of the world on Feb. 5, 2021, shortly before the Lunar New Year holiday celebrations.

Adapted from the popular 2001 novel “Onmyoji” by Japanese writer Baku Yumemakura, the story sees the four best Yin-Yang Masters in the country called to the capital to slay the serpent demon, which awakens only every 100 years. In the meantime, a princess and the head of the royal guard conspire to end the serpent’s eternal life.

It stars a young and attractive cast headed by Mark Chao (“Saturday Fiction”), Allen Deng (“Ashes of Love”), Jessie Li (“Port of Call”) and Wang Ziwen (“The...

The film is scheduled for a wide theatrical release in China on December 25.

Fortissimo Films has sold Chinese fantasy film The Yin-Yang Master: Dream Of Eternity, directed by Guo Jingming, to Netflix for world distribution, excluding China.

The film, which stars Mark Chao (Saturday Fiction) and Allen Deng (Ashes Of Love), is scheduled for a wide theatrical release in China on December 25. Netflix will then launch it in more than 190 countries and regions on February 5, 2021.

Adapted from Japanese fantasy novel Onmyoji by Baku Yumemakura, the film tells the story of China’s four best ‘Yin-Yang Masters’, who are called to...

For this year’s edition of Nespresso Talents, a competition that celebrates emerging filmmakers and innovative forms of storytelling, organizers faced an obvious challenge as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, disrupting lives and rattling the global film industry.

But the competition, designed for short films shot in vertical format, can claim its most successful edition to date, with organizers receiving more than 740 videos from 47 countries — double the number of submissions from last year. It’s the sort of outcome Nespresso envisioned when it partnered with Cannes Critics’ Week to launch the competition four years ago.

“Nespresso believes in fostering creative talent and supporting people who think differently,” says the company’s chief brand officer, Anna Lundstrom.

“And that’s also why we decided to create the Nespresso Talents vertical short film contest in 2016, which celebrates and nurtures next generation film talent, bringing their art to the discerning film lovers everywhere.

At 30, and already an accomplished novelist, Guo Jingming deftly turned himself into one of China’s top film directors when he unleashed bratty, aspirational comedy-drama “Tiny Times” on an eager public in June 2013. Then he showed his understanding of marketing strategy by releasing a sequel barely six weeks later.

Guo’s upcoming action fantasy “The Yin Yang Master” is already billed as a two-parter, so he will not be able to pull off the surprise sequel trick a second time. But there is every reason to expect the movie pair to be among the biggest Chinese films of the next 12 months.

The story involves a snake dragon, and a cabal of Yin-Yang masters, a scheming princess and a well-placed palace guard who each have other plans for the power of the demon than the one they advertise.

The films, being pitched this week in the online version of the Cannes Market,...

Strand Releasing has scooped all North American rights to Lou Ye’s Second World War-set spy thriller “Saturday Fiction” from Wild Bunch. The film world premiered in competition at Venice last year and played at the New York Film Festival.

“Saturday Fiction” stars Gong Li as a famous actress who has returned to Japanese-occupied Shanghai to act in a play directed by and co-starring her old flame. But it turns out she has ulterior motives, functioning as a double agent gathering intelligence for the Allies leading up to Japan’s upcoming attack on Pearl Harbor.

Written by Ma Yingli (“Summer Palace”), the lavishly shot black-and-white movie also stars Mark Chao, Pascal Greggory and Tom Wlaschiha.

Strand Releasing, one of the key purveyors of upscale foreign-language cinema in the U.S., previously distributed Ye’s critically-acclaimed 2000 drama “Suzhou River,” as well as “Spring Fever,” which had won the screenplay award at...

Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company is also stepping into Asian TV series sales with Horizon Tower.

Fortissimo Films is launching sales at the Efm on two Chinese titles – fantasy action film The Yin-Yang Master: Dream Of Eternity and arthouse drama Hot Soup, directed by Zhang Ming, whose 2018 The Pluto Moment premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight.

The Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company is also stepping into Asian TV series sales with Horizon Tower, produced by Tencent Penguin Pictures. All three titles are currently in post-production and scheduled for delivery later in 2020.

Directed by Guo Jingming (Tiny Times franchise), The Yin-Yang Master:...

With numerous adaptations and plotlines over the years, the modern usage of video games on film has had some great life that sees another new entry come together in this new installment. A true multinational co-production between France, China and Cambodia, director Matthias Hoene’s ‘Enter the Warriors Gate’ emerges as a decent enough fantasy/action epic from the writing/producing duo of Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen.

Living in modern American, teenager Jack loves video games and spends the majority of his time playing games or working for his boss Chang when not running from bullies. Suddenly, he finds himself entrusted with guarding Su Lin a princess from ancient China by Zhao, her companion. When she becomes captured by the barbarian Arun and whisked back to her time-period, he goes back to help save her and learns that his skills with video games enable him...

Hollywood films and local arthouse led the Chinese box office this weekend, with “Jumanji: The Next Level” taking the lead with a $24.7 million debut, while Lou Ye’s Venice title “Saturday Fiction” was abruptly yanked from the lineup of releases.

Remarkably, Diao Yinan’s stylish and bloody neo-noir “Wild Goose Lake” did almost as well as “Jumanji” in its opening weekend, taking $19.4 million to come in second. Starring Hu Ge, Gwei Lun Mei, and Liao Fan, the crime thriller debuted in competition at Cannes in May, but appears to have undergone four minutes of cuts, given the listed 113-minute runtime of the version screening in China.

Disney’s “Frozen 2” came in third with $9.6 million, bringing its cumulative box office in China up to $105 million.

Local crime thriller “The Whistleblower” made $4.3 million in its debut. The film features Tang Wei, the starlet who was once banned from mainland filmmaking for her...

Just a day before its scheduled China debut, director Lou Ye’s latest film, “Saturday Fiction,” has been pulled from its slot as the opener of the mainland’s Golden Rooster Film Festival because of unspecified “internal production problems,” according to Chinese film website Mtime. Speculation has been spreading online that it will also be yanked from its currently scheduled Dec. 7 nationwide theatrical release.

The film by Chinese “Sixth Generation” director Lou competed for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in September. It has been replaced on opening night of the Golden Rooster festival by an innocuous music documentary about shakuhachi – long, traditional bamboo flutes that originated from China and spread to Japan – called “One Sound, One Life.” Directed by Helen Yu, the film grossed just $500,000 in mainland theaters in May.

“Saturday Fiction” is now at least the fifth Chinese film to run into trouble this year at...

After Ye Lou was the subject of controversy regarding his previous film, “Shadow Play”, he is back with another effort that recently premiered at the official competition of the 76th edition of Venice International Film Festival. It seems that he is back in mercy with his country’s cultural establishment and why shouldn’t he, since “Saturday Fiction” is a handsome spy noir set in the “Solitary Island” period of Shanghai’s history and is not even a bit controversial.

“Saturday Fiction” screened at

Venice International Film Festival 2019

“Solitary Island” refers to the early period of Japanese occupation of the city between 1937 and 1941. The city was occupied by the Japanese army, but the British and French concessions (business and cultural institutions) maintained the widest form of autonomy. Needless to say, it made Shanghai into a major spy hub at the beginning of the World War Two.

The plot of the film,...

From 1937 to 1941, Shanghai was dubbed a “solitary island” in that, alone in China after the Japanese invasion, there were areas within it that were under international control, namely the French and British Concessions. They were, undoubtedly, teeming with spies and collaborators and double agents, but it strains credibility that they could have been anything like as fraught and riven as the French-administered enclave in the 1941 of Sixth Generation Chinese director Lou Ye’s grandiloquently incoherent misfire “Saturday Fiction.” Starring/wasting the luminous Gong Li, the black and white film strays further away from the observational art-house calm of Lou’s 2014 “Blind Massage,” and plows deeper into the tangled thickets of dubious motivation and incomprehensible behavior that marred his last film, police procedural “The Shadow Play.”

It takes some time to work out what on earth is going on, largely because of Lou’s most confusing and counterproductive decision, which is...

Lou Ye — one of the most famous and least consistent of the so-called “Sixth Generation” of Chinese filmmakers — has been compelled by a Hitchcockian notions of romantic obsession ever since 2000’s “Suzhou River,” in which the actress Zhou Xun played two different women who the unseen narrator ultimately conflates with each other. The “Saturday Fiction” unfolds like a luminous new riff on the same idea, as Lou is clearly still fascinated by the various roles that we play, and the notion that people are often so enamored by what they want that they can lose sight of who they want it from.

“Ultimately it is the desire, not the desired, that we love,” Nietzsche wrote, and “Saturday Fiction” puts those words right on the screen as it pulls them apart. Only this time, they carry much, much deadlier consequences, as Lou has upped the stakes from a little story about...

Streaming platform Rakuten Viki has acquired seven titles from Chinese firm Croton Media. They are set to premiere worldwide on the platform this month, some of them as Viki Originals.

The titles include 58-episode show “Eternal Love,” a period drama starring Yang Mi and Mark Chao; 30-episode “Love O2O,” a modern drama starring Yang Yang and Zheng Shuang; 54-episode “Princess Weiyoung,” a period drama starring Tiffany Tang and Luo Jin, an onscreen couple who got married in real life last year; and 62-episode “General and I,” a period drama starring Angelababy and Wallace Chung.

The 41-episode “Negotiator,” starring Yang Mi and Huang Zitao, who rose to fame as a rapper in the K-pop group Exo, will air as a Viki Original, as will 47-episode “Age of Legends,” starring William Chan and Sandra Ma, and “My Story for You, starring Zheng Shuang and Luo Jin.

“Our watch time for Chinese content...

Saturday Fiction

Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye’s eleventh feature Saturday Fiction promises to be among his more extravagant offerings of late, featuring a handsome international cast led by Gong Li, also including Zhang Songwen, Huang Xiangli, and Wang Chaunjun. Produced through Lou’s YingFilms, Helge Albers through Berlin’s Achtung Panda! and Japan’s Uplink, the period drama is lensed by Dp Zeng Jian. Lou Ye’s 2003 Purple Butterfly brought him to the Cannes competition. Three years later, he was famously banned from filmmaking in China for five years following 2006’s Summer Palace and his representation of Tiananmen Square (which was yanked from the official Cannes comp).…...

Director Tsui Hark (The Taking of Tiger Mountain) brings back the popular hero in the smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise for Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, coming to digital, Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD November 13 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Set during the Tang dynasty, the third film in the action-packed, martial arts franchise finds the intrepid detective defending himself from the Empress while looking to recover a magical weapon. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings has Mark Chao (Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon) returning in the title role, with Feng Shaofeng (The Monkey King franchise),  Lin Gengxin (The Taking of Tiger Mountain),  Ethan Juan (The Guillotines),  Ma Sichun (Goldbuster) and  Carina Lau (Detective Dee franchise) rounding out the cast.

A bold and exciting new entry into the smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise from master action director Tsui Hark, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings sees...

For the first time, all three of Tsui Hark’s (“The Taking of Tiger Mountain”) Detective Dee films are available in one awesome collection exclusively at Walmart on November 13. The bold and exciting smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise from master action director Tsui Hark tell the story of Detective Dee, one of the most celebrated officials of the Tang Dynasty, who is tasked by the Empress to solve a series of inexplicable murders and mysteries.

Included in the collection are “Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon” (Well Go USA), “Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame” (Shout Factory) and “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings” (Well Go USA). The collection sells for $34.98 Srp.

Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame (2010)

A bizarre mystery brings together the most powerful woman in China. The soon-to-be-Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) and a formerly exiled detective, Dee Renjie...

The third film in the Detective Dee series and a sequel to “Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon” (2013), “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings” sees our eponymous hero, Dee Renjie (Mark Chao) once again up again the formidable Empress Wu (Carina Lau) who is determined not to let anything or anyone get in the way of her ascension to power. Dee is entrusted with the Dragon Taming Mace by Emperor Gaozong which has the power to subdue any type of threat to national security, and Empress Wu needs to retrieve the mace in order that her machinations to take power are not revealed.

Detective Dee’s first appearance was in an 18th century Chinese novel “The Four Strange Cases from the Era of Empress Wu” which was later translated by the writer Van Gulik who would go to create the “Judge Dee” story series. The fictional character was based upon Ti Jen-chieh,...

The comedy has a 10-day total of $288.2m.

Hello Mr Billionaire stayed top in the week of Jul 30-Aug 5, followed by Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, as the crop of new releases didn’t light up the Chinese box office.

Following a prosperous debut weekend, Hello Mr Billionaire continued to thrive with $159.4m, which represented about 66% of the week’s total box office. Its 10-day total of $288.2m propelled it to be the 12th top grossing film of all time, surpassing Transformers 4 and The Ex-File 3.

As Mahua FunAge’s latest comedy, Hello Mr Billionaire has already outgrossed by over 40% Goodbye Mr Loser,...

Total box office in July reached new heights with $912m.

Just halfway through the summer holidays, a second Chinese blockbuster was born. Following the huge success of Dying To Survive, Hello Mr Billionaire raked in $127.3m from its three-day opening weekend in the period of Jul 23-29, not far from the former’s four-day debut on $190.1m.

Mainly thanks to these two strong titles, along with Skyscraper, Hidden Man and new opener Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, the total box office in July reached new heights with $912m, representing a new record for the month of July of all time.

Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.After a quiet spring and early summer, with few Chinese releases of note to play on American screens, things are starting to pick up as we head into the second half of the year. A couple of weeks ago saw the release of another Herman Yau film (The Leakers), his fifth feature in the past 14 months, along with Han Yan’s follow-up to his surprisingly effective cancer rom-com Go Away Mr. Tumor, the bizarre-looking manga adaptation Animal World. Both films quickly disappeared, playing not quite a full week here in Seattle, but this week’s big release should have a longer run. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is the third in a series of fantasy-adventure films from Tsui Hark, who has been for 40 years the central...

Sorcery and delusions of power are the dominant themes of “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings,” the third and most spectacular of the Chinese franchise about a real-life sleuth of the Tang dynasty. This time the hero uncovers a court conspiracy in which conjurers of illusions play a deadly role, a pretext for director Tsui Hark to run amok with visual effects while slipping in his usual political innuendoes about Machiavellianism and mind-control. On the level of pure popcorn entertainment, there’s not a thing one can fault the 3D megabuster for, and it should steamroll other domestic competition in the summer domestic market while satisfying Tsui’s longtime followers.

At 68, the Hong Kong genre maestro’s childlike imagination and technical inventiveness seems inexhaustible. The script, co-written by Tsui with Chang Chialu, who also teamed up for the last two chapters of the franchise (“Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom...

Tsui Hark’s third action-comedy fantasy about the Tang dynasty-era investigator has creaky effects and a lack of logic but its energy is undeniable

This Chinese blockbuster, the third in a series, is an improvement on 2011’s Mystery of the Phantom Flame but doesn’t make enough advances to have Hollywood quaking in its Louboutins yet. Mark Chao shows flashes of wry charisma as Dee Renjie, the semi-mythical Tang dynasty official who, as head of the “Bureau of Investigations”, is styled here as half-Sherlock, half Q-style gadget man, signed off with a neat Poirot-ish tache. Dee finds himself in a tight spot when Emperor Gaozong presents him with the mighty Dragon-Taming Mace and instructions to protect the kingdom from scheming Empress Wu (Carina Lau); she hires a group of mystics from the jiang hu underworld, ancient China’s equivalent of the dodgy boozer, to take it back.

Tsui Hark,...

First of all, who is Detective Dee? For those who don’t know him already, Dee Renjie was a magistrate in the Tang dynasty, a guarantor of the Tang Code, highly revered by Empress Wu Zetian for his logical nature and honesty. Later in history, his life inspired the fictional character of a crime-solving magistrate called Judge Dee in some historical “whodunit” novels, virtually unknown to the West if it wasn’t for Dutch diplomat and writer Robert van Gulik who – at the beginning of 1900 – picked up an old copy of the novels in a second hand shop and decided to rewrite his own version of the Chinese Detective. And here we are, the modern version of the popular Detective Dee is a true product of Orientalism and yet very appealing and intriguing.

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings will be released in UK cinemas 27 July, by Cine Asia

Director...

Legendary director Tsui Hark returns to direct the third film in the immensely successful series, which has racked up over Usd$200m at the box office and bagged 20+ major award nominations with a star-studded cast that is just as award-worthy. “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings” is coming to UK cinemas 27th July. Keep updated online: www.DetectiveDee3.com

Synopsis

Detective Dee (Mark Chao) is appointed by Emperor Gaozong to protect the Tang Dynasty from rival Empress Wu (Carina Lau) and is bestowed with the magical Dragon Taming Mace. Wu orders Yuchi Zhenjin (Feng Shaofeng) of the Golden Gard to recruit five mystics and task them with stealing the threatening Mace, the consequence of which is capital punishment for Dee.

Storming the Department of Investigation, Wu orders a demonstration of sorcery power which goes horrifically wrong with deadly consequences. In the confusion, Yuchi Zhenjin is seen killing colleagues of the Golden Gard.

Cast includes Gong Li, Mark Chao, Tom Wlaschiha, Pascal Greggory and Joe Odagiri.

Berlin-based production house Achtung Panda! and Japan’s Uplink have boarded Saturday Fiction, a 1940s-set period drama from controversial Chinese director Lou Ye.

Gong Li, Taiwanese actor Mark Chao, German actor Tom Wlaschiha, France’s Pascal Greggory and Japan’s Joe Odagiri and Ayumu Nakajima head the cast of the multilingual drama, also produced by Lou’s YingFilms. Chinese actors Zhang Songwen, Huang Xiangli and Wang Chuanjun also star.

Helge Albers is producing for Achtung Panda! and is presenting the project to sales agents, distributors and other potential European partners at the Efm.

Lou recently completed The Shadow Play, a drama following Chinese families over three decades of reform and increased openness in China. As the film is undergoing a lengthy review process by Chinese authorities, he returned to Shanghai to start work on pre-production and actors’ rehearsals for Saturday Fiction.

Set in Shanghai...

It was a flat week at the box office, with New Year blockbusters waiting in the wings.

It was a flat week (Feb 5-11) right before Chinese New Year as generally expected. Most of the charts looked quite similar to the week before, with only two small releases added. Chinese New Year blockbusters will make up for the loss next week.

Without any strong contenders, Bollywood musical Secret Superstar scored a hat trick, topping the box office for three straight weeks.

Aamir Khan’s latest hit about a young girl who aspires to become a famous singer added $18.7 for $114.7m after 24 days. It has now surpassed Japanese animation Your Name to become the second highest grossing non-Hollywood foreign film ever, only after Dangal.

Local romance drama Till The End Of The World, with Yang Zishan and Mark Chao, climbed one spot to second place with $16.4m for $30m after 11 days, pushing Maze Runner: The Death Cure to the...

Aamir Khan’s coming-of-age musical retains no.1 spot ahead of Maze Runner: The Death Cure.

Source: Amir Khan Productions

‘Secret Superstar’

In the lull before Chinese New Year which starts on Feb 16 this year, the week of Jan 29-Feb 4 became the quietest since last November. The new releases failed to make much of an impression, leaving holdovers Secret Superstar and Maze Runner: The Death Cure in lead positions.

Aamir Khan’s coming-of-age musical retained the No.1 spot for two straight weeks, adding $26m for a 17-day total of $95.9m, which was almost half of Dangal’s final gross. It’s now the top grossing foreign film in 2018, ahead of Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, Maze Runner: The Death Cure and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Fox’s young adult adventure Maze Runner: The Death Cure ranked second with $16.2m for $40.5m after 10 days. This third installment has surpassed its previous two predecessors, breaking a new record...

Bhagat Singh Di Udeek, Punjab Singh and more International Cinema titles opening this weekend!Bhagat Singh Di Udeek, Punjab Singh and more International Cinema titles opening this weekend!Adriana Floridia2/1/2018 2:28:00 PMEvery week, select Cineplex theatres feature some of the most popular and exciting films from all around the world, from countries like China, India, Korea, The Philippines and more. If you want to try something different at the movies, or simply celebrate your own or a new culture on the big screen, we’re highlighting the International Cinema titles out this weekend that you’ll surely enjoy!

Bhagat Singh Di Udeek (Punjabi w/English subtitles)

Bhagat Singh Di Udeek is an upcoming Punjabi social-drama and action film based upon Bhagat Singh’s path. An Army officer fighting for people’s rights, stopping crime and protecting his loved ones, he goes on a mission to fight evil. Bhagat Singh...

2017 has been, at least for me, a fantastic year for movies. There has been some great films in the cinema, on DVD and VOD and the film festivals we’ve covered have been jam-packed with quality movies. Which makes it Very hard to narrow down a list of the Top 10 of the year!

So, with that being said, I’ve decided that this year I’d split my picks into two distinct lists – the ten best films I saw in cinemas, be it at the local multiplex or at film festivals; and the ten best direct-to-market titles of the year, be they DVD or VOD.

Up first, my Top 10 picks of the cinematic releases of 2017 – in the order I saw them… And yes, even under this criteria, it’s still hard to pin down Just a Top 10!

The Warriors Gate

(Screened at Frightfest Glasgow 2017) The Warriors Gate sees Jack (Uriah Shelton...

A teenage gamer must transform his video game skills into those of a Kung Fu warrior when the family action-adventure film Enter The Warriors Gate arrives on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital HD) and DVD June 6 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Reach the next level when the family action-adventure film Enter the Warriors Gate arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD) and DVD June 6 from Lionsgate. Follow the journey of a teenage gamer who is magically transported to an ancient kingdom and must transform his video game skills into those of a Kung Fu warrior to battle the empire’s tyrannical ruler. The film’s all-star cast includes Mark Chao, Ni Ni, former WWE Superstar Dave Bautista, Sienna Guillory, and Uriah Shelton. Written by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element and the upcoming Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) and Robert Mark Kamen (The Karate Kid), the Enter the Warriors Gate Blu-ray and...

In Enter the Warrior's Gate, a teenager is magically transported to China where he learns to convert his video game skills into those of a Kung Fu warrior. The film is like The Last Starfighter re-imagined as an epic Chinese fantasy and that's exactly what drew director Mathias Hoene (Cockneys vs. Zombies) to high concept project in the first place. Enter the Warrior's Gate is a Chinese/French co-production between Luc Besson's EuropaCorp and Fundamental Film. The two also partnered on Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets which is slatted to hit theatres this July. The film was written by Besson and long time collaborator Robert Mark Kamen (Taken, The Fifth Element) and stars Dave Bautista, Sienna Guillory, Uriah Shelton, Mark Chao and Ni...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

I've got a fun trailer for an upcoming action-adventure film called The Warriors Gate for you to check out. The film centers on a teenage gamer from California, played by Uriah Shelton, who is magically transported to China where he must learn to convert his video game skills into those of a Kung Fu warrior. There, he embarks on a journey to save a princess.

What I like about what I'm seeing in this trailer is that it reminds me of those fun yet silly adventure films that I used to watch when I was growing up in the late '80s and early '90s. When you watch the trailer you'll see what I'm talking about. It's also kind of a different spin on the classic film The Last Starfighter. 

The movie was co-written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark who have worked on the Taken and Transporter franchises.

"I need you to guard the most precious treasure of the Empire." Don't miss out on this one, movie lovers. EuropaCorp has unveiled a trailer for a crazy new action film titled Warrior's Gate, which is the latest feature co-written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen (of the Taken and Transporter series). Warrior's Gate is about a teenager gamer living in California who is transported to China and learns to fight as a kung fu warrior, in order to save the princess (of course). It's basically a twist on The Last Starfighter. This is a a co-production between France and China, which is an odd pairing, but it works. The cast includes Uriah Shelton as Jack, Mark Chao, Dave Bautista, Ni Ni, Francis Ng, and Sienna Guillory. This actually looks kind of cool, but also looks like it's straight out of the back of a video rental store in the 90s.

Japanese director wrote The Masque Of The Black Death before his death in 1998.

China’s Huayi Brothers Media has unveiled an ambitious slate of new projects, including The Masque Of The Black Death, based on an unfilmed script written by Japan’s most influential filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa.

Kurosawa started writing the script in 1975 after directing Dersu Uzala as an adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe short story, The Masque Of The Red Death. He completed the script before his death in 1998, but it never went into production.

The Poe short story follows a prince and his noblemen attempting to hide from a deadly epidemic behind the walls of a castle. The courtiers hold an elaborate masquerade, as a distraction from the devastation outside, but the Red Death itself turns up as a guest.

Huayi Brothers is collaborating on the project with Chen Kuo-fu’s Ckf Pictures. Speaking a press conference in Beijing, Chen and Huayi...

Author: Daniel Goodwin

In an attempt to employ 80s fantasy film traits for a modern teen audience, Cockneys Vs Zombies director Matthias Hoene’s follow-up scuffles like an embarrassing dad at a birthday party yet throws some slick twists into the mix. From Producer Luc Besson and co-writer Robert Mark Kamen (The Karate Kid (84), The Warrior’s Gate should be an adventure film for all ages but feels like watching an over-jaunty kid’s TV show with an apocalyptic hangover. A hyperbolic energy installed by glossy visuals, tight choreography and a punchy plot propels it for the better part but its ill-governed start and finale combine with gaudy designs to form a noxious faux fantasy/ action cocktail which crushes its commendable facets.

Teen gamer Jack Bronson (Uriah Shelton) lives with his financially struggling single mother Annie (Sienna Guillory) in a picturesque suburban neighbourhood. While working part time as a store clerk,...

Stars: David Bautista, Sienna Guillory, Uriah Shelton, Mark Chao, Francis Ng, Zha Ka, Kara Hui, Dakota Daulby | Written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen | Directed by Matthias Hoene

Filmed in 2015, The Warrior’s Gate sees Jack (Shelton), a bullied teenager mistaken for the video game hero he plays in his favourite game, magically transported to China, on a mission to save Su Lin, the princess he had been tasked with protecting. He teams with warrior Zhoo (Chao) and a flaky wizard (Ng) to stop the evil Arun (Bautista) from marrying the princess and get back home. ALong the way he learns bravery, inner strength and, of course, kung-fu!

The first in a three-picture deal between Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp and China’s Fundamental Films, The Warrior’s Gate is a French/Chinese co-production, written by long-time Besson collaborator Robert Mark Kamen (The Karate Kid, Lethal Weapon 3, The Transporter), helmed...

The horror strand has 10 UK premieres this year.

Horror Channel FrightFest has announced a record-breaking 14 films for its 12th stint at the Glasgow Film Festival (February 23-25).

The 2017 line-up kicks off with a special screening of Gore Verbinski’s A Cure For Wellness, starring Dane DeHaan, Mia Goth and Jason Isaacs.

There are also UK premieres of Patient Zero (see above), with Matt Smith, Stanley Tucci and Natalie Dormer, and $50 million fantasy epic The Warrior’s Gate, starring Dave Bautista and Mark Chao.

Playing on Friday is Colin Minihan’s zombie film It Stains The Sands Red (see below), starring Brittany Allen who will also be in attendance.

Michael O’Shea’s The Transfiguration - which played at Cannes 2016 – will also screen on Friday. O’Shea will discuss the film at the event.

Other UK premieres include Shin Godzilla, Roberto San Sebastián’s The Night Of The Virgin, Gerald Rascionato’s Cave Dive and Simon Rumley’s [link...

Lu Chuan‘s first foray into blockbuster territory, Chronicles of a Ghostly Tribe, will be available for home viewing in the first week of June: the DVD on the 5th and Blu Ray on the 7th.

Chan, who is better known for his smaller budget, arthouse offerings truly stepped out of his comfort zone with this picture, proving that a filmmaker with his level of talent and vision can entertain audiences of all shapes and sizes.

Trailer

The film, an adaptation of Tianxia Bachang’s best-selling novel Ghost Blows Out the Light, tells the story of a young soldier (Mark Chao) who, along with a small research team, stumbles upon a clutch of mysterious fossils within Chinese mountain range on the Mongolian border.

Unbeknownst to the adventurers, their discovery would trigger a series of events, culminating in the release of a pack of hell-beasts through an inter-dimensional portal, that would change their lives, and the course of human history forever.

Spanning a period of three decades and two continents, this epic adventure is sure to appeal to fans of the monster movie genre.

Asian Film Strike hails the film’s “strong set pieces and an engaging sense of mystery and wonder”, calling it a “technically accomplished blockbuster.”

The film also stars Wang Qingxiang, Yao Chen, Rhydian Vaughan and Li Chen and has a runtime of approximately 123 minutes.

Chronicles of the Ghostly tribe is available through WellGoUSA and both formats contain a ‘making of’ featurette.