BeastStalker Tagged Articles at Cinematical

This week's Asian Cinema Scene travels to Hong Kong and Los Angeles, showcasing recent and upcoming films.

Hong Kong Film Awards. Wilson Yip's galvanizing martial arts biopic Ip Man won the Best Film award at the annual ceremony held on Sunday, according to China Daily. Donnie Yen stars as a respected Wing Chun master who ultimately is forced to use his martial arts skills to defend his country's honor against the invading Japanese in the late 1930s. Sammo Hung and Tony Leung Siu-Hung deservedly won the Best Action Design award for their work on the film. (My capsule review and the trailer.)

The other big winner doesn't feature any martial arts or big battle scenes. Low-budget drama The Way We Are won for Best Director (Ann Hui), Best Actress (Bau Hei-Jing), Supporting Actress (Chan Lai-Wun), and Best Screenplay (Lui Yau-Wah). Edmund Lee in Time Out Hong Kong sniffed that it's a "crowd-pleasing film that, lamentably, is a contrived attempt at social commentary," while Lunapark6 was more impressed: "Ann Hui ... creates a quietly moving arthouse film ... to show life as it is for at least some of the Hong Kong regular folks." The trailer is embedded below.

Nick Cheung was honored as Best Actor for his haunting portrayal of a murderous child stealer with his own emotionally-wrenching back story in Dante Lam's Beast Stalker. Liu Kai-Chi took Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the same film. (My capsule review.) John Woo's big budget Red Cliff received five awards in the technical categories. The complete list of winners and nominees can be found at LoveHKFilm.com.

After the jump: Highlights of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, which starts tomorrow.

Subtitle of the Week: "My kung fu skills aren't too bad, eh?" -- Donnie Yen in Ip Man.

This week's edition of Asian Cinema Scene includes capsule reviews of films that were recently released on DVD in Asia.

Departures Takes Off: Yojiro Takita's drama Departures, the Academy Award winner for Best Foreign-Language Film, was a popular success during its initial run in Japan last fall. It resurged in the wake of the Oscar victory, ascending to the top of the charts. Departures also swept the 32nd Annual Japanese Academy Awards two days before the Oscars. The director's follow-up film, Sanpei the Fisher Boy, is due for release later this month. [Sources: Screen Daily; Japan Times; Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow; Nippon Cinema.]

Ip Man Inspires: Biopics are always better with martial arts, aren't they? Highly respected Wing Chun master Ip Man (Donnie Yen) lives a comfortable life in Fo Shan, China, but after the Japanese invade in 1937, he is reduced to living with his wife and young son in abject poverty. He works humbly alongside his fellow countrymen in a coal factory until he is forced to use his martial arts skills to defend his country's honor against the Japanese.

Teaming again with director Wilson Yip (SPL, Flash Point), Yen is perfectly suited to play the stoic, peaceful man who refused to buckle under to imperial rule. Simon Yam plays a factory owner and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi embodies General Miura. The great Sammo Hung choreographed the action scenes, which are pretty terrific. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Ip Man eventually counted Bruce Lee among his students. (Trailer embedded below.)

After the jump: Brief looks at Beast Stalker and Legendary Assassin -- plus trailer!

Subtitle of the Week: "He feels uncomfortable if he doesn't hit a Japanese every day." (Source below.)

Distribution. The big acquisition news last week was the announcement that Magnolia Pictures had picked up US rights to Thai action flick Ong Bak 2, directed by and starring Tony Jaa. Magnolia sank a fair amount of marketing money into the first Ong Bak and sent the film out into hundreds of theaters. The financial returns were modest (reportedly under $5 million, theatrically), but I'm guessing that the home video returns were good enough to warrant further investment in "the Tony Jaa business."

The announcement, partially quoted at indieWIRE, says that Ong Bak 2 "will be released via Magnolia's genre label Magnet later this year." (Wise Kwai has the complete press release plus further thoughts on the deal.) Magnet's theatrical releases have varied from token (Chocolate) to extensive (Let the Right One In), so we'll have to wait to see what will happen to Ong Bak 2, though I'm hoping it's out in the US before Ong Bak 3 hits Thailand in December.

Trailer. Of course, Thailand doesn't have a monopoly on action movies. Back in the day, it was Hong Kong that set the standard. A friend has been urging me to check out Dante Lam's The Beast Stalker, starring Nicholas Tse and Nick Cheung, which came out on DVD in Asia last month. I liked Lam's earlier work (Beast Cops, Jiang Hu: The Triad Zone), but hadn't kept up with him lately. I finally took a look at the trailer, embedded below, and instantly placed my order. (Thanks, Blake!)

After the jump: the very adult DVD of the Week, and the source for our Subtitle of the Week.