DanteLam Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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.

The strike isn't the only thing that has been cooking up lately. Check out all the international indie deals that Variety threw up recently:

• Oldboy helmer Park Chan-Wook has not only been cooking up some machine love with I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK. He's also got Bakjwi (Evil Live) on the way -- a modern-day bloodsucking vampire story, and Variety reports that CJ Entertainment has pre-sold French and Russian rights to the pic, which hopefully means North America will get some bloody rights soon. Other current CJ deals include Secret Sunshine, Shadows in the Palace, and Love Now.
• On the more Bolly side of things, Variety has posted that India indie distributor Indo-Overseas Films has picked up some movie rights. First up is the romcom Chocolate, directed by Mayavi helmer Shafi, and written by Sachi and Sethu. Ah, the ease of one-word, short names! The other film that Indo-Overseas has nabbed is Power Kids, but that currently seems to be lurking beyond the reach of the Internet.
• There's also a few action flicks coming out of Hong Kong. Variety reports that Rialto has gotten Aussie and Kiwi rights to both award-winner Dante Lam's upcoming flick Sniper, and Assassins -- Soi Cheang's latest action film. I don't know Cantonese, but maybe one of you, out there, can tell me if that's the same as The Grudge detective Ryo Ishibashi's Shamo? The flicks are also reaching Israel, the ex-Yugoslavian region, and Turkey, so maybe, again, we'll hear North American rights soon.