七剑下天山

[Ian_Lee]

七剑下天山 that is under production seems to have attracted a lot of news. The reasons are:

(1) This is the first Kung Fu film made by Tsui Hark in Mainland China;

(2) During the time in making the movie, Tsui simultaneously made a 35-episode TV drama of the same story;

(3) This movie is filmed at the snow-capped Tian Shan in Xinjiang:

(4) This film recruits famous Korean actress 金素妍;

(5) Even before the movie has finished production, its overseas copyrights have been sold at high prices which already offsets its production cost.

[Xiao Yu]

I've heard about this, though I've yet to see much info on it from different sources. I'm hoping it's more along the lines of a traditional, realistic wuxia movie/series; if anyone's got any news about it, please share

[skylee]

The movie -> http://www.hkentreview.com/2004/features/seven/sevenpress.html

[laolee]

Also here:

http://www.monkeypeaches.com/sevenswords.html

[Xiao Yu]

Thanks very much for the links! It's looking interesting and maybe, maybe this movie'll turn out to be of the style I've been waiting for...! And a serial at the same time; impressive. I'll be keeping my eye out for both.

[Ian_Lee]

Interestingly the theme song of the movie is going to be sung in Kazakh language and the lyric is written by Kazakhstan President Nazarbarev:

http://www.hkwb.net/news/read.php?news_id=163822&news_class_code=07

[skylee]

The film will be released in Hong Kong on 29 July 2005.

Trailer (Cantonese) Trailer (Mandarin)

[roddy]

On at the cinema round the corner from me in Beijing on the 29th also.

[laolee]

Have there been any early reports or reviews, reactions from the premier on Monday night? I think it was in Changsha in Hunan.

[Ian_Lee]

Here is an article talking about the response from the audience during premiere showing:

http://www.ycwb.com/gb/content/2005-07/22/content_946151.htm

[laolee]

Not surprising, and could/should have predicted, that the Mandarin pronunciation would be scorned a la CTHD and Andy Lau in both World Without Thieves AND House of Flying Daggers. Likewise, that it is received, as best as I can decipher, just generally negatively.

I guess it also doesn't help that the film was conceived as a four hour film, now screening theatrically at 2.5 hours.

[skylee]

我今天看了。普通得很、普通得可以、很是普通。毫無激動人心之處。唉。

全片最好看的是甄子丹，可是他的排名卻在黎明之後。

[laolee]

I'm approaching this as sort of like hors d'oeuvres, to whet the palate for the main offering, Hopefully, a full original length version will be released on video.

BTW, how was Charlie Young return to cinema? Was it a substantial or slight role?

[skylee]

Charlie looks young. She doesn't look her age.

She plays one of the three main female roles, and she holds one of the seven swords. But I don't think that is an important role. Oh on the whole I think the film is quite disappointing, except perhaps 甄子丹.

Let's hope Chen Kaige's 無極 will be better.

[roddy]

Really didn't get into any part of the movie, and if that was the best 2.5 hours, i dread to think what the 4 hour version will be like. I also giggled a lot at the end, which you aren't meant to do.

[badatpool]

我没觉得。尽管之前看过很多负面的评论，可并没失望，至少它比“卧虎藏龙”和“英雄”感觉要朴素。我喜欢徐克对武侠的理解，对兵器的偏爱，还有他眼中被滤过的西部。

[Ian_Lee]

But for the 3-day weekend the film grossed close to RMB 30 million. It seems anyhow most audience love Tsui Hark disregarding what all those film critics said.

[laolee]

That is surprising news. What else is playing in the theatres as its competition?

[Ian_Lee]

Blockbusters like "Star War", "Smith vs Smith", "头文字D",.....are in their 4th or 5th week in the theaters. "The War of Worlds" won't debut until August 29.

So "Seven Swords" has the whole golden 4 weeks.

[Hekate]

I have to wait until November to see it at the cinema - because yes I want to see it on big screen first.