[Find China Culture from Movies]Classical Beauty in The Grandmasters(2013-01-22 15:01:34)

Directed by Wong Kar-wai
Produced by Ng See-yuen
Wong Kar-wai
Written by Wong Kar-wai
Starring Tony Leung
Zhang Ziyi
Chang Chen
Song Hye-kyo
Music by Frankie Chan
Cinematography Philippe Le Sourd
Editing by William Chang
Runing time 130 Minutes

The Grandmasters is a Hong Kong action drama film based on the life story of the Wing Chun grandmaster Yip Man. The film is directed and written by Wong Kar-wai and starred Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen and Song Hye-kyo. It was released on 8 January 2013 in Chinese mainland and on 10 January 2013 in Hong Kong.

The film depicts the incidents of martial arts circles during the period of the Republic of China. The crew in the charge of Wong Kar-wai paid great efforts to review thoroughly Chinese martial arts for several years. The leading actors all learned martial arts from the kung fu masters for years. Therefore the moves in the film do not just look nice but also being very professional. Tony Leung, starring Yip Man, learned ying chung from Yezhun, the son of the great master Yip Man. Another leading actor Chang Chen learned bajiquan and he won the first in a national Chinese martial arts competition of 2012.

The Grandmasters is a peak work of aesthetics among current Chinese films. The frames in this film look like a piece of ink wash painting. Except the scene of the fight between Gong Er and Ma San was shoot aside the train in snow, nearly all the other fighting scenes were indoors. The antiquated house made of ancient woods, lattices with carved patterns, women wearing traditional bobs and cheong-sams, various decorations on the teapoys and the black railings – all these Chinese elements create a poetic background where the masters of martial arts competed with each other. But the foremost thing is that it shows the audience an old China obeying to traditional virtues of wen, liang, gong, jian and rang. In the martial arts circles, people know the importance of withdrawing and biding in the society; they would not ruin their moralities even they lose; master-apprentice and fellow-apprentice relations are strict; couples grow old together even though they do not say forever; young men and young women fall in love but they self-restrain. All these qualities ebbed along with the lost age and mirrored the impetuous general mood of current society.

For these reasons, we say The Grandmasters is a memorizing and yearning for classical beauty. It takes time to see if this film can stand as another classic work of Wong Kar-wai.

Read More @ Source

Yanni - Deliverance

"Deliverance" is taken from the album "Tribute", recorded live at the Taj Mahal, India, and the Forbidden City, Beijing, China from March to May, 1997. TRIBUTE pays musical homage to India on several songs; Greek-born composer and keyboardist Yanni describes the album as a tribute to the builders of the Taj and the Forbidden City, as well as to the people of India and China. Yanni's ethereal keyboard work is backed by an immense orchestra, vocalists, a choir, and various world instruments including didgeridoo, duduk, charango, and bamboo saxophone. The TAJ MAHAL is a mausoleum located in Agra, India, that was built under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal (also "the Taj") is considered as the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Islamic architectural styles. In 1983, Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was cited as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage." While the white domed marble mausoleum is most familiar, Taj Mahal is an integrated complex of structures and was completed around 1648. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is generally considered as the principal designer of Taj Mahal. The FORBIDDEN CITY was the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost five ...

Video Rating: 4 / 5