Watching the new trailer for Wong Kar Wai’s much awaited film The Grandmasters immediately brings to mind Sam Mendes’s Road To Perdition, shot by the late Conrad L.Hall, one of my favourite DPs of all time. The almost monochromatic look of the fight scene in the rain serves a strikingly similar mood to the stand off between Sullivan and mob boss Conner near the end of the film. (see image below)
It’s interesting to note that Wong Kar Wai’s frequent collaborators, DP Christopher Doyle and Lee Ping-bin are not involved in the film, although his old friend William Chang Suk-Ping continues to oversee editing, production and costume design. His work is covered in the FilmCraft series of books on Production Design, which I will review soon – check out the book on Cinematography in the meantime.
Wong’s film will of course have to contend with Donnie Yen’s highly successful Ip Man films, and I’m hoping his cinematic genius will reward us with a film that elevates itself as more than just a martial arts piece; where the visual spectacles serve only to complement the narrative and not the other way around. For me, the last period film that did this exceedingly well was Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Absolutely loving the beautiful pose struck by Zhang Ziyi in the above shot. Check out the trailer for the film below.
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November 16th, 2012 at 8:03 am
i really can’t wait for this to come out in my local theaters. i found My Blueberry Nights disappointing, but Wong Kar Wai is still one of my all time favorites, and the actors participating this time around are some of my favorites as well. this looks like it will be totally different from the Ip Man films, and from the looks of it, it has the potential to be very brutal, as well. color me excited.
November 26th, 2012 at 8:02 am
I love Zhang Ziyi! Haven’t seen a movie with her in a while. And she looks great in this movie!! Can’t wait to see it when it comes out.
May 15th, 2013 at 12:39 pm
has anyone else seen this? a really lovely film.
May 15th, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Zack – I have indeed. One of my fav. films of the year so year. Zhang Ziyi steals the show. Waiting for Japanese/US version of the blu-ray to get released before I decide on which to get.