The Grandmasters: Wong Kar Wai's Ip Man Biopic

In the past few years the legend of Ip Man, one of the most iconic martial arts masters, has been brought back to life by kung fu legend Donnie Yen in Wilson Yip’s films Ip Man 1-2 and in The Legend Is Born – Ip Man. Ip Man is famous as the father of Wing Chun kung fu and the martial arts instructor of Bruce Lee. Now Wong Kar Wai brings to the big screen another version of the legend in his film Grandmasters.  

The film will be the fourth recent film that tells the story of the Wing Chun grandmaster, Ip Man. Wong Kar Wai's Ip Man biopic should be a radically different take on the legend than provided by Yip's Ip Man films, which put Ip Man up on an idealistic pedestal. 

The film, Wong's first since 2007's My Blueberry Nights, stars Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, Song Hye-kyo, Chang Chen, Zhao Benshan, Julian Cheun Chi-lam and MMA fighter Cung Le. 

Martial arts movie producer Ng See-yuen is producing the film with martial arts choreography by legendary Yuen Woo-ping. Together, See-yuewn and Woo-ping have contributed to excellent kung fu movies including Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow, Drunken Master and Once Upon A Time In China II.

Wong Kar-wai  born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized films. Wong was listed at number three on the respected British Film Institute's Sight & Sound UK Critic's Top Ten Directors list of modern times.

The Grandmasters will be Wong’s third film in the martial arts genre after directing the wuxia film Ashes Of Time (1994), which was re-edited and re-released as Ashes Of Time Redux in 2008. Previously, Wong wrote and produced Jeff Lau’s wuxia comedy The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993). He’s best known worldwide for arthouse dramas such as In The Mood For Love. The Grandmasters is scheduled for release in 2012.

Sources for this post: 24framespersecond.net; kungfucinema.com; twitchfilm.com; and bfi.org.uk

Melancholia

Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg play sisters whose lives are drifting apart as the universe spectacularly unravels in what Von Trier describes as a beautiful movie about the end of the world.

 

"Stunning. A movie that leaves the viewer in a state of ecstasy. A moving masterpiece, marked by an astonishing profundity of vision." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Etertainment Weekly

 

Cast & Crew

Cast:
Kirsten Dunst
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Alexander Skarsgard
Kiefer Sutherland
Directed by:
Lars Von Trier

Dakota Fanning Vogue Italia

Elle Fanning

Elle Fanning although just 13-years-old, the sought-after actress and Super 8 star has been gracing fashion editorials for several seasons now. 

Elle Fanning photographed by Yu Tsai for Black Book magazine

Elle Fanning photographed by Yu Tsai for Black Book magazine

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a powerful psychological thriller starring Elizabeth Olsen as Martha, a young woman rapidly unraveling amidst her attempt to reclaim a normal life after fleeing from a cult and its charismatic leader (John Hawkes). 

 Seeking help from her estranged older sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and brother-in-law (Hugh Dancy), Martha is unable and unwilling to reveal the truth about her disappearance. When her memories trigger a chilling paranoia that her former cult could still be pursuing her, the line between Martha's reality and delusion begins to blur. -- (C) Fox Searchlight


Reviews: 

Anthony Kaufman for Screen: "The film skillfully cuts back and forth between Martha's life in Connecticut, as she fails miserably to connect with her sister and reintegrate into 'normal' society, and her time at the commune, which initially appears blissfully utopian, and yet quickly takes on greater shades of oppression, exploitation and violence. Martha, it seems, is trapped in either location. As the commune's patriarch, actor John Hawkes, looking even more emaciated and feral here than in Winter's Bone, perfectly captures the alternating charisma and menace so often seen in cult leaders."

David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter: "The film impresses most in its ability to sustain a mood of quiet dread, kicking up several visceral notches in the occasional stunning explosion of violence or verbal altercation. Right through to its ambiguous ending, the spell is transfixing."

Anne Hathaway: Interview

Anne Hathaway

Photography Marcus Piggott, Mert Alas
Stylist Karl Templer

A Dangerous Method

A Dangerous Method is an upcoming drama movie that focuses on the relationship between psychiatrist Carl Jung and his mentor Sigmund Freud and the events leading to the creation of psychoanalysis. The film is directed by David Cronenberg. A Dangerous Method is based on a play by Christopher Hampton, which is itself based on a book by John Kerr.

 Plot: "On the eve of WWI, Zurich and Vienna are the setting for a dark tale of sexual and intellectual discovery. Drawn from true-life events, the film takes a glimpse into the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), his mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. Into the mix comes Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel), a debauched patient who is determined to push the boundaries.
 
In this exploration of sensuality, ambition and deceit set the scene for the pivotal moment when Jung, Freud and Sabina come together and split apart, forever changing the face of modern thought."

  
Cast:
- Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung
- Keira Knightley as Russian-Jewish patient Sabina Spielrein
- Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung's mentor
- Vincent Cassel as Otto Gross, a debauched patient who is determined to push the boundaries.

A Dangerous Method is slated for 2011 release.