A middling period actioner under the shadow of yesteryear's Hong Kong cinema
Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)
With financial successes of the politically muddled but pretty-to-look-at "Hero" and the exquisitely spiritual "Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon" in North America, Hollywood studios have perked up their antennae trying to locate the next East Asian chop-socky flick that can make bucketloads of money for them. Following the footsteps of Miramax and Sony Classics, New Line Cinema has ventured into the martial arts territory by co-producing "
Shadowless Sword" with Taewon Entertainment.
uestion that popped into my mind, as the clipped-film logo of New Line flashed by as the movie opened, was whether the American producers had had a chance to see "Bichunmoo (2000)", the debut film of director
Kim Yeong-joon. Director Kim, armed with a thoroughly trite, culturally featureless love triangle backstory, created what appears to be a blatant pastiche of a '90s Hong Kong period piece, complete with the actors spinning crazily like whipped tops, but with one difference: the whole shenanigans were presented as deadly serious. Lugubrious and dour when it's not unintentionally hilarious, "Bichunmoo" is not the kind of film a potential investor finds inspiring, unless of course the said investor is looking for a sullen copy of a Hong Kong wu-xia pian. Of course, in this case the logical question one must ask is, why not go for the real thing by giving the dough to, say, Tsui Hark?
At any rate, Director Kim was able to draw upon American dollars to upgrade the produ...
MoreShadowless Sword, a big-budget swordplay fantasy by
Kim Yeong-joon set in the tenth century, is expected to be released in over 60 territories across the world.
The film is represented internationally by Hollywood-based New Line Cinema, which provided 30% of the financing in a deal with Korean production company Taewon Entertainment. According to Robert Remley, a senior vice president in charge of international marketing, New Line is also planning a large scale release in the North American market in 2006.
The influence of New Line Cinema, which often signs output deals with foreign distributors for works such as the hit trilogy Lord of the Rings, is expected to help the film sell widely to other international markets.
The film was shot in China, and was released in Korea on November 18. Set during the Balhae Dynasty in the tenth...
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When director
Kim Yeong-joon, whose "
Shadowless Sword" hits movie theaters Friday, said he was going to make a breakthrough in Korean martial arts movies, his chances of failure were good. But as easily digestible commercial fare, the film delivers.
The year is 962 A.D. in the Balhae kingdom ravaged by the invasion of Khitan -- Tungusic or Mongol residents of the southern part of what is now Manchuria, Northeastern China.
In a country almost wiped off the face of the earth, the last survivor of the dynasty, Dae Jeong-hyeon (
Lee Seo-jin), ekes out a meager existence in a frontier town while hiding his true identity. Then those...
MoreA romance set in an ancient Korean kingdom. Lots of high-quality martial-art action scenes. Top Korean actors. A large-scale shooting in mainland China. When director
Kim Yeong-joon put together these elements for his second film, even a major U.S. film distributor New Line Cinema was impressed.
So New Line Cinema decided to join the project for "
Shadowless Sword", which became the first-ever foreign film to receive the investment of the American film distributor.
The epic-style film is now set to be released in the United States early next year. Robert Remley, senior vice president of New Line Cinema, said at a preview on Monday that he expects the film to be widely screened in the American market, showing great optimism about its commercial potential.
The primary appeal for Westerners, of course, is its Asian (specifically Chinese) atmosphere. Intricate sets built up in mainland Chinese cities lend authentic feel while eye-catching wire action scenes where characters are literally flying all over are likely to arrest the attention of Western moviegoers interested in Asia.
But the cultural and historical sword of "
Shadowless Sword" cuts both ways. It may be a wel...
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