Attended John Woo's talk on Red Cliff at the National Library. He seemed like a humble person despite his fame. Interestingly, a newspaper review of the film yesterday complained that it was long and long-winded. Perhaps that reviewer is an Anglofile who should watch the Western 2-hour version.
But any viewer from China, HK, Taiwan, Japan, S Korea and other societies who have been long exposed to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms would have complained the 2-hour version would leave out episodes and sub-plots that they have been familiar with for a long time. That is the problem with the Singapore market, which should perhaps have 2 versions: one for the Anglophile Singaporean and the other for the Sinophile Singaporean.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Red Cliff (Chinese: 赤壁; pinyin: Chìbì), alternatively known[citation needed] as The Battle of Red Cliff, is a Chinese epic film based on the Battle of Red Cliffs and events during the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China. The film is expected to be released in two versions: within Asia, Red Cliff is to be released in two parts totaling over four hours in length, with the first part premiering in July 2008 and the second in January 2009.[1] Outside of Asia, a single 2½ hour film will be released in January 2009.[1]
The film is directed by John Woo and stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Lin Chi-ling and Zhao Wei. With an estimated budget of US$80 million, The Battle of Red Cliff is the most expensive Asian-financed film to date.[3]
This film is one of the two 2008 Three Kingdoms related films, the other being Daniel Lee's Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon which has already been released.
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