John Woo's talk on Red Cliff at the National Library (10 July 2008)


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.

 

Background extracts from Wikipedia:

Red Cliff (film)

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Red Cliff

From front to back: Tony Leung, Chang Chen, Hou Yong
Directed by John Woo
Produced by Terence Chang
Han Sanping
Lion Rock Entertainment
China Film Group
Written by John Woo
Chen Han
Sheng Heyu
Based on Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms
Starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Zhang Fengyi
Chang Chen
Zhao Wei
Hu Jun
Nakamura Shidō
Lin Chi-ling
Music by Taro Iwashiro
Cinematography Lü Yue
Zhang Li
Distributed by Flag of Hong Kong Mei Ah Entertainment
Flag of Singapore MediaCorp Raintree Pictures
Flag of Japan Avex Entertainment
Flag of South Korea Showbox
Summit Entertainment
(International sales)
Release date(s) part 1: 10 July 2008 China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea[1]
part 2: January 2009 Asia
Country China
Language Mandarin Chinese
Budget US$80 million[2]
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

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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