Blood Brothers (2007 action film)

Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers poster
Directed by Alexi Tan
Produced by John Woo
Terence Chang
Written by Alexi Tan
Jiang Dan
Tony Chan
Starring Daniel Wu
Liu Ye
Shu Qi
Tony Yang
Chang Chen
Lulu Li
Music by Daniel Belardinelli
Cinematography Michel Taburiaux
Edited by Chen Long
Production
company
Sil-Metropole Organisation
Lion Rock Entertainment
Distributed by CMC Entertainment (Taiwan)
Fortissimo Films
Release dates
  • August 16, 2007 (2007-08-16) (China)
  • August 17, 2007 (2007-08-17) (Taiwan)
  • August 23, 2007 (2007-08-23) (Hong Kong)
Running time
 95 minutes
Country Taiwan
China
Hong Kong
Language Mandarin
Box office $4,234,311[1]

Blood Brothers (Chinese: 天堂口; pinyin: Tiān táng kǒu; literally: "Gate of Heaven") is a 2007 Chinese film directed by Alexi Tan and starring Daniel Wu, Shu Qi, Liu Ye and Tony Yang.

It was co-produced by the Taiwanese production company CMC Entertainment, the mainland Chinese Sil-Metropole Organisation, Terence Chang's Lion Rock Productions and Hong Kong film director John Woo,[2] and is Woo's first time as producer of another director's film. The film was shot entirely in the People's Republic of China.[3]

Blood Brothers is Tan's directorial debut and deals with three friends who move from the countryside to 1930s Shanghai to work with the criminal underworld. In Shanghai, the friends become involved in a dangerous love triangle.

Blood Brothers was selected to close the 64th Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2007.[4]

The film should not be confused with The Warlords, a 2007 Hong Kong film/Chinese starring Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, that was at one point also called Blood Brothers.

Cast

[5] [6]

Influences

Blood Brothers is Alexi Tan's first feature film, though Tan has referred to it as "a combination of all my collaborators' work" including costume designer Tim Yip, cinematographer Michel Taburiaux, and of course producer John Woo.[3]

Tan has stated that he draws upon his upbringing as an overseas Chinese, such that his vision of China and Chinese society will at once be Chinese and at the same time "different.".[7] Tan notes that his film is an attempt to combine Eastern and Western influences, in that it is his attempt to transport the style of classic westerns, in particular those of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, into the setting of 1930s Shanghai.[3][7]

Production history

The idea for Blood Brothers first began to gain traction when producers John Woo and Terence Chang watched Tan's Double Blade, a music video starring Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou, and contacted Tan expressing interest in producing a feature-length film with the young director.[8] Up to this point, Tan had worked primarily as a fashion photographer.

Once Woo and Chang were on board, however, Tan was able to seriously develop his concept for the film. Given Tan's overseas upbringing and lack of Mandarin speaking and writing ability (he was born in Manila and studied in London), the screenplay was originally written in English. As such, Tan collaborated with native Chinese writer, Jiang Dan to translate his film into natural sounding Chinese.[9] Despite Tan's initial concerns that Jiang Dan would not understand the Leone or Peckinpah influences, he later felt that her contributions to the story helped flesh out the film's romantic elements and in particular expanded upon the feminine perspectives of Shu Qi's and Lulu Li's characters.[3][9]

Shooting of the film took place entirely within China: primarily in Shanghai, and the outlying town of Zhujiajiao. The main set of the "Paradise Club" (the titular club in the Chinese title), was built in the Shanghai Film and TV Studio under the direction of Production Designer Alfred Yau.[10]

Fight choreography, in particular the film's many gun battles, was done by Hong Kong veteran action director Philip Kwok, who was also involved in the action choreography for John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong film Hard Boiled.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Tiang tang kou (Blood Brothers) (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  2. ↑ Dawtrey, Adam (2007-02-01). "Fortissimo bonds with "Blood Brothers"". Variety. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Podvin, Thomas (August 2007). "Five Questions For Alexi Tan, director of John Woo-produced gangster drama Blood Brothers", that's Beijing, p. 54.
  4. ↑ ""Blood Brothers" to close Venice Film Festival". Xinhua. 2007-07-09. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  5. ↑ Blood Brothers at HKMDB
  6. ↑ Blood Brothers at chinesemov.com
  7. 1 2 "The Birth of a Vision". Official site. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  8. ↑ Maglioro, Joe (Spring 2007). "Alexi Tan, Making the Cut". Theme Magazine. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  9. 1 2 "Screenplay". Official site. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  10. ↑ "The Look of the Film: Design, Photography, and Lighting". Official site. Retrieved 2007-08-03.

External links

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