Throughout the "Ip Man" franchise's run, there's been an awkward question plaguing the popular film series. The Donnie Yen-led action movies have proven incredibly successful in their native Hong Kong and mainland China, also managing to gain fans internationally. Combined, the four movies have earned almost 422 million at the global box office, telling an exaggerated and often downright fabricated version of the life of the eponymous Wing Chun grandmaster.
Since "Ip Man" released in 2008, Yen, along with his director Wilson Yip and producer Raymond Wong (both of whom are Hong Kong natives), have returned time and time again to the story of the real-life Ip Man as inspiration for their fantastical retelling. As Yen said when promoting "Ip Man 3" in 2016, while his character is "based on a real person," he and the production team "didn't want to make a documentary," instead aiming to "create a new type of hero on film.
Since "Ip Man" released in 2008, Yen, along with his director Wilson Yip and producer Raymond Wong (both of whom are Hong Kong natives), have returned time and time again to the story of the real-life Ip Man as inspiration for their fantastical retelling. As Yen said when promoting "Ip Man 3" in 2016, while his character is "based on a real person," he and the production team "didn't want to make a documentary," instead aiming to "create a new type of hero on film.
- 11/26/2022
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- The title of "The Twilight Samurai" (Tasogare Seibei) has a dual meaning. It is the disparaging nickname of the film's hero but also signifies the passing of the samurai era in 19th century Japan.
Eschewing action for a dramatic examination of character, veteran director Yoji Yamada has made a very contemporary samurai movie. This particular low-level samurai, a widower with two young girls and an aging mother to support, can't make ends meet on his monthly stipend. He even has to sell his beloved sword to pay for his wife's funeral.
Although the pace is slow, "Twilight" is a moving account of a family in crisis and the love that provides a short window of happiness for the father. The film has spent nearly three months in the Japanese boxoffice top 10 since it opened in November. Starring Hiroyuki Sanada from the original "Ring" series, the film could make its way into U.S. and other Western markets as well as Asian territories.
With 77 films to his credit -- 48 alone in his famous "Tora-san" series -- Yamada was moved to make his first samurai movie by a revisionist impulse. Simply put, he doesn't buy into the film fantasies about samurai that are perpetuated by fellow directors.
Based on three novellas by samurai author Shuhei Fujisawa, Yamada and Yoshitaka Asama's script centers on Seibei Iguchi (Sanada), a wage slave who rushes home each evening after work to tend to a motherless household, thus earning the nickname "Twilight". Forced to defend Tomoe (Rie Miyazawa), the sister of a good friend, from her brutal ex-husband, he beats the swordsman with only a wooden sword. Tomoe's brother later proposes that Seibei marry his sister, whom he has secretly loved since childhood. Seibei refuses, believing his poor stipend will eventually cause grief between him and his beloved.
Yamada's contemporary angle drains all glamour from the world of the samurai, which, of course, is exactly Yamada's point. Epic samurai movies have never reflected the reality of that period. And when the samurai went into decline, the job truly moved closer to the drudgery of a small-town bureaucrat than one of excitement and adventure.
Nevertheless, the notions of duty, honor and domestic happiness are very real. So Yamada's nostalgia for the samurai lies not in swordplay but in Seibei's striving for these values as he works to lift his family from poverty. Seibei is a true hero to Yamada, which has nothing to do with flashy stunts or CGI effects.
Rokuo Naganuma's elegant cinematography in rural locations and Isao Tomita's minimalist, traditional score lend beguiling dignity to this savvy, mature film.
THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI
Shochiku
Credits:
Director: Yoji Yamada
Screenwriters: Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama
Based on a story by: Shuhei Fujisawa
Producers: Shigehiro Nakagawa, Hiroshi Fukazawa, Ichiro Yamamoto
Director of photography: Rokuo Naganuma
Production designer: Mitsuo Degawa
Music: Isao Tomita
Editor: Iwao Ishii
Cast:
Seibei Iguchi: Hiroyuki Sanada
Tomoe: Rie Miyazawa
Zenemon Yogo: Min Tanaka
Running time -- 129 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BERLIN -- The title of "The Twilight Samurai" (Tasogare Seibei) has a dual meaning. It is the disparaging nickname of the film's hero but also signifies the passing of the samurai era in 19th century Japan.
Eschewing action for a dramatic examination of character, veteran director Yoji Yamada has made a very contemporary samurai movie. This particular low-level samurai, a widower with two young girls and an aging mother to support, can't make ends meet on his monthly stipend. He even has to sell his beloved sword to pay for his wife's funeral.
Although the pace is slow, "Twilight" is a moving account of a family in crisis and the love that provides a short window of happiness for the father. The film has spent nearly three months in the Japanese boxoffice top 10 since it opened in November. Starring Hiroyuki Sanada from the original "Ring" series, the film could make its way into U.S. and other Western markets as well as Asian territories.
With 77 films to his credit -- 48 alone in his famous "Tora-san" series -- Yamada was moved to make his first samurai movie by a revisionist impulse. Simply put, he doesn't buy into the film fantasies about samurai that are perpetuated by fellow directors.
Based on three novellas by samurai author Shuhei Fujisawa, Yamada and Yoshitaka Asama's script centers on Seibei Iguchi (Sanada), a wage slave who rushes home each evening after work to tend to a motherless household, thus earning the nickname "Twilight". Forced to defend Tomoe (Rie Miyazawa), the sister of a good friend, from her brutal ex-husband, he beats the swordsman with only a wooden sword. Tomoe's brother later proposes that Seibei marry his sister, whom he has secretly loved since childhood. Seibei refuses, believing his poor stipend will eventually cause grief between him and his beloved.
Yamada's contemporary angle drains all glamour from the world of the samurai, which, of course, is exactly Yamada's point. Epic samurai movies have never reflected the reality of that period. And when the samurai went into decline, the job truly moved closer to the drudgery of a small-town bureaucrat than one of excitement and adventure.
Nevertheless, the notions of duty, honor and domestic happiness are very real. So Yamada's nostalgia for the samurai lies not in swordplay but in Seibei's striving for these values as he works to lift his family from poverty. Seibei is a true hero to Yamada, which has nothing to do with flashy stunts or CGI effects.
Rokuo Naganuma's elegant cinematography in rural locations and Isao Tomita's minimalist, traditional score lend beguiling dignity to this savvy, mature film.
THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI
Shochiku
Credits:
Director: Yoji Yamada
Screenwriters: Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama
Based on a story by: Shuhei Fujisawa
Producers: Shigehiro Nakagawa, Hiroshi Fukazawa, Ichiro Yamamoto
Director of photography: Rokuo Naganuma
Production designer: Mitsuo Degawa
Music: Isao Tomita
Editor: Iwao Ishii
Cast:
Seibei Iguchi: Hiroyuki Sanada
Tomoe: Rie Miyazawa
Zenemon Yogo: Min Tanaka
Running time -- 129 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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