News

Chinese streamer iQiyi is set to launch sales of action-comedy Clash from producer Guan Hu at the Cannes Market next week.

The film, directed by Jiang Jiachen, is based on the true story of a food delivery rider, dubbed the Usain Bolt of Shapingba in Chongqing, Sichuan province, who assembles 30 young men to form a rugby team.

Through clashes and crashes, the men channel their frustrations in their mundane lives to positive energy on the field. The cast includes Li Jiuxiao, Wang Qianyuan, Liang Chao and Pan Binlong. The iQiyi production was shot by Qian Tiantian, one of a few female DoPs in China.

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After performing solidly at home, China’s latest nationalistic blockbuster, Home Coming, is heading out into the world.

The film topped China’s National Day holiday box office last weekend with a 60 million debut. It has since climbed to 117 million, with local ticketing service Maoyan projecting a finishing total of around 240 million.

Building on the domestic success, Beijing-based distributor Cmc Pictures has set the film for a North American limited release on Oct. 21, followed by the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand on Oct. 27, and Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Pakistan, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on Oct. 28.

Home Coming is directed by newcomer Rao Xiaozhi but produced by Frank Guo, the filmmaker behind China’s record-earning sci-fi hit The Wandering Earth (700 million in 2019). The film has racked up strong social scores in China, earning a 9.6 rating from Maoyan and 7.6 from reviews site Douban.

Director: Gordon Chan. Review: Stan Glick The Four (China, 2012) is the first film in a planned trilogy based on the popular novel “The Four Detective Guards” by contemporary author Wen Ruian. It becomes available from Well Go USA as both a Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray, as well as digitally, on April 9th. The story centers on the theft of a cast for producing coins. The ensuing flood of counterfeit coins produced from it threatens to undermine the stability of the kingdom. Department 6, the official constabulary led by Lord Liu (Taisheng Chen), finds that a hitherto unknown group has also been tasked with retrieving the stolen casting. Known as the Divine Constabulary, it has received a royal authorization to conduct its own investigation. Zhuge Zhengwo (Anthony Wong, with a long braided chin goatee) heads this group, to which The Four of the film’s title belong. Complicating matters further is the...

Biutiful

Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Written by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Armando Bo & Nicolas Giacobone

Spain/Mexico, 2010

It’s a real testament to a filmmaker’s abilities when one of his pieces can principally revolve around a struggling man’s attempts to support his family, plus the effects he has on those around him, and then use said protagonist’s psychic abilities as little more than a subplot. Imagine if The Sixth Sense portrayed Cole as a grown man, near destitute and hammered by life, with the “I see dead people” crux as narrative depth rather than intricate focus. Mexican maestro Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has proved just how apt he his at capturing the vast scope of a story, whether in the sensational and emotionally hardboiled (Amores Perros) or the ambitious but ultimately underwhelming (Babel), but with his Catalan set epic Biutiful he takes a boat across the Atlantic to...