The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman

The Chinese movie industries have been hesitating at the puzzling crossroad of "Quo Vadis?" They really don't know how to choose the right direction of making decent movies, how to write irrational screenplays with logic story lines, how to transform a screenplay into a concrete decent film with believable characters who could connect with the consumers/viewers. There are lot of so-called new generation screenplay writers and directors with certain special connections with filthily rich people who desperately want to add another auspicious title as "movie producer" to their collections. Thus resulted in having such screenplay writers, director and producers of one of the most pathetic and messy Chinese movies in 21st century.

"Dao jiàn xiào(2010)" is such a movie that you could use it to test how tough your nerves could be, what kind of depth of your patience could reach and endure, what kind of logic reasoning ability you have, what kind of absorbing ability and flexibility to deal with ridiculousness and absurdity and, most of all, how you consider to waste 1hr32mins of your life on planet Earth is nothing but.

What a mess, folks. Only the sound track, the choose of the music, would drive you crazy. The poor crafted dialog, the exaggeration and the pretentiousness of all the actors, the obvious self-indulgent but absolutely out of controlled directing....on and on and all summing up with just one conclusion: "Where is the logic and what's going on?" The only question after you rejected the DVD came up on your dizzy brain was: "How dare you call this a Movie!?" The screenplay(if there really had one) writer(s) and the director both have to be banned and banished from the Chinese movie industries permanently.

NO STAR should waste on this mess.

The first few minutes of THE BUTCHER, THE CHEF AND THE SWORDSMAN gave me pause: the hip-hop-rock scoring, the one- and two-second cutting rhythms, the alternating between color, black & white, and artificially colored black and white, the use of kooky on-screen graphics. Everything just screamed that this would be a 90 minute assault on the senses from a director who probably had a lot of experience with music videos. And that's basically what it is, but where Hong Kong director Andrew Lau tried this fast-cutting bullshiht with THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN, more or less ruining a story and trivializing characters that didn't deserve it, Wuershan's THE BUTCHER, THE CHEF AND THE SWORDSMAN is a gonzo story stocked to capacity with a grimy grotesquerie of characters that all but demand an addled directorial style to give them life.

Expanded from a fiction piece from a magazine (according to the director), the movie is a story within a story within another story in which three cursed owners of a near-mythical blade (forged from a ball of iron originally melted down from the weapons of many powerful swordsman) relate in flashback the stories of the how they came to possess the knife. Reaching the third tale, the film then boomerangs back through the climaxes of each story to bring us back to the present. Sounds a bit like INCEPTION, right? Only with flashbacks instead of dreams. The two films were shot independently of one another, making the similarity in structure a pure coincidence.

Everything but the kitchen sink is in here: a brothel madam and her charges berate "The Butcher" with a catchy modern-style hip-hop rap number (so yes, this is partly a musical!); crudely but cleverly animated children's sketches illustrate "The Chef's" flashing back to his father being killed by a corpulent eunuch for not satisfying his finicky culinary demands. Duped by his beloved, "The Butcher" skirmishes with her true beau in a Streetfighter-like video game scenario, complete with life-meters and flashing scores. This is truly unlike any other film made in mainland China to date, and while I wouldn't want to see an abundance of punked-out period pieces like this from the country, it is a long-overdue antidote to the seemingly inexhaustible supply of self-important, tiresomely nationalistic, cast-of-millions costumers that have flowed out of the country for nearly a decade now. This is like a breath of fresh air, even if much of it was previously exhaled by the likes of Takashi Miike in Japan. The fact remains, nobody was doing anything this over-the-top in China, and one wonders if this picture won't mark a turning point away from action pictures that do nothing but thump their celluloid chests. Executive produced by BOURNE IDENTITY director Doug Liman, though I suspect he attached his name after the project was in the can, as the version screened at TIFF also had the full 20th Century Fox (Asia) logo attached.

Movie reviewers invited to screenings usually see it as their job to sit through a movie, no matter how bad it is. However, during the media screening of this film, many reviewers walked out after 10 minutes. More walked out before half-an-hour into the screening.

It could be because they do not understand the film as there were no subtitles at the screening, but I get the feeling that those who walked out just couldn't stand watching such trash. Stoically, I stayed on.

The plot is purportedly about a mystical blade which looks like an old chopping knife. As it passes through the hands of the titular characters, each with different motivations, it shapes their destinies. The Butcher (Liu Xiaoye) is a fat slob in love with a beautiful courtesan (Kitty Zhang), but is rebuffed each time he approaches her. The Chef (Masanobu Ando) is a loner bent on seeking revenge for the slaughter of his family. The Swordsman (Ashton Xu), the son of a legendary warrior, is consumed by the desire to eclipse his father in both power and fame.

Their stories intertwine as each man takes possession of the mystical blade and discovers the power and the danger it brings.

I am sure there will be some smart alecs who will see this as a work of a genius but it was sheer torture sitting through this unholy trash, trying to figure out what is happening and why. The scenes are so devoid of logic and interest that the movie would make the puerile eye-candy flick, Sucker Punch, look like a classic art flick of epic proportions. The actors seem to have been selected for their weird circus side-show looks than for how well they can act. There are curious looking midgets in the cast and even one made up to look like Jabba The Hutt.

Director Wuershan, who used to shoot adverts, fails miserably at trying his hand on a feature film. He throws in all sorts of crazy, pop culture stuff and even repeating an aria from Puccini's Tosca, in a bid to lend style (or a sense of art) to the scenes. But it turns out to be more of an unintentional comedy - or a tragicomedy. The few sequences that look interesting enough are those dealing with food. Makes me wonder what sort of hallucinatory drug Wuershan was on when he made this film. (limchangmoh.blogspot.com)

Well it has been a really long time since i really felt the urge so strong from inside to actually write a review for a movie. but after viewing this last night i must say i am so excited that i want to share my verdict of this movie with you guys!

well it is a venture of Fox international with a Chinese studio and i must say despite the commercial aspect of the movie overall i liked the movie & perhaps i may again watch it very soon just to enjoy some really entertaining dark humor moments in any Chinese movies so far i have seen.

Well i won't go very far with the plot which every one has read so far on the info page of IMDb but what i want to direct your attention towards is the screenplay narrated is very fluent & keeps the attention & pace intact. once i started with the movie i didn't stopped.

the storyline is mix of humor, sadness, love & above all the Chinese philosophy of wisdom. which not only entertains you but also educates you about how greed & vengeance can be reason of your own pain & demise.

the performance of characters are OK due to the restrictions of the plot as the story is based on Chinese folklore so it doesn't give enough description of characters except their motives so not a really easy job to perform when story itself doesn't provide much about the a character's psychological state except following the mood of the storyline. but even after this The Butcher (Liu Xiaoye) was the main center pillar of the movie who along with his beggar friend every now & then made me laugh even in the serious situations by his silly demeanor or dialogues. and also every now & then appears many enjoyable dark humor moments which made this movie so enjoyable. The plot is really tight & ending is concluded very smartly. every character has played their parts perfectly.

i also would like to add that at the beginning i was not getting the feel of this movie but after 10-14 minutes i started enjoying the movie.. please don't expect any hardcore action stuff from this movie because it is not about the action alone it has a hidden meaning who will force you to think..!!

a very out of league Chinese cinema which i have never imagined existed!! certainly a decent effort from director Wuershan. MY RATING 8/10

SIMPLY BECAUSE IT IS DIFFERENT & FUNNY!!