The Founding Of A Republic

[pro-bassoonist]

Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin's The Founding Of A Republic (2009) is set to be released in Hong Kong on December 3 as a double BD/DVD set. Courtesy of Mega Star.

Variety:

By far the biggest of a slew of pics celebrating New China's 60th anni, "The Founding of a Republic" is a cannily assembled, smoothly made chunk of political filmmaking. Perhaps realizing that few Chinese would line up nowadays for a regular "official" production, China Film Group topper Han Sanping (who shares the main helming credit with Huang Jianxin) has turned "Founding" into the most lavish star-spotting game in mainland cinema history, marbled with a few Hong Kong cameos for good measure. Pic isn't likely to get Western distribution anytime soon, but on several levels is worthy of attention.

"Founding," which swamped local screens Sept. 17, has officially passed Feng Xiaogang's 2008 romantic comedy "If You Are the One" as the biggest grossing Chinese film ever, with a whopping 334 million yuan ($49 million) in its first 20 days. The film could surpass "Titanic" as China's all-time B.O. champ by the end of its run, though local spy whodunit "The Message" started taking over screens in late September. In Hong Kong, "Founding" took a surprising $700,000 in its first five days.

Traversing most major (and a few minor) events in the gradual victory of the communists over the nationalists from August 1945 to October 1949, the pic adopts the usual format of datelined scenes, with characters introduced via captions. However, this time the fast-forward format -- largely consisting of men meeting in rooms -- is leavened by a fair amount of light comedy and actors who go beyond merely spouting historical background and political standpoints.

Most notably, a genuine dynamic emerges between communist leader Mao Zedong (Tang Guoqiang) and KMT head Chiang Kai-shek (Zhang Guoli). Seemingly reflecting the contempo detente between China and Taiwan, Chiang is treated as more than a simple villain. An early scene of the two meeting in Chongqing to talk terms after the end of the Sino-Japanese War in 1945 stresses that both were disciples of Sun Yat-sen, who set up the country's first republic in 1911.

The film could be the first of its kind to get a release in Taiwan -- early next year -- if statements by the Taiwan government are to be believed. However, some scenes -- especially a late one in which Chiang confesses to an officer (Andy Lau) that "the KMT has been ruined by our own hands" -- may prove too bitter a pill for even the island's current KMT administration to swallow.

Tang, the latest in a huge number of lookalikes to Mao, has a twinkly-eyed slyness that chimes well with Zhang's excellent perf as the unbending Generalissimo Chiang, who slowly realizes he's losing the game to a player who's even smarter than he is. On a secondary level, Xu Qing, as Sun's widow Soong Ching-ling, and Vivian Wu, as Chiang's wife Soong May-ling, powerfully portray the ice-cold ruthlessness of two sisters who deem power a right rather than a privilege.

Performances like these, and those of others such as Liu Jin as Mao's admired deputy, Zhou Enlai, create character arcs that help to bind the succession of small scenes into a greater whole. Though considerable material disappeared during the final edit (as well as other cameos, like John Woo's), the pic manages to take some time out with more extended sequences -- notably the nationalists' bombing of Mao's hideout in Yan'an -- that humanize the players.

For movie geeks bored with the politics, the pic is a cameo-spotter's paradise: There's Jet Li as a naval officer, Jackie Chan as a Hong Kong journalist, and Zhang Ziyi as a young communist in a women's group photo, to name just a few.

Going beyond mere walk-on, Chen Kun brings a frighteningly cool focus to Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo. Equally effective are actor-helmer Jiang Wen as a quietly ruthless KMT officer, and, most entertainingly, helmer Feng as Shanghai's most famous gangster, Du Yuesheng.

The bulk of the pic was directed by Huang, whose fine list of credits portraying contempo China with an ironic eye stretches back to "The Black Cannon Incident" (1986). Both Feng and Chen Kaige (who also has an extended cameo as a nationalist officer) are among those who helped with helming chores.

Docu footage is sparingly used, except in the final rally in Tiananmen Square on Oct. 1, 1949, when Mao declared the PRC's founding. Use of large-scale military scenes from earlier pics -- here printed in black-and-white -- helped keep the pic's tab down to a relatively modest 30 million yuan ($4.4 million). Throughout, Zhao Xiaoshi's widescreen lensing is topnotch.

Han recently announced he's planning a similar extravaganza, "The Founding of a Party," set during 1917-21, for the 90th anni of the Communist Party in 2011.

Camera (color, widescreen), Zhao Xiaoshi; editor, Xu Hongyu; music/songs, Shu Nan; production designer, Zhao Jing; sound (Dolby Digital), Wang Danrong; visual effects supervisor, Fang Rongguo. Reviewed at Broadway Cinemas Star City 2, Beijing, Sept. 23, 2009. Running time: 138 MIN.

Pro-B

[drobswim13]

This looks very interesting. I will most certainly have to check this out. Thanks for the post!!

[actyper]

$35.99 at yesasia. Anybody seen this yet?

[drobswim13]

it's only 28.85 on dddhouse. Good service there too.

[kpkelley]

This title has recieved some pretty poor reviews. According to some of the reviews i've found, It's loaded with talent, from Jet Li to Tony Leung, but none of the characters are fleshed out and it plays like a history channel re-enactment rather than a theatrical film.

Hopefully someone here has seen it who can shed some light on this one.

[tsetse27]

Is this more a propaganda film?

[mugupo]

I saw the dvd version, the picture is look like HD, i watch in my tv i can said it has better picture than some older blu-ray.

The movie is based after the world war ii, focus at the civil war between them two, isn't really a propoganda film, is more like a documentary film. All the even are accurate. And does talk about both side, of course the movie is focus at the victor side but did show scene that most people don't see in history book. But what really make this movie unique is it has tons of talent cast in the movie, is a long movie about 2 and half hour but i don't feel bored at all when watching it.

If you don't want spend big bucks in the blu-ray, just goes to local chinese movie store, they should had that movie in dvd. The most famous cast only appear for very short period of time, since they are in there for cameo and no salary was paid to them,

[hok007]

Will this be English friendly?

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by hok007

Will this be English friendly?

Yes.

Pro-B

[mugupo]

Originally Posted by hok007

Will this be English friendly?

English is pretty accurate, some scene speak by native tongue.

[hok007]

Originally Posted by mugupo

English is pretty accurate, some scene speak by native tongue.

Just to be clear, I was asking about the availability of English menus and English subtitles. I'm not a fan of dubbing, and I prefer the original language on audio whenever possible.

Thanks Pro-B!

[P@t_Mtl]

I will probably order it from YesAsia I got a $5 coupon

[rich_adamson]

My copy of this came in today, and the packaging sure is nice. It has a red slipcover with a cutout star that peeks through to amaray underneath to the front artwork. Very eye catching. I'll update sometime soon with the PQ AQ etc.