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Monk Comes Down the Mountain

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Monk Comes Down the Mountain
Directed byChen Kaige
Produced byChen Hong
StarringWang Baoqiang
Aaron Kwok
Chang Chen
Lin Chi-ling
Fan Wei
Yuen Wah
Vanness Wu
Wang Xueqi
Danny Chan
Lam Suet
Dong Qi
CinematographyGeoffrey Simpson
Music byKlaus Badelt
Production
companies
New Classics Media
Columbia Pictures
Distributed byNew Classics Media
Release date
  • July 3, 2015 (2015-07-03)
Running time
123 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin
Box officeUS$64.28 million[1][2][3]

Monk Comes Down the Mountain (Chinese: 道士下山) is a 2015 Chinese fantasy-adventure-comedy film directed by Chen Kaige and starring Wang Baoqiang, Aaron Kwok, Chang Chen, Lin Chi-ling, Fan Wei, Yuen Wah, Vanness Wu, Wang Xueqi, Danny Chan, Lam Suet and Dong Qi.[4] It is based on the best-selling novel Dao Shi Xia Shan (A Monk Comes Down the Mountain) by Xu Haofeng.[5] Filming started in March 2014 on location in Xianghe, Hebei. The film was released on July 3, 2015.[6][7] It was the first movie with DTS:X and was available in IMAX 3D.[8]

Plot[9]

He Anxia is a simple monk living in a secluded Taoist temple, one day he's asked to leave the temple partly because of his trouble making but also because the master wishes for him to experience the outside world. Upon descending from the mountain, Anxia quickly finds himself in a city where he meets Tsui Daoning, a doctor of Chinese medicine as well as the owner a Apothecary; Tsui, partly because he feels sorry for the younger man and partly because he finds his antics funny, decides to take Anxia in as his apprentice.

As he's working, He Anxia comes to learn that Tsui has a much younger brother named Daorong who's not only a never-do-well that's constantly in debt but is also secretly having an affair with Tsui Daorong's wife.

One night, the younger Daorong kills his brother using medicine provided unwittingly by the wife.

He Anxia wishes for the wife and brother to respect Daorong's spirit by remaining home, despite knowing the pair are responsible for his death, but they ignore him and go out to celebrate on a hired boat. However, during the ride, the lovers wind up getting into an argument which leads to a struggle that causes the ship to spring a leak. Panicking, Daorong and the wife try to escape only to find they're locked inside the sinking boat.

He Anxia dives to the boat, but instead of saving them, he lets the couple drown for their crimes. Despite having avenged his master, He Anxia feels guilt for his inaction and goes to a Buddhist temple in an attempt to atone for it. There, He meets an Abbott who's aware of his crime and scolds him for it, he then tells He that if he wishes to be free from his burden he must meditate in the temple for 7 days.

After doing so, He returns to the Apothecary where he meets a man called Zhao Zinchuan who buys some internal medicine for his master for an upcoming match. He Anxia follows Zhao and witnesses the match between Zhao and his master, Peng Qianwu, Zhao defeats Peng and Peng admits Zhao should be the leader of his school over his son. However, as they prepare to leave, Peng stabs Zhao in the back using a hidden blade within his umbrella.

Peng Qianwu's son, Peng Qizi, goes to the Apothecary for medicine for his father who sustained injuries in the fight with Zhao. He and Qizi share a meal with some poisoned meat which makes them hallucinate. In their stupor, they go to the temple residence of Zhou Xiyu in order to steal his collection box, however, they're caught by Zhou who cures them. He Anxia remain in an attempt to be Zhou's disciple.

Qizi returns and informs his father about Zhou where it's revealed they were once disciples at a martial arts school run by Peng Qianqu's father. The aligning master of the school, Peng's father, had wanted Zhou to lead after him but Zhou had left to avoid conflict. Peng Qianqu later appears at the temple to confront Zhou, accusing him of stealing the Ape Strike technique. Zhou, in an attempts to placate Peng, hands over a book whereby he'd written down everything about the technique; having developed it alongside his partner, Boss Cha. However, Peng is not interested in the volumes and attacks Zhou who soundly defeats him. Peng returns home with severe injuries, leading Qizi to shoot Zhou multiple times from the shadows in revenge.

He Anxia brings the dying Zhou to the Buddhist temple so Zhou can find peace of mind before he dies. Instead of comforting Zhou, the temple Abbott throw water in his face and tells him that life is like a ladle thrown by the gods and that these consequences are because of Karma. Zhou understands and states that his dying regret is that he never had a chance to see his friend again, the Abbott tells him that he can always see the person in his mind's eyes which allows Zhou to die content.

He Anxia then seeks out Boss Cha, wishing to kill Peng Qianqu whom he believes to be the shooter, unaware Zhou was killed by his son. Boss Cha is a famous theatrical performer. Anxia tells Cha about Zhou's murder and Cha takes leave from his performance to seek out Peng. This angers his patron Zhao Liren who feels he has lost face over the cancelled performance.

Zhao plots with Peng to ambush Boss Cha with Peng's men. Cha survives the ambush and defeats Peng and his men. Cha is about to kills Peng Qianqu when Peng Qizi admits to being the murderer. Peng Qianqu then kills himself with Cha's spear and tells him that he is atoning for his son's actions.

The movie ends with Cha and He Anxia practicing the Ape Strike technique on a mountain top.

Cast

Box office

The film earned US$28 million in its 3-day opening and US$38.25 million in its 4-day opening weekend in China, debuting at first place at the Chinese box office.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ "Weekly box office > China Week 28 07/13 - 07/19/2015". entgroup.cn. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  2. ^ Nancy Tartaglione (July 12, 2015). "'Minions' Henchmen Nab $124M & No. 1 In 4th Frame; 'Terminator' Generates $47M – Intl Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. (Penske Media Corporation). Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  3. ^ Clifford Coonan (July 13, 2015). "China Box Office: 'Tiny Times 4.0' Leads as Local Youth Flicks Dominate". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  4. ^ "Aaron Kwok Joins Chen Kaige's Upcoming Film "The Monk"". jaynestars.com. 2014-03-30. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  5. ^ Andrew Stewart (2014-03-12). "Chen Kaige's martial arts drama 'The Monk' slotted for summer 2015 release". Variety. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  6. ^ "Columbia Pictures Boards Chinese Martial Arts Feature The Monk". comingsoon.net. 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  7. ^ "道士下山 (2015)". movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  8. ^ Kevin Ma (June 19, 2015). "IMAX China establishes film fund". Film Business Asia. Archived from the original on June 19, 2015. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  9. ^ "GoodDrama.net". Archived from the original on 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  10. ^ Maggie Lee (July 4, 2015). "Film Review: 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain'". Variety. Archived from the original on July 28, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  11. ^ Nancy Tartaglione (July 5, 2015). "'Terminator' Back With $74M; 'Minions' Mints $54.3M – Intl Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. (Penske Media Corporation). Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  12. ^ Clifford Coonan (July 7, 2015). "China Box Office: Homegrown 'Monk' Beats 'Jurassic World'". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
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