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Blood Brothers (2007 Chinese film)

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Blood Brothers
Blood Brothers poster
Directed byAlexi Tan
Written byAlexi Tan
Jiang Dan
Tony Chan
Produced byJohn Woo
Terence Chang
StarringDaniel Wu
Liu Ye
Shu Qi
Sun Honglei
Chang Chen
Lulu Li
CinematographyMichel Taburiaux
Edited byChen Long
Music byDaniel Belardinelli
Production
companies
Sil-Metropole Organisation
Lion Rock Entertainment
Distributed byCMC Entertainment (Taiwan)
Fortissimo Films
Release dates
  • August 16, 2007 (2007-08-16) (China)
  • August 17, 2007 (2007-08-17) (Taiwan)
  • August 23, 2007 (2007-08-23) (Hong Kong)
Running time
95 minutes
CountriesTaiwan
China
Hong Kong
LanguageMandarin
Box office$4,234,311[1]

Blood Brothers (Chinese: 天堂口; pinyin: Tiān táng kǒu; lit. 'Gate of Heaven') is a 2007 Chinese film directed by Alexi Tan and starring Daniel Wu, Shu Qi, Sun Honglei, Liu Ye and Tony Yang.

Plot

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The film deals with three friends who move from the countryside to 1930s Shanghai to work with the criminal underworld. In Shanghai, the friends become involved in a dangerous love triangle.

Cast

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[2] [3]

Influences

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Blood Brothers is Alexi Tan's first feature film, though Tan has referred to it as "a combination of all my collaborators' work" including costume designer Tim Yip, cinematographer Michel Taburiaux, and of course producer John Woo.[4]

Tan has stated that he draws upon his upbringing as an overseas Chinese, such that his vision of China and Chinese society will at once be Chinese and at the same time "different.".[5] Tan notes that his film is an attempt to combine Eastern and Western influences, in that it is his attempt to transport the style of classic westerns, in particular those of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, into the setting of 1930s Shanghai.[4][5]

Production history

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The idea for Blood Brothers first began to gain traction when producers John Woo and Terence Chang watched Tan's Double Blade, a music video starring Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou, and contacted Tan expressing interest in producing a feature-length film with the young director.[6] Up to this point, Tan had worked primarily as a fashion photographer. It was co-produced by the Taiwanese production company CMC Entertainment, the mainland Chinese Sil-Metropole Organisation, Terence Chang's Lion Rock Productions and Hong Kong film director John Woo,[7] and is Woo's first time as producer of another director's film.

Once Woo and Chang were on board, however, Tan was able to seriously develop his concept for the film. Given Tan's overseas upbringing and lack of Mandarin speaking and writing ability (he was born in Manila and studied in London), the screenplay was originally written in English. As such, Tan collaborated with native Chinese writer, Jiang Dan to translate his film into natural sounding Chinese.[8] Despite Tan's initial concerns that Jiang Dan would not understand the Leone or Peckinpah influences, he later felt that her contributions to the story helped flesh out the film's romantic elements and in particular expanded upon the feminine perspectives of Shu Qi's and Lulu Li's characters.[4][8]

Shooting of the film took place entirely within China: primarily in Shanghai, and the outlying town of Zhujiajiao. The main set of the "Paradise Club" (the titular club in the Chinese title), was built in the Shanghai Film and TV Studio under the direction of Production Designer Alfred Yau.[9]

Fight choreography, in particular the film's many gun battles, was done by Hong Kong veteran action director Philip Kwok, who was also involved in the action choreography for John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong film Hard Boiled.

Release

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Blood Brothers was selected to close the 64th Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2007.[10]

The film should not be confused with The Warlords, a 2007 Hong Kong film/Chinese starring Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, that was at one point also called Blood Brothers.

Box office

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Blood Brothers earned $4.23 million at the box office worldwide.[11] In China, the film grossed RMB$12m (approximately $1.60 million) on its opening weekend.[12] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, producer Terence Chang reflected on the movie's under-performance in Taiwan and Hong Kong, calling it "extremely disappointing".[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Tiang tang kou (Blood Brothers) (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  2. ^ Blood Brothers at HKMDB
  3. ^ Blood Brothers at chinesemov.com
  4. ^ a b c Podvin, Thomas (August 2007). "Five Questions For Alexi Tan, director of John Woo-produced gangster drama Blood Brothers", that's Beijing, p. 54.
  5. ^ a b "The Birth of a Vision". Official site. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  6. ^ Maglioro, Joe (Spring 2007). "Alexi Tan, Making the Cut". Theme Magazine. Archived from the original on 2007-06-24. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  7. ^ Dawtrey, Adam (2007-02-01). "Fortissimo bonds with "Blood Brothers"". Variety. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  8. ^ a b "Screenplay". Official site. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  9. ^ "The Look of the Film: Design, Photography, and Lighting". Official site. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  10. ^ ""Blood Brothers" to close Venice Film Festival". Xinhua. 2007-07-09. Archived from the original on January 22, 2008. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  11. ^ "Blood Brothers". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  12. ^ Shackleton, Liz (2007-08-28). "Blood Brothers has strong opening weekend in mainland China". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  13. ^ "Dialogue: Terence Chang". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
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