After the tepid reaction to his last film, “My Blueberry Nights,” it’s no surprise that Wong Kar-Wai chose not to hold his latest “The Grandmaster” for Cannes. Instead, the auteur released the film at home in China and Hong Kong at the very end of last year, before giving the picture its international premiere at Berlin back in February.
From our own reaction there, and many others, there’s much to like about the film, but it doesn’t quite match up to Wong’s previous highlights like “Chungking Express” or “In The Mood For Love,” or indeed the impossible expectations caused by its extended, multi-year production. But still, given the martial arts elements of the film, Harvey Weinstein is still hoping that the film can prove to be something of a crossover hit, and a brace of new images from the film helps to highlight why; a cast including Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen, stunning visuals, and some crunchy fight sequences.
The rest of us will get to catch up with “The Grandmaster” when it’s released on August 23rd, in the meantime, you can check out the stills below.
