Let the Bullets Fly
Encyclopedia
Let the Bullets Fly is a 2010 China
-Hong Kong
co-production action comedy film written and directed by Jiang Wen
, based on a story by Ma Shitu, a famous Sichuanese writer. The film is set in Sichuan
during the 1920s when the bandit Zhang (Jiang Wen
) descends upon a town posing as its new mayor. The film also stars Chow Yun-fat
, Carina Lau
, Ge You
, Chen Kun and Zhou Yun.
The film's script went through over thirty drafts before Jiang Wen was happy with it. Let the Bullets Fly was originally to be released in September 2010 but was pushed back to December. With its two versions (one in Mandarin and one in Sichuanese), the film broke several box office records in Mainland China and Hong Kong, and has received critical acclaim, when it was released. Let the Bullets Fly grossed 730 million yuan
(US$111.1 million) in box office
, becoming the highest grossing domestic film in China's cinematic history.
during the warring 1920s
, the bandit "Pocky" Zhang Mazi (Jiang Wen
) and the other bandits ambush a conman; Tang(Ge You
) who is posing as the Governor Ma Bandage with his wife. Zhang then proceeds to Goosetown taking Tang's place as the local governor. Tang becomes his counselor, while Tang's wife poses as Zhang's wife. Zhang's aim at this position is opposed by local mobster Master Huang (Chow Yun Fat) who lives in his fortified citadel overlooking the town. While Tang is aware of Huang's previous financial arrangement with the town's former governor, Zhang is not interested in sharing his wealth with a crook he finds to be as unworthy as himself. A deadly mind game between Zhang and Huang ensues, with Master Six (Zhang's godson), Zhang's "wife", Two, and eventually Tang as casualties. Zhang wins in the end, by means of sedition and deception, ousting Huang by his own deception.
went over 30 drafts of the film's script. Jiang Wu
, stated he was offered the role in the film through a text message from JHe said that he got a text message from his brother, director Jiang Wen. Wen stated that he his brother "never picked any talentless person for his productions. So it is good to be chosen for work in a good team."
Parts of the filming were done in Taishan
, China.
stated that "There is a lot of post-production to be done and it has to be done properly." The film premiered in Beijing
on December 6, 2010 with wide-release in Mainland China on December 16. Let the Bullets Fly was released in Hong Kong on January 13, 2011. A Hollywood film studio have bought the rights to create an American remake of Let the Bullets Fly. The film has become the highest grossing Chinese film, beating the record set by Aftershock
. Following James Cameron's Avatar, this film is now the second highest grossing film ever released in China.
Let the Bullets Fly will have its American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival
in 2011. The festivals co-founder, Martin Scorsese
, had a private screening of the film in August 2010 during post-production when he was visiting Beijing with his family.
's Aftershock
. By the weekend, the film's accumulated grossed reached $19.52 million (RMB130.18m) and it became the fastest local film to break the RMB100m mark. Let the Bullets Fly earned a total of 400 million yuan (60 million dollars) in its first 11 days of release.
described the film as "unabashedly entertaining" though less tailored to film festivals than Wen's other works and the bottom line is that a "rollicking Chinese western directed with cinematic gumption." Film Business Asia gave the film an eight out of ten rating, calling it a "richly entertaining Oriental Western anchored by a well-honed, ironic script and terrific performances." Time Out Hong Kong called the acting "masterclass throughout" while noting that it may take a "native Chinese to fully appreciate." The Global Times
gave the film a seven out of ten rating, calling it a "a nicely tense pace and with a compact storyline featuring enough genuine laughs" while stating that the role of Jiang Wen
"quickly becomes excessive and over-the-top". The Beijing Review
praised the film, saying it had "a great deal more depth to it than the average Hong Kong shoot-'em-up" and that it was as "captivating to listen to as it is to watch". China Daily
placed the film on their list of the best ten Chinese films of 2010. Twitch Film
praised the film's tone and the script, stating "What is most refreshing about this tried and tested formula is Jiang's decision to play his film for laughs, and the script is littered with pitch-black humour throughout."
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
-Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
co-production action comedy film written and directed by Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen is a Chinese film actor and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "sixth generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum...
, based on a story by Ma Shitu, a famous Sichuanese writer. The film is set in Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
during the 1920s when the bandit Zhang (Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen is a Chinese film actor and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "sixth generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum...
) descends upon a town posing as its new mayor. The film also stars Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
, Carina Lau
Carina Lau
Carina Lau Kar-ling is a Hong Kong actress. She was especially notable in the 1980s for her girl-next-door type roles in films....
, Ge You
Ge You
Ge You is an acclaimed Mainland Chinese actor. A native of Beijing, he is considered by many to be one of the most recognizable acting personalities in the Mainland...
, Chen Kun and Zhou Yun.
The film's script went through over thirty drafts before Jiang Wen was happy with it. Let the Bullets Fly was originally to be released in September 2010 but was pushed back to December. With its two versions (one in Mandarin and one in Sichuanese), the film broke several box office records in Mainland China and Hong Kong, and has received critical acclaim, when it was released. Let the Bullets Fly grossed 730 million yuan
Yuan
Yuan may refer to:* Chinese yuan, the basic unit of currency in China** Renminbi, the current currency used in the People's Republic of China, whose basic unit is Yuan...
(US$111.1 million) in box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
, becoming the highest grossing domestic film in China's cinematic history.
Plot
Set in ChinaHistory of the Republic of China
The History of the Republic of China begins after the Qing Dynasty in 1912, when the formation of the Republic of China put an end to over two thousand years of Imperial rule. The Qing Dynasty, also known as the Manchu Dynasty, ruled from 1644 to 1912...
during the warring 1920s
Warlord era
The Chinese Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China, from 1916 to 1928, when the country was divided among military cliques, a division that continued until the fall of the Nationalist government in the mainland China regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia,...
, the bandit "Pocky" Zhang Mazi (Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen is a Chinese film actor and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "sixth generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum...
) and the other bandits ambush a conman; Tang(Ge You
Ge You
Ge You is an acclaimed Mainland Chinese actor. A native of Beijing, he is considered by many to be one of the most recognizable acting personalities in the Mainland...
) who is posing as the Governor Ma Bandage with his wife. Zhang then proceeds to Goosetown taking Tang's place as the local governor. Tang becomes his counselor, while Tang's wife poses as Zhang's wife. Zhang's aim at this position is opposed by local mobster Master Huang (Chow Yun Fat) who lives in his fortified citadel overlooking the town. While Tang is aware of Huang's previous financial arrangement with the town's former governor, Zhang is not interested in sharing his wealth with a crook he finds to be as unworthy as himself. A deadly mind game between Zhang and Huang ensues, with Master Six (Zhang's godson), Zhang's "wife", Two, and eventually Tang as casualties. Zhang wins in the end, by means of sedition and deception, ousting Huang by his own deception.
Production
Director Jiang WenJiang Wen
Jiang Wen is a Chinese film actor and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "sixth generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum...
went over 30 drafts of the film's script. Jiang Wu
Jiang Wu
Jiang Wu is a Chinese actor. He starred in Zhang Yimou's To Live, and Zhang Yang's Shower. He is the younger brother to Jiang Wen and is or was a member of the Beijing Experimental Theater Troupe.- Filmography :* To Live...
, stated he was offered the role in the film through a text message from JHe said that he got a text message from his brother, director Jiang Wen. Wen stated that he his brother "never picked any talentless person for his productions. So it is good to be chosen for work in a good team."
Parts of the filming were done in Taishan
Taishan
Taishan is a coastal county-level city in Guangdong Province, China. The city is part of the Greater Taishan Region....
, China.
Release
Let the Bullets Fly was originally scheduled for a release in September 2010. This release date was nullified as a spokesperson for Emperor Motion PicturesEmperor Motion Pictures
Emperor Motion Pictures（） founded by Albert Yeung, chairman of Emperor Group.Emperor Motion Pictures is dedicated to bringing top quality feature films to audiences throughout the world...
stated that "There is a lot of post-production to be done and it has to be done properly." The film premiered in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
on December 6, 2010 with wide-release in Mainland China on December 16. Let the Bullets Fly was released in Hong Kong on January 13, 2011. A Hollywood film studio have bought the rights to create an American remake of Let the Bullets Fly. The film has become the highest grossing Chinese film, beating the record set by Aftershock
Aftershock (film)
Aftershock or Aftershocks, named in Chinese as the "Tangshan Great Earthquake" is a 2010 Chinese drama film depicting the aftermath of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake directed by Feng Xiaogang. The film stars Xu Fan and Zhang Jingchu, with a supporting cast including Li Chen...
. Following James Cameron's Avatar, this film is now the second highest grossing film ever released in China.
Let the Bullets Fly will have its American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
in 2011. The festivals co-founder, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, had a private screening of the film in August 2010 during post-production when he was visiting Beijing with his family.
Box office
Let the Bullets Flys opening midnight screenings have grossed at least one million yuan ($150,000), making the film gain a new midnight opening record for Chinese-language films. The film's opening day gross was $4.5 million (RMB30m), which did not break the opening day record set by Feng XiaogangFeng Xiaogang
Feng Xiaogang , in is a Chinese film director. He is famous in China as being perhaps the most successful "commercialized" filmmaker whose comedy films do consistently well in the box office, although Feng has attempted to break out from that mold by making drama or period drama films...
's Aftershock
Aftershock (film)
Aftershock or Aftershocks, named in Chinese as the "Tangshan Great Earthquake" is a 2010 Chinese drama film depicting the aftermath of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake directed by Feng Xiaogang. The film stars Xu Fan and Zhang Jingchu, with a supporting cast including Li Chen...
. By the weekend, the film's accumulated grossed reached $19.52 million (RMB130.18m) and it became the fastest local film to break the RMB100m mark. Let the Bullets Fly earned a total of 400 million yuan (60 million dollars) in its first 11 days of release.
Critical reception
In China, Let the Bullets Fly has won acclaim for story and dialogue as well as attracting criticism for its violence. Maggie Lee of The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
described the film as "unabashedly entertaining" though less tailored to film festivals than Wen's other works and the bottom line is that a "rollicking Chinese western directed with cinematic gumption." Film Business Asia gave the film an eight out of ten rating, calling it a "richly entertaining Oriental Western anchored by a well-honed, ironic script and terrific performances." Time Out Hong Kong called the acting "masterclass throughout" while noting that it may take a "native Chinese to fully appreciate." The Global Times
Global Times
The Global Times is a daily Chinese tabloid under the auspices of the official Chinese Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, focusing on international issues...
gave the film a seven out of ten rating, calling it a "a nicely tense pace and with a compact storyline featuring enough genuine laughs" while stating that the role of Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen
Jiang Wen is a Chinese film actor and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "sixth generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum...
"quickly becomes excessive and over-the-top". The Beijing Review
Beijing Review
Beijing Review is China's only national news magazine in English, published by the China International Publishing Group. It claims a per-issue circulation of 70,000 and distribution "throughout China and 150 countries and regions worldwide."...
praised the film, saying it had "a great deal more depth to it than the average Hong Kong shoot-'em-up" and that it was as "captivating to listen to as it is to watch". China Daily
China Daily
The China Daily is an English language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China.- Overview :China Daily was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the country...
placed the film on their list of the best ten Chinese films of 2010. Twitch Film
Twitch Film
Twitch Film, also known simply as Twitch, is an English language Canadian website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown, a cinephile with personal interests in arthouse and grindhouse cinema...
praised the film's tone and the script, stating "What is most refreshing about this tried and tested formula is Jiang's decision to play his film for laughs, and the script is littered with pitch-black humour throughout."
Awards and nominations
| Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceremony | Category | Name | Outcome | |
| 5th Asian Film Awards Asian Film Awards The Asian Film Awards are presented annually by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society to recognize excellence of film professionals in the film industries of Asian cinema.-History:... |
||||
| Best Film | ||||
| Best Director | Jiang Wen Jiang Wen Jiang Wen is a Chinese film actor and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "sixth generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum... |
|||
| Best Actor | Chow Yun-fat Chow Yun-Fat Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... |
|||
| Best Supporting Actress | Carina Lau Kar-ling | |||
| Best Screenplay | Jiang Wen | |||
| Best Costume Design | William Chang Suk-pin | |||
| 2011 Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962, by Government Information Office, Republic of China... |
||||
| Best Film | ||||
| Best Director | Jiang Wen | |||
| Best Leading Actor | Ge You | |||
| Best Supporting Actress | Carina Lau | |||
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Wei Xiao, Li Bukong, Zhu Sujin, Shu Ping, Jiang Wen, Guo Junli | |||
| Best Cinematography | Zhao Fei | |||
| Best Visual Effects | Eman Tse, Victor Wong | |||
| Best Makeup & Costume Design | William Chang | |||
| Best Sound Effects | Wen Bo, Wang Gang | |||
External Links
- Let the Bullets Fly at the Hong Kong CinemagicHong Kong CinemagicHong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, is a bilingual website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people that created them. The website contains news, interviews, film reviews and a database of people,...