The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman
Encyclopedia
The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman is a 2010 action comedy film directed by Wuershan. The film is a connection of three inter-twining stories.
The first about a butcher who takes revenge on a swordsmen for taking his wife, the second is about a chef who has his apprentice makes an eight-course meal for the powerful Eunuch Liu. The final story is about a warrior with a powerful sword melted from other champion swords, but the sword does not work as expected during combat.
The film was a feature debut of director Wuershan. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
where it received a mixed critical reception.
"Desire" is set in a remote area in Ancient China where a butcher named Chopper (Liu Xiaoye) is in love with Madam Mei (Kitty Zhang
) and tries to buy her, but is beaten to her by the swordsman Big Beard (Senggerenqin) who gets her first. In retaliation, Chopper gets vengeance on Big Beard with his cleaver.
In "Vengeance", a Chef (Mi Dan) is told that the strong Eunuch Liu (Xie Ning) will pass through in a month's time and wants to eat the Chefs renowned eight-course meal. If there anything bad should happen in the meal, the chef will be killed, so he chooses his mute apprentice (Ando Masanobu)to be his successor and to take his place and passes his secret about his fresh fish. The chef is unaware of the real identity of his assistant.
In "Greed", the Swordsman Dugu Cheng (Ashton Xu) inherits a lump of iron that was made by Fat Tang (You Benchang) from the melted-down swords from previous champion warriors. After making the iron into a sword, Dugu faces problems when entering combat with it.
's second Chinese production after Hot Summer Days
(2010).
at the festival. It was recently announced that it will be released theatrically on 17 March 2011 in Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand simultaneously.
wrote that "even fanboys will be hard-pressed to engage with this quasi-martial-arts epic or even follow its ornate, overlapping plotlines. Of course, midnight screenings and some cultish enthusiasm are always possible." Eye Weekly
gave the film two stars out of five, noting that "The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman is really only memorable for its twitchy incoherence. Essentially a story within a story within a story, TBTCTS veers from terrible (the over-the-top Butcher vs whorehouse scenes, minus the surreal hip-hop sequence) to actually pretty decent (the second narrative frame involving what amounts to a revenge story, Iron Chef-style)" Film Business Asia gave the film a positive rating of seven out of ten praising the script and the cast.
The first about a butcher who takes revenge on a swordsmen for taking his wife, the second is about a chef who has his apprentice makes an eight-course meal for the powerful Eunuch Liu. The final story is about a warrior with a powerful sword melted from other champion swords, but the sword does not work as expected during combat.
The film was a feature debut of director Wuershan. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
where it received a mixed critical reception.
Plot
The film is split into three stories titled "Desire", "Vengeance" and "Greed"."Desire" is set in a remote area in Ancient China where a butcher named Chopper (Liu Xiaoye) is in love with Madam Mei (Kitty Zhang
Zhang Yuqi
Kitty Zhang Yuqi is a Chinese actress. Her first major role was in Stephen Chow's 2007 Hong Kong film CJ7, which brought her media attention and kickstarted her acting career.-Biography:Zhang was born in Shandong province...
) and tries to buy her, but is beaten to her by the swordsman Big Beard (Senggerenqin) who gets her first. In retaliation, Chopper gets vengeance on Big Beard with his cleaver.
In "Vengeance", a Chef (Mi Dan) is told that the strong Eunuch Liu (Xie Ning) will pass through in a month's time and wants to eat the Chefs renowned eight-course meal. If there anything bad should happen in the meal, the chef will be killed, so he chooses his mute apprentice (Ando Masanobu)to be his successor and to take his place and passes his secret about his fresh fish. The chef is unaware of the real identity of his assistant.
In "Greed", the Swordsman Dugu Cheng (Ashton Xu) inherits a lump of iron that was made by Fat Tang (You Benchang) from the melted-down swords from previous champion warriors. After making the iron into a sword, Dugu faces problems when entering combat with it.
Production
The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman is the first feature film from Daniel Yu's Beijing-based production company First Cut Features and the debut feature of director Wureshan. It was also Fox InternationalFox Entertainment Group
The Fox Entertainment Group is an American entertainment industry company that owns film studios and terrestrial, cable, and direct broadcast satellite television properties...
's second Chinese production after Hot Summer Days
Hot Summer Days
Hot Summer Days is a 2010 Hong Kong romantic comedy film featuring an ensemble cast including Nicholas Tse, Jacky Cheung, Daniel Wu, Vivian Hsu, Barbie Hsu, René Liu, Angelababy and William Chan and also featuring a guest appearance by Maggie Cheung...
(2010).
Release
The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman premiered on September 16, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section marking the first time a film from China has been shown at this sidebar. It was also screened at the Pusan Film Festival. The film was presented by Doug LimanDoug Liman
Douglas Eric "Doug" Liman is an American film director and producer best known for Swingers , The Bourne Identity , Mr. & Mrs. Smith , Jumper , and Fair Game .-Early life:...
at the festival. It was recently announced that it will be released theatrically on 17 March 2011 in Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand simultaneously.
Reception
After the premiere in Toronto, reception was generally mixed. VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote that "even fanboys will be hard-pressed to engage with this quasi-martial-arts epic or even follow its ornate, overlapping plotlines. Of course, midnight screenings and some cultish enthusiasm are always possible." Eye Weekly
Eye Weekly
Eye Weekly was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The following week, Torstar launched a successor publication, The Grid.-...
gave the film two stars out of five, noting that "The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman is really only memorable for its twitchy incoherence. Essentially a story within a story within a story, TBTCTS veers from terrible (the over-the-top Butcher vs whorehouse scenes, minus the surreal hip-hop sequence) to actually pretty decent (the second narrative frame involving what amounts to a revenge story, Iron Chef-style)" Film Business Asia gave the film a positive rating of seven out of ten praising the script and the cast.