the final master

THE FINAL MASTER Lands A February 19 UK Release On DVD, Blu-Ray And Digital

Cine Asia is riding high on its action titles this season especially with the proliferation of Wu Jing hit, Wolf Warrior 2. They’re stacking up once again this time for the upcoming home release of 2015 period martial arts drama, The Final Master, a film resonant with action and intrigue in its narrative with organic fervor from action director and filmmaker Xu Haofeng with a script based on his own literary work. In 1930’s China, Wing Chun master Chen She (Fan Liao, Assembly, Chinese Zodiac), arrives in Tianjin, a city famous for martial arts. With plans to open his own kung fu school, he must first train a student to defeat eight of the city’s masters, legitimising himself as a teacher. But when he is caught up in local politics and an underworld power struggle, Chen finds himself at odds with dangerous people and will fight to protect what he […]

THE FINAL MASTER: Win A Copy Of Well Go USA’s Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack Release

Lee B. Golden III

UPDATE: This contest has expired. Perhaps one of the best martial arts moviegoing experiences ever brought overseas has to be Xu Haofeng’s newest home release, The Final Master. An adaptation of one of his written anthological works, the film shimmers with action and drama with pure wit and charm from its main cast led by actor Liao Fan and acclaimed choreography by Haofeng himself. Its central highlight of Wing Chun (for a release as timely as this one as it came out in theaters just months after Well Go USA released Ip Man 3) is certainly one that I had never seen before in any particular film of this genre centered on its style and it’s hosted with such intensity and focus – Being my first foray into Haofeng’s work, I get him. I understand him. I’m proud to say how much I love this movie and I couldn’t be […]

Watch The Official Trailer For Well Go USA’s Home Release Of Xu Haofeng’s THE FINAL MASTER

Lee B. Golden III

Details and visual content remain pending for acclaimed martial arts action auteur Xu Haofeng’s upcoming adaptation, The Hidden Blade now circulating at Cannes. In the meantime, it’s been about a year and a half the director’s most recent celebrated release, The Final Master (as it was titled for the U.S.) hit limited screens from United Entertainment Partners and in the wake of much acclaim earned for its overall fight choreography. That said, I can honestly attest to my own experience of the film was pretty fantastic given its theater setting. The sound made it much more engaging to watch the fights whilst engaging the overall mood and dramatic tension with actor Liao Fan starring in the title role of a martial arts instructor who finds himself caught up in a deadly whirlwind of upheaval and miltary proliferation in the early 20th century. In 1930s China, unrest rules the nation. Chen, […]

Hey Los Angeles! The China OnScreen Biennial At REDCAT Is Hosting A Screening Of Xu Haofeng's THE FINAL MASTER This November

Lee B. Golden III

Did you miss this year’s North American limited release of Xu Haofeng’s The Final Master from United Entertainment Partners? Fear not, and peer over to the official website for Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) for this year’s China OnScreen Biennial on November 7. Co-presented with the China Onscreen Biennial, The Final Master – the third film by Xu Haofeng, famous as the novelist who co-wrote Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster – relocates its titular martial arts master from Southern China to 1932 colonial Tianjin. Xu’s sarcastic and elegant approach to cinema has been described as what martial arts movies would look like if directed by Straub-Huillet —or David Mamet. Echoing the film’s cultural hybridity is a rare Chantal Akerman short that captures the changing light as dusk creeps over Shanghai, its immemorial waters rippling under neon and gaudy ads, to a cover of “Nights in White Satin.” Events for the […]

Review: THE FINAL MASTER (2016) – A Thrilling Wing Chun Refresher

Lee B. Golden III

To date, I had never seen a Xu Haofeng-directed film. Thus, the weekend was glowing with opportunity for me in this instance – that is, getting to experience a genuine kung fu movie at AMC Empire 25 in the heart of Times Square, New York City, and you’re literally swimming in sound as you enter one of the zig-zagging corridors of the room, which really did this film justice for its theatrical entertainment value. Incidentally, this was also my second stab at a Liao Fan film since catching him in Jackie Chan’s CZ12 just last year on VoD – Frankly, I’ve forgotten that film, as forgettable as it is (save for its obvious star power), but its in films like Xu’s The Final Master that you’re not completely left wondering what happened in the breadth of an hour and forty minutes. Point in fact, it’s hard to forget and you’re […]

EXCLUSIVE: Xu Haofeng's THE FINAL MASTER Gets A Trio Of Posters

Lee B. Golden III

As obscure as a lot of Chinese cinema has been and continues to be, I was pretty relieved in the last several months as we were all informed of the upcoming North American release of author and filmmaker Xu Haofeng’s newest film, The Final Master. The film picked up a few good wins and nominations during recent award shows including a Best Choreography award at the Golden Horse 2015 ceremony and a Film Of Merit win in Shanghai this year, and even on those limited terms, it’s unimaginable to me, the prospect of this film not getting more attention. That kind of thing can be attributed to either censorship or the overall convoluted nature of how the film industry works and that’s a topic worth discussion at a later time. At any rate, I’m glad that The Final Master is getting the treatment that stateside martial arts fans deserve, and […]

Watch The Cutting Edge New Teaser For THE FINAL MASTER

Lee B. Golden III

Director Xu Haofeng’s The Master is largely one of the most highly anticipated movies going into 2016 for cinephiles alike apart from its prior audience in China. Thankfully, United Entertainment Partners has that covered with a U.S. release for its new title, The Final Master, pending following its acquistion late last year amid festivals in this, its second China title following its initial release, Saving Mr. Wu. SYNOPSIS: The Final Master is a martial arts film set in a transformational time period in China before World War II. Based on director Xu Haofeng’s best selling novel, The Final Master follows a Wing Chun practitioner’s adventure to open a martial arts school in the northern center to fulfill his master’s death wish. He has to secretly challenge eight martial arts schools with his apprentice, but he does not realize he’s been turned into a chess piece within the power game in […]

Xu Haofeng's THE FINAL MASTER Is Coming To North America

Lee B. Golden III

Author, screenwriter and filmmaker Xu Haofeng came full circle late last year with his newest martial arts drama, The Master. In it, the film sees actor Liao Fan in a role inspired primarily by one of three stories of Xu’s 2013 anthology, “Hiding Behind The Blade” – the first two being The Sword Identity in 2011 and 2014’s Arrow Arbitration (a.k.a. Judge Archer). Despite Xu’s credentials and publicity here, both films have remained largely obscure in their respective roll-outs at the time, thus making The Master something to truly appreciate nowadays, and not for nothing either. Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin dominated Taipei’s 52nd Annual Golden Horse Awards back in December, while not counting out a handful of other titles for their acclaim, including The Master, which earned an award of its own for Best Action Choreography. All in all, The Master defines itself among others as a film to take heed to […]