The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (simplified Chinese: 刀见笑; traditional Chinese: 刀見笑; pinyin: Dāo Jiàn Xiào) is a 2010 action comedy film directed by WuErShan (乌尔善), produced by Tang XiRu's (唐郗汝) First Cuts Features. The film is made up of three inter-twining stories. The first about a butcher who takes revenge on a swordsman for humiliation, 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 Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman
Toronto International Film Festival poster for the film
The film was a feature debut of director Wuershan. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it received a mixed critical reception.
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) and tries to buy her, but is beaten to her by the swordsman Big Beard (Senggerenqin) who gets her first. Humiliated, he tries to commit suicide but is saved by a beggar using a cleaver of incredible quality. Ignoring the beggar's warning that the cleaver is a kitchen knife not meant for homicide, Chopper steals the blade and seeks vengeance on Big Beard.[2]
In "Vengeance", which is the beggar's story of the cleaver, a master chef (Mi Dan) is instructed to prepare his renowned eight-course specialties for the powerful Court Eunuch Liu (Xie Ning) who will be in the area in a month's time. The eunuch is a food connoisseur who is known to execute cooks who fail to satisfy his palate. To safeguard his recipes, the master chef chooses his mute apprentice (Masanobu Andō) to be his successor and imparts the secrets of his specialties. As the chef revealed that the key to the final dish was in using the special cleaver to scale and gut a fish, he is unaware he is falling into a trap of his new protege who has different plans for the cleaver. After the chef samples the poisoned dishes by the protege and realises the plot, he reveals the origins of the cleaver.[2]
In "Greed", which is the master chef's story, the Swordsman Dugu Cheng (Ashton Xu) brings a lump of black iron that was cast by Fatty Tang (You Benchang) by melting down weapons from defeated champion warriors. A generation before, Dugu Cheng's late father was the victor who routed numerous ambitious pugilists in an attempt to restore peace to the realms and had taken the black iron with him to the grave. Dugu Cheng wants to become the new champion and manages to force Fatty Tang into forging the black iron into a sabre, just in time to face a host of other of ambitious pugilists who caught up with him. During combat, Dugu Cheng realises that not everything is as it seems.[2]
Productionedit
The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman is the first feature film from Tang XiRu's (唐郗汝) Beijing-based production company First Cut Pictures and the debut feature of director WuErShan (乌尔善) that emerged from the prestigious First Cuts Pictures STAR Screenwriting Workshop and FirstCuts Film Project.[3][4][5] It was also Fox International's second Chinese production after Hot Summer Days (2010).[2]
Releaseedit
The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman premiered on September 16, 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section marking the first time a film from China has been shown at this sidebar.[2][3] It was also screened at the Pusan Film Festival.[6] The film was presented by Doug Liman at the festival.[7] It was released theatrically on 17 March 2011 in Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand simultaneously.[8]
Receptionedit
After the premiere in Toronto, reception was generally mixed. Variety 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."[9]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)"[10]Film Business Asia gave the film a positive rating of seven out of ten praising the script and the cast.[2]
butcher, chef, swordsman, simplified, chinese, 刀见笑, traditional, chinese, 刀見笑, pinyin, dāo, jiàn, xiào, 2010, action, comedy, film, directed, wuershan, 乌尔善, produced, tang, xiru, 唐郗汝, first, cuts, features, film, made, three, inter, twining, stories, first, ab. The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman simplified Chinese 刀见笑 traditional Chinese 刀見笑 pinyin Dao Jian Xiao is a 2010 action comedy film directed by WuErShan 乌尔善 produced by Tang XiRu s 唐郗汝 First Cuts Features The film is made up of three inter twining stories The first about a butcher who takes revenge on a swordsman for humiliation 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 Butcher the Chef and the SwordsmanToronto International Film Festival poster for the filmDirected byWuershan 乌尔善 Screenplay byZhang JiajiaTang QueMa LuoshanWuershanTang XiruStory byAn ChangheProduced byDaniel YuTang Xiru 唐郗汝 StarringKitty ZhangMasanobu AndōYou BenchangLiu XiaoyeAshton XuCinematographyMichal TywoniukEdited byHuang ZheProductioncompanyFirst Cuts PicturesDistributed by20th Century FoxRelease datesSeptember 16 2010 2010 09 16 TIFF March 17 2011 2011 03 17 1 CountriesChinaHong KongUnited StatesLanguageMandarinThe film was a feature debut of director Wuershan It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it received a mixed critical reception Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Release 3 1 Reception 4 Cast 5 References 6 External linksPlot editThe 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 and tries to buy her but is beaten to her by the swordsman Big Beard Senggerenqin who gets her first Humiliated he tries to commit suicide but is saved by a beggar using a cleaver of incredible quality Ignoring the beggar s warning that the cleaver is a kitchen knife not meant for homicide Chopper steals the blade and seeks vengeance on Big Beard 2 In Vengeance which is the beggar s story of the cleaver a master chef Mi Dan is instructed to prepare his renowned eight course specialties for the powerful Court Eunuch Liu Xie Ning who will be in the area in a month s time The eunuch is a food connoisseur who is known to execute cooks who fail to satisfy his palate To safeguard his recipes the master chef chooses his mute apprentice Masanobu Andō to be his successor and imparts the secrets of his specialties As the chef revealed that the key to the final dish was in using the special cleaver to scale and gut a fish he is unaware he is falling into a trap of his new protege who has different plans for the cleaver After the chef samples the poisoned dishes by the protege and realises the plot he reveals the origins of the cleaver 2 In Greed which is the master chef s story the Swordsman Dugu Cheng Ashton Xu brings a lump of black iron that was cast by Fatty Tang You Benchang by melting down weapons from defeated champion warriors A generation before Dugu Cheng s late father was the victor who routed numerous ambitious pugilists in an attempt to restore peace to the realms and had taken the black iron with him to the grave Dugu Cheng wants to become the new champion and manages to force Fatty Tang into forging the black iron into a sabre just in time to face a host of other of ambitious pugilists who caught up with him During combat Dugu Cheng realises that not everything is as it seems 2 Production editThe Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman is the first feature film from Tang XiRu s 唐郗汝 Beijing based production company First Cut Pictures and the debut feature of director WuErShan 乌尔善 that emerged from the prestigious First Cuts Pictures STAR Screenwriting Workshop and FirstCuts Film Project 3 4 5 It was also Fox International s second Chinese production after Hot Summer Days 2010 2 Release editThe Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman premiered on September 16 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section marking the first time a film from China has been shown at this sidebar 2 3 It was also screened at the Pusan Film Festival 6 The film was presented by Doug Liman at the festival 7 It was released theatrically on 17 March 2011 in Southeast Asia North America Australia and New Zealand simultaneously 8 Reception edit After the premiere in Toronto reception was generally mixed Variety 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 9 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 10 Film Business Asia gave the film a positive rating of seven out of ten praising the script and the cast 2 Cast editKitty Zhang Masanobu Andō You Benchang Liu Xiaoye Ashton Xu Han Pengyi Liu Hua Ning Hao 11 12 References edit 刀見笑 敲定春季檔上映 3月17日全球公映 a b c d e f Elley Derek September 17 2010 The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman 刀見笑 Film Business Asia Archived from the original on February 22 2011 Retrieved September 21 2010 a b Toronto unleashes Butcher in madness Film Business Asia August 18 2010 Archived from the original on August 20 2010 Retrieved September 21 2010 The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman Toronto International Film Festival Archived from the original on January 19 2012 Retrieved September 21 2010 Tang Xiru Xiru Tang CEO of First Cuts Pictures a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Check archive url value help Fox to release Chinese martial arts film The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman Asia Pacific Arts February 23 2011 Fleming Mike August 26 2010 Doug Liman Carries Torch For China Film Deadline Hollywood Retrieved September 21 2010 刀見笑 敲定春季檔上映 3月17日全球公映 Anderson John September 19 2010 The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman Variety Retrieved September 21 2010 Bilton Chris September 14 2010 The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman Eye Weekly Retrieved September 21 2010 The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman at HKMDB The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman at chinesemov comExternal links editThe Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Butcher the Chef and the Swordsman amp oldid 1178944169, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
