The Promise (Wu Ji), Chen Kaige film starring Jang Dong Gun, Hiroyuki Sanada Options

[minami]

The Promise's Premiere on 29 Sept in Chengdu
Source: www.jangdonggun.com.cn
Translated by dreamer of Just Jang Dong Gun.com


The Promise will premier on 29 Sept at 8.30 pm in one theater in Chengdu, Sichuan, China ahead of its official release in December. This is to comply with the eligibility requirment to represent China to compete in next year's Oscar for the best foreign language film. The movie will be screened in a small theater with only about 100 seating capacity and will be screened once a day only for 7 consecutive days starting from 29 September. To prevent piracy, very strict rules and regulations were set for the purchase of tickets and admission to theater.

A few JDG fans from DG Teahouse queued up at 6.00 am on 29 Sept morning to purchase tickets (no advance booking of tickets allowed) for the premiere on 29 Sept. A promotional booklet on The Promise and a T-shirt were given away with the purchase of ticket.


Zi Jing Cineplex in Chengdu where The Promise is being screened


Poster of The Promise displayed outside Zi Jing cineplex




Posters displayed inside the cineplex



Fans queueing up for the tickets


Lucky fans who managed to purchase the tickets


Notice at ticket counter at the cineplex: "Tickets for today sold out. Please come again tomorrow"

[minami]

More pictures from Sina:

Movie fans waiting outside the cineplex


Press reporters waiting outside the cineplex


Producer/Actress Chen Hong outside the cineplex


Director Chen Kaige


Cinematorgraphy Director Peter Pau


Dreamer's translation from Jang Dong Gun.com:

According to the news at sina.com, all the tickets were sold out in less than 5 minutes. When the ticket counter of the cineplex was open at 9 am this morning (29 Sept), a big group of movie fans already gathered outside the cineplex waiting to purchase the tickets. A fan even arrived as early as 4 am to queue up for the tickets.

[freebird]

hello minami, thanks for starting the thread
Btw, have you read the review? I didnt. I'll be patient till I watch it myself

[minami]

Hi there freebird

I've only skimmed the reviews very briefly, just to glean that the initial response is quite positive. JDG's kunlun has received the most praises from early viewers. There are some chinese forums and sites out there with people only too eager to spoil the story (leaked information) but I refuse to read those.

Are you excited about the movie's nomination by China for the oscar? Pretty cool huh. I personally feel that Zhang Yi Mou's latest movie Riding Alone for Thousand of Miles is the type of human drama story that the Oscar voters have a predilection for. I'm happy that The Promise is China's oscar entry but it does have stiff competition from other asian entries, particularly from HK and Taiwan. Perhaps Love and The Wayward Cloud are getting great word of mouth too - one is a musical, the other is a provocative artistic film.

[elizabeth]

The cast is good... so many new and good movies are coming out these days.. I'm thinking about wanting to see this one too.

[AL_NT_ATT]

OMG! i've been waiting for this movie for what TWO YEARS!!!??? seriously WANNA watch this movie! ahh! come out soon!! =D!

[freebird]

Are you excited about the movie's nomination by China for the oscar? Pretty cool huh. I personally feel that Zhang Yi Mou's latest movie Riding Alone for Thousand of Miles is the type of human drama story that the Oscar voters have a predilection for. I'm happy that The Promise is China's oscar entry but it does have stiff competition from other asian entries, particularly from HK and Taiwan. Perhaps Love and The Wayward Cloud are getting great word of mouth too - one is a musical, the other is a provocative artistic film.

I dont know about the other movies, but hope The Promise can get high attention from international audience, especially for one man..you know , and it'll be good if The Promise can win

I like the poster

[minami]

^ Me too. I am tired of waiting for the movie to be released.

The Promise teaser posters
Source: http://www.monkeypeaches.com/wuji.html

[minami]

I dont know about the other movies, but hope The Promise can get high attention from international audience, especially for one man..you know , and it'll be good if The Promise can win

I like the poster

Me too. That poster encaptures stunningly the rich emotions the lead characters go through.

The Promise Official Website - Sina.com
web: http://www.thepromise.sina.com.cn/

[MSLINNY]

o damn. this movie looks really good. damn i wanna see this too.

[minami]

Japanese Poster for The Promise - just released



The Promise trailer - Japanese version - 1:33

http://www.warnerbros.jp/broadband/trailer/71.wvx
or
http://station.streaming-tv.net/wb/promise_trailer1000k.wmv

Source: http://www.warnerbros.jp

[babygurldoc]

^ Holy crap, thanx so much for the trailer, man that was amazing. Cant wait till the movie comes out.

[freebird]

Thanks for trailer, minami

[minami]

Extracted from : http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2005-10-09/0838859854.html

Shenyang Today Press
2005.10.9
The Promise production team conducted a survey among the viewers who have watched the movie in Chengdu during its special screening. Result showed that among all the elements of the movie, visual/cinematography element scored the highest point. Jang Dong Gun was evaluated as the favourite and the most successful role.



========================================================================

Extracted from : http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2005-10-09/0620859805.html

Hua Shanbau
2005.10. 9

In the survey conducted on the viewers who have watched The Promise during its special screening at Chengdu recently, the film company listed 5 questions and the viewers answered objectively. 91.8% of the viewers approved of the movie. On the characters of the movie, Kunlun played by Jang Dong Gun and Qing Cheng played by Cecilia Cheung received the most approval while Man Shen played by Chen Hong only received only 8% of the votes.

Chen Hong, when interviewed by the reporter on the survey result which showed that JDG is the favourite and she the least favourite among the viewers, said: “ Viewers like Kunlun played by JDG and don’t like my character, that is right. Because JDG is the absolute leading actor. All the viewers like him after watching the movie, especially the children and many ladies. He has the supernatural power and eyes as innocent as a 3 year old child. My role is not a major role, it's only natural that viewers don’t like my role. This showed that our movie is very successful.”


(Translated by dreamer for Just Jang Dong Gun.com)

^ Holy crap, thanx so much for the trailer, man that was amazing. Cant wait till the movie comes out.

Thanks for trailer, minami

U're welcome gals. The trailer reveals the movie's gorgeous cinematography, and Kunlun is looking very powerful. I can't wait.

Another sneak peak review below (minimal spoilers, but you've been warned) --

Source: http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2005-10-01/1613856287.html

2005.10.01 Shanghai Youth Paper

Extract: The Promise – Beautiful. Let’s give it a scorecard

What do you think of the film? “Pretty good, the cinematography is exceptionally beautiful” What do you think it the meaning of The Promise in the movie? “The Promise… hmmm…. It’s pretty abstract!”

At 8pm yesterday, the most anticipated Chen Kaige’s film of the year “The Promise” was finally unveiled at a movie theater in Chengdu and Chen Kaige surprisingly brought his whole family along, passing through the security check; depositing his hand phone and sat in the theater, waiting anxiously and excitedly for the response and opinions from the very first batch of audiences.

Director Chen was not disappointed. When the lights came back up, the theater was filled with applause. The Promise, an imaginary world of good and evil has got the approval of the majority of the audiences. “Not bad, the movie was pretty good” It’s only when the reporters asked about what they understood from the meaning of The Promise did they become speechless and was troubled, “It’s too abstract!” In The Promise, Chen Kaige has boldly attempted to mix commercialism with art, the cinematography was very finely produced and the story line continue to reflect on what Chen Kaige is known for – his philosophical ponderings.

The Scores:

Cinematography : 9 points

Comments: “At the start of the movie, a flowering Chinese crab-apple tree was shown on a backdrop of the deep blue sky. It was very beautiful. The entire movie emphasized on the aesthetics, the contrast of the colors was astounding, magnificent. It was very nice to see. Besides the fact that there were some traces of the individual stunts, basically the movie was perfect.

Performance by the actors: 9 points

Everyone did very well and was outstanding, I especially liked Jang Dong Gun’s eye expressions, Nicholas Tse was really very cool, Sanada’s acting was very strong….. what astounded me was Jang Dong Gun and Sanada’s voice recording, they are really very professional and unbelievable, every sentence and word was very clear and précised. The voice dubbing was even better than those Hong Kong or Taiwan stars.

Special Effects: 8 points

Overall it was not bad, the scenes were very grand and it blended quite naturally with the special effects. The pace and the tone were pretty good, especially the scene with the herds (cow) men. It was incredible and spectacular.

Story line/Plot : 9 points

This is a very touching story and it will challenge the innermost feeling of the audience, especially at the end of the story when everyone’s conflict and dilemma built up to a climax – the real and the untruths, trust, deceit, true love…. The world starts to change and become complex.

Musical score/ production: 7 points

Everyone’s attention will be focused on the cinematography and the fates of the characters and will pay less attention to the music. The drum beats during the war scene, there were actually observant audiences who noticed that the pace of the movie was in fact quicker than the rhythm of the music.

Translated by Yuki for Just Jang Dong Gun

[HappyGirl]

Japanese Poster for The Promise - just released



The Promise trailer - Japanese version - 1:33

http://www.warnerbros.jp/broadband/trailer/71.wvx
or
http://station.streaming-tv.net/wb/promise_trailer1000k.wmv

Source: http://www.warnerbros.jp

Is something wrong with the 2nd link? I can't see the trailer.

[jisung]

French Posters






The Promise or La Promesse (Wu Ji), will be released in France on 18 January 2006 by TFM Distribution

source: www.monkeypeaches.com/wuji.html

[freebird]

Kunlun

Source: sina.com




Source: takungpao.com, mingpaonews.com,appledaily.com















Thanks to Dreamer from Just Jang Dong Gun

Is something wrong with the 2nd link? I can't see the trailer.

Yes, the link is not working anymore, it was suddenly stop working while my downloading reach 6%
Minami, mind to upload it in other source, please?

[elizabeth]

the trailers are so good.

[kaid]

is something wrong with the link? i can't seem to watch the trailer?

[minami]

Yes, the link is not working anymore, it was suddenly stop working while my downloading reach 6%
Minami, mind to upload it in other source, please?

Sure freebird, here it is:

http://s26.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1UZ0KT4...CL18V6WZD7U1DU8

Enjoy!