The material and spiritual sides of one man's life are reflected in a game that allowed him to become a hero in this historical drama from Chinese director Tian Zhuangzhuang. Wu Qingyuan (Chang Chen) was born to a wealthy family in China, and as a boy he revealed a remarkable talent for the centuries-old game known as Go. Wu's skill for the game was so great that in the 1920s he was given the opportunity to travel to Japan, where he would learn from the grand masters of Go and compete with
champions from around the world. Wu spent most of the rest of his life in Japan, where his life was bordered on one side by Go and on the other by his study of Zen; however, Wu was also a Chinese man living in Japan during a time that the two nations were often in violent conflict, and he found himself viewing some of the most crucial and traumatic events of Japanese history through the eyes of an outsider. Wu Qingyuan received its American premiere at the 2006 New York Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Tian Zhuangzhuang's biopic is a stately and respectful reflection on the life of Wu Qingyuan, one of the 20th century's top players of go, a Japanese game said to rival chess in complexity.
With no attempt made to even explain the basic rules of Go, this is essentially a study of forehead-kneading concentration, of how to shut out even the most tempestuous of world events.
The rapturous camerawork and Chang Chen's performance as Wu both delight, but there's little insight into what makes a game about white and black pebbles so utterly absorbing.
Featuring a game whose practitioners cultivate friendships rather than rivalries, in a time and a place where conflict was otherwise all too easy to find, The Go Master is a biopic of rare subtlety, delicacy and stillness.
As the subject for a film biography, there would seem to be a great deal of material there, but screenwriter Ah Cheng and director Tian Zhuangzhuang make a botch of it.
uhh, it was hard staying up through this one, the pacing and filming style make it hard to not want to nod off. One thing I didn't like was the fact that they didn't talk about why the guy was so good at the game...
No quotes approved yet for The Go Master (Wu Qingyuan). Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'The Go Master (Wu Qingyuan)'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
