Craig Skinner

If asked in the dying embers of 2010 as to my ‘Most Anticipated Film of 2011’ I would have most likely quickly replied Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmasters, or more probably The Grandmaster (its earlier title). Fast forward twelve months, it’s December 2011, the year is almost over and I’ve still not seen The Grandmasters. To the best of my knowledge no-one has. Sure, some footage played in Berlin to buyers and a trailer was released online but no finished film has yet emerged for myself or anyone else to have, hopefully, the pleasure of watching.

It’s probably safe to say I am something of a fan of Wong Kar-wai’s films, friends would probably argue an obsessive one, and I’m fully aware of his predilection towards taking his time and going back for reshoots upon reshoots upon reshoots. I’ve therefore followed every new tidbit of information to have leaked out hoping for some sign of an impending release or festival screening but fully aware that I might still have some time to wait. Whilst there’s still no firm news of a release date I’m optimistically making it my ‘Most Anticipated Film of 2012’ regardless. There’s still twelve months of 2012 to go after all. Even if The Grandmasters is finally finished and screened in 2012 I will almost certainly be watching it at a film festival or on imported Blu-ray though.

Unfortunately, The Weinstein Company purchased the UK distribution rights to The Grandmasters in February and surprisingly I’m not too interested in waiting until 2015 to watch the brother’s re-edit of The Grandmasters with Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ playing over the opening credits.