| Yim Ho (director of Kitchen) and Tony Leung Kar-Fai wrote the screenplay about two respective masters of chess and how they're treated by two different eras of Asian history. In flashback, we witness Wong (Leung), the king of chess, and a band of fellow citizens unwillingly caught up in the cultural revolution and having their desires and skills suppressed by the regime. In modern day Taiwan, a psychic young chess master being treated the opposite as his skills are exploited.
The connections between the different stories are there but not interest or involvement. Yim Ho gets most power and poignancy out of the flashback story and the sentiment about getting the government to recognize a skill not created through the revolution but held on to by the ordinary man. The modern day segment is more sketchy and frankly barely made to work in connection to the past story so it's half an interesting and well-shot film, half filler.
Yim Ho's original version was entirely set in the 60s but reportedly, the end result was not pleasing to producer Tsui Hark who thought Yim Ho was too soft on communism. Tsui stepped in as director and shot all of the modern day footage in Taiwan with John Shum for it to work as a parallel story. As much as I love Tsui, it doesn't really work and it would be interesting to see the full extent of Yim Ho's work instead (who still gets sole directing credit). Thanks to Mark for the above information. |
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