Product Details

• Actors: Jaycee Chan, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Angelica Lee
• Directors: Kenneth Bi
• Format: NTSC, Color, Widescreen, Subtitled, Import
• Subtitles: English, Chinese
• Region: Region 3 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001G5KEL8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #546,555 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

YOU MUST HAVE A REGION 3 OR MULTI-SYSTEM DVD PLAYER TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. Sent away to rural Taiwan after entering into a forbidden affair with the daughter of his father's most dangerous rival, the musically gifted son of a powerful Triad boss experiences a newfound sense of balance in life upon entering into an apprenticeship with a Zen drumming troupe. Sid Kwan is a reckless musician who threatens to rock the entire underworld when he makes love to the beautiful Carmen. Carmen is the daughter of Stephen Ma, perhaps the most notorious Triad leader in the Hong Kong underworld. Should Carmen's father find out about the clandestine affair, the streets would likely be ablaze with gunfire, and Sid would certainly be the first to fall. Hoping that his son's life will be spared if he is out of sight, Sid's father sends the restless boy to lie low in rural Taiwan. Shortly after his arrival, Sid stumbles across a Zen drumming troupe who live and play together deep in the forest. Their passion and athleticism instantly mesmerizing to the entranced newcomer, Sid immediately asks if he might become a part of the unique community. While Sid's apprenticeship is at first straining, the clarity that he experiences after ingratiating himself to the community helps him make sense of the chaos that nearly consumed him back in Hong Kong and discover the peace that comes from owning up to his father's dark legacy. In Mandarin with ENGLISH subtitles

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Drumming without drumming", February 5, 2010

By 

Javier Arao Toyohara (Mexico, DF Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Drummer (DVD)

Do you like percussions? Are you interested in Chinese traditions? Would you like to see how Zen drummers devote every breath of their life to help the drum sound? Have you reached all your potential? If you're interested in these themes, "The Drummer" will speak to you.

The story

"The Drummer" confronts two societies: a powerful triad empire in Hong Kong and a community faithfully devoted to austerity and tradition.

Sid (Jaycee Chan) is a boy of a triad leader and also a modern drummer; he is a talent but haughty youngster who lives on the edge of danger. Sid defies triad authority and gets emotionally involved with the girlfriend of Stephen Ma (a top executive of the organization), who sentences a severe penalty for the disrespectful kid. Sid's father (Kwan) and Stephen Ma, negotiate a punishment for the boy. Despite being in debt with Chief Ma, Kwan assumes a high risk and sends his son to Taiwan to save him from the terrible sentence.

Hidden in the mountains, Sid observes a practice session of Zen drummers. As a percussionist himself, Sid recognizes the high class performance of those consummated artists. In a display of arrogance, Sid promotes himself to join the group. Despite the disagreement of some members, Lan Jie (the supervisor of the band) allows Sid to adhere the community, because she perceives with compassion a sad kid who is asking for help.

Once accepted, Sid undergoes a tough but beautiful process of transformation through Zen practices. The film sequences in the mountains of Taiwan are inspirational; the Director (Kenneth Bi) drives the audience to a unique journey, fulfilled with remarkable values of the Zen society; this passage reveals the physical and spiritual activities Zen drummers follow to help the drum sound. At the same time, in the contrasting world of triads, Kwan must face the consequences due the alternative plan he executed to protect his kid.

Several months later, the destiny moves Sid to Hong Kong, he is still in the process of redemption, and the circumstances force him to face the crossroad of his life: Take care of his father's business or to continue his inner journey through drumming.

The performers

The actors of The Drummer don't act, they are the personages.It is impressive the way they got involved in the characters. In my opinion, their performances reach the zenith in the final sequence, which is quite difficult, because the actors express themselves with every resource they have, except with dialogues. For information about the cast & crew members, visit the drummer's website.

The artwork

The amalgamation of the soundtrack of Andre Matthias and cinematography of Sam Koa is truly exciting. The artwork reaches the summit in the final sequence with the outstanding performance of the U Theater troup.

Chinese's insights.

The Drummer enlightens many Chinese thoughts, I'd like to comment two of them:

"We practice Kung Fu, no to conquer others, but to conquer ourselves". The traditional practice of Kung Fu (work & dedication) doesn't include a ranking system to assign grades of expertise to its practitioners. In this discipline, students start as beginners and -no matter how long they train- they will always consider themselves as beginners. To overcome the lack of external recognition, the pupils of Kung Fu track their progress in terms of the internal benefits they receive, for instance: health, emotional stability and vitality. That means, the baseline of their development is their own performance, that's why their goal is: to "conquer themselves"

"Drumming without drumming". An interpretation of that phrase goes beyond the acoustic level. It can be identify three stages in drumming process, a) the drummer learns the methods to conquer the instrument, b) when the drummer dominates the techniques, the drum becomes his extension; at this point the artist starts to express his emotions trough the instrument, and c) the drummer "forgets" his techniques, loses his ego and becomes one with the drum, that's when the musician doesn't play with his hands; his heart beats along with the drum, so, at this phase the artist: "drums without drumming".

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A different "coming of age" movie, November 16, 2010

By 

Burton Lo (Encinitas, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Drummer (DVD)

This film offers a different take on growing up. Sure, many recognizable story elements are in place, but for me, this movie provided many different opportunities to relate, and appreciate, the growth and maturation of the characters.

I've watched this several times, a luxury towards film that has diminished over time. As I get older, my days have become more full and my values have changed; to want to watch a movie more than once strikes me as peculiar for a variety of reasons. Thus, I'm a bit reluctant to share details to a new viewer.

I will say this, purposefully dancing around details. There's a quality to the film that I can best describe as "authenticity". Yes, dramatic license is taken, and this _is_ a storybook tale, but if you're willing to walk with the film at its own pace, to hold back on assigning expectation or judgment, I think you may find that this movie will touch you.

I wish I could have a conversation with each of you that watches this. I cherish this movie in some ways, and sharing a story like this with others is a lot of fun for me.

I encourage you to watch this movie, and I hope you enjoy it as I did.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie - Glad we own it, August 2, 2010

By 

Buckeye_Jim - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Drummer (DVD)

While the story line was a little bit unbelievable in places, the emotional impact and the characters carried the movie. I highly recommend this movie for its story of transformation and redeption.