I just ran across a fascinating article by Mekado Murphy about the making of the film The Grandmaster, by Wong Kar-Wai. The article is on the New York Times.
http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/below-the-line-shooting-the-grandmaster/?_php=true&_type=blogs&nl=movies&emc=edit_fm_20140131&_r=0
Some scenes took two months to shoot, due to their complexity. The whole film took three years to make.
We saw the film last year, and it was absolutely beautiful in every way. Wong Kar-Wai is a wonderful artist.