Posts Under Chinese Cinema Category
Welcome to today’s edition of Double Bill,if you are new to this series,check out what this series is all about here. The connection between today’s two Chinese films is “two fathers”,interesting topic,uh? Tuya’s Marriage (2006) Tuya’s Marriage is one of the best films that tells the story of the Chinese Minority and won the Golden Bear award at Berlin Festival in… Read more »
Welcome to today’s edition of Double Bill,if you are new to this series,check out what this series is all about here. Today I’m gonna recommend two Chinese films that have one thing in common:black humor,an element that is so rarely seen in Chinese cinema. Blind Shaft (2003) Adapted from the award winning novel Shen Mu by Liu Qingbang,Blind Shaft is… Read more »
From today I’m gonna run a new series called “double bill”,in this series I will try to find and emphasize the connections between two films,the connection could be virtually anything,directors,styles,themes,mise-en-scenes,you name it. Today I’m gonna recommend two films directed by Taiwan auteur Tsai Ming-liang,whose most famous work Vive L’Amour won him a Golden Lion award in Venice Festival 1996. This… Read more »
On 19th this month,Chinese mainland director Lou Ye‘s new film Mystery is gonna be shown in Chinese theaters,which means his 10 year film ban in Chinese mainland is officially over.In today’s Classic Chinese Cinema series,I’m gonna introduce the first real masterpiece of a director I have tremendous respect for,Suzhou River is regarded by me as one of the top 10 Chinese… Read more »
Yeah,this is confirmed,Edward Yang’s melancholic four-hour epic A Brighter Summer Day is confirmed to be released by Criterion in both format of DVD and Blu-Ray,it would probably be the biggest and greatest news in home entertainment in 2012. So what’s so great about it? First,the status of A Brighter Summer Day in Chinese Cinema history is unshakable.In the latest “Top 100… Read more »
There are two versions of prison movies,one is prison break movies like Shawshank Redemption,Le Trou and A Man Escaped,the other is fantasy movies like The Green Mile.The Hong Kong film Prison on Fire doesn’t belong to neither of them,it’s the third kind,the realistic prison movie without any smart attempts of prison break or fantastic special effects of any kind. The plot… Read more »
In March 2011,Central Motion Picture Corporation released four Taiwan masterpieces in BD+DVD packages,including The Terrorizers(Edward Yang),Vive L’Amour(Tsai Ming-liang),Tropical Fish(Chen Yu-hsun) and The Personals(Chen Kuo-fu),plus the previous 2010 released BD of Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Dust in the Wind,these five BDs are the best digitally restored films ever by a Chinese restoration and contribution company. The BD+DVD package of the CMPC released The… Read more »
Today is Chinese actress Maggie Cheung‘s 48th birthday,famously known for the role she played in Wong’s phenomenal In the Mood for Love,this Oriental beauty hasn’t lost her charm a bit,and as time goes by,her real charm of maturity only begins to reveal. Born in Hong Kong, Maggie Cheung traces her family roots to Shanghai. Her family emigrated from Hong Kong… Read more »
Until today I’ve written four posts in this series,unlike the previous classic and arthouse type,today I’m gonna introduce a very entertaining flick from top-notch Hong Kong crime genre filmmaker Johnnie To and his Milky Way Image. Running Out of Time is the most accessible Chinese-language film I can think of,and if you are a crime genre lover,I believe you are gonna… Read more »
“The bombs we plant in each other are ticking away” -Edward Yang In my last 3 posts of this classic Chinese cinema series,I’ve covered cinema from Mainland and Hong Kong,today I’m introducing an early masterpiece from a towering figure in Taiwan cinema history,Edward Yang,who is also my favorite Chinese-language film director. Yang only shot seven feature films and a… Read more »
Today I’m writing something very personal.Yeah,Brighter Summer Day,Chungking Express,Raining in the Mountain etc etc are my fave Chinese language films,but this one,Xiao Wu by Mainland China “Sixth Generation” director Jia Zhangke,is the only one which made me have a sudden impulse to make films,make films just like his. The Intro Quotes I know many of you may have never… Read more »
Ann Hui is a Hong Kong film director, film producer and occasional screenwriter, one of the most critically acclaimed amongst the Hong Kong New Wave. She is best known for her controversial films surrounding the topics of social issues in Hong Kong.Her last work – A Simple Life swept the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards,winning in all 5 major categories,which… Read more »
When talking about wuxia film,King Hu‘s Raining in the Mountain is a quintessential one.Not only because it has actions in wuxia style,but also it explains the meaning of Zen perfectly well.After his other masterpieces like Come Drink with Me,Dragon Inn and A Touch of Zen,his unique artistry reached pinnacle with this film. The Story An esquire brings a female thief and his bailiff… Read more »
10 famous Hongkong directors were asked to list their Top 20 Chinese-language Films by Hong Kong Film Awards Association,from today,I’m gonna track them down one by one on my blog.So if you are interested to see more Chinese films,get ready to collect some real gems.I will include a hyperlink and picture for each title for you to get more familiar… Read more »
Ranked as No.1 in movieview(the No.1 movie magazine in China)’s 100 Years of Hongkong Cinema, The Love Eterne is more than a classic,it’s more like a legend in terms of its achievements and importance in Hongkong cinema history.If you’d like to see something quintessential Chinese,this one should be your first choice. The Artform All the dialogues in the film is sung in Huangmei… Read more »
European critic called him “The HongKong Melville”,Local fans called him John Woo’s successor.His “Mad Detective” was included in Eureka’s Master of Cinema,which is the sole film from HongKong cinema there.Being one of the only two(the other is Ann Hui) remaining auteurs still working today,Johnnie To is the hope of the dying HongKong cinema. It is really tough to write a… Read more »
