The full programme for the Venice Film Festival has been announced, including new films by Takashi Miike and Tsui Hark, and the adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood (more…)
The full programme for the Venice Film Festival has been announced, including new films by Takashi Miike and Tsui Hark, and the adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood…
There are several upcoming treats in store at the Venice Film Festival, which is often host to a first glimpse of some of the more interesting Asian films (and, in some cases, the nearest to the mainstream that they get).
There’ll be a lot of interest in Takashi Miike’s latest film, a (doubtlessly very personal) take on a samurai tale, 13 Assassins, which also happens to be a co-production with the UK. Also on show will be the highly-anticipated version of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood by Tran Anh Hung, the first full length novel Murakami has allowed to be adapted.
Hong Kong stalwart Tsui Hark is also in competition with Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame. I, for one, have fingers crossed that we see a true return to form.
Out of competition there’s more from Miike, Zebraman and Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City; the latest from Infernal Affairs director Andrew Lau, The Return of Chen Zhen; The Child’s Eye 3D, the first Chinese/Hong Kong 3D film(?) from (who else but) the Pang Brothers; Reign of Assassins by John Woo and Su Chao-Pin starring Michelle Yeoh; Shock Labyrinth 3D by Ju-on: The Grudgedirector Takashi Shimizu; and Space Guy by Zhang Yuan.
The festival runs from 1 to 11 September, and hopefully we should get to see some of the fallout soon afterwards…
A decade on Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok return as Wind and Cloud in this highly-anticipated sequel to The Storm Riders by The Pang Brothers, directors of The Eye – but if special effects have come a long way in that time, the art of narrative seems somewhat lacking… (more…)
UK in shock release of Hong Kong film really, really, really close to it’s original debut on DVD and Blu-ray. Yes, that’s right – only a couple of months since its release, Storm Warriors, the highly-anticipated sequel to Storm Riders, directed by the Pang brothers (The Eye, Bangkok Dangerous, Re-Cycle), will be released in the UK by Cine Asia.
Directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Initial D, Confession of Pain), the original The Storm Riders marked the first major use of CGI effects in a Hong Kong film, a watermark point in cinema. (Whether those effects stand up to close scrutiny now is largely inconsequential.)
Reuniting the original stars Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok as Wind and Cloud, Storm Warriors promises to be a visual feast…
(..I know I can’t wait!)
With the upcoming release of the live-action version, what better time to revisit the original that started it all… (more…)
The Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2009 runs at London’s Prince Charles Cinema off Leciester Square from today until Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracota Distribution, the festival some of the best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.
Opening the festival is Eye For An Eye, the eagerly awaited crime-thriller from directors Ahn Kwon-tae (My Brother) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Typhoon). Starring Han Suk-kyu (A Bloody Aria; The President’s Last Bang) and Cha Seung-won (Small Town Rivals; Ghost House), this Heat-style thriller concerns a soon-to-retire police detective who is drawn into an elaborate plot of robbery and revenge when he begins to investigate a heist during which one of the perpetrators impersonated him in order to pull off the crime.
Among the festival’s many highlights are: The Detective, the latest mystery-thriller from co-writer and director Oxide Pang Chun (Bangkok Dangerous; The Messengers; The Eye trilogy; The Tesseract); director Johnnie To’s (Mad Detective; Triangle; PTU) Sparrow, starring Simon Yam and Kelly Lin; the Malaysian horror-comedy, Zombies From Banana Village; and the martial arts action-thriller Legendary Assassin, which marks the co-directorial debuts of star Jacky Wu (Fatal Contact; The Legend of Zu; Drunken Monkey) and Jackie Chan’s longtime stunt coordinator Chung Chi Li. The festival’s programme will also include the films Muay Thai Chaya, Kim Ki-duk’s Dream, Keeping Watch, Ghost In The Shell (2.0), Me… Myself, After School and God Man Dog, the winner of the “Tagesspiegel” Readers’ Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Tickets are available for separate screenings, or you can get a festival pass for the whole weekend. Full details of the Terracota Far East Festival can be found at the official website »
The UK’s premier annual Asian film festival, the Terracotta Far East Festival, will be held over four days this year at London’s Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday 21st May to Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracotta Entertainment Group, the festival will feature 13 handpicked films representing the very best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.
Opening the festival is Eye For An Eye, the eagerly awaited crime-thriller from directors Ahn Kwon-tae (My Brother) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Typhoon). Starring Han Suk-kyu (A Bloody Aria; The President’s Last Bang) and Cha Seung-won (Small Town Rivals; Ghost House), this Heat-style thriller concerns a soon-to-retire police detective who is drawn into an elaborate plot of robbery and revenge when he begins to investigate a heist during which one of the perpetrators impersonated him in order to pull off the crime.
Among the festival’s many highlights are: The Detective, the latest mystery-thriller from co-writer and director Oxide Pang Chun (Bangkok Dangerous; The Messengers; The Eye trilogy; The Tesseract); director Johnnie To’s (Mad Detective; Triangle; PTU) Sparrow, starring Simon Yam and Kelly Lin; the Malaysian horror-comedy, Zombies From Banana Village; and the martial arts action-thriller Legendary Assassin, which marks the co-directorial debuts of star Jacky Wu (Fatal Contact; The Legend of Zu; Drunken Monkey) and Jackie Chan’s longtime stunt coordinator Chung Chi Li. The festival’s programme will also include the films Muay Thai Chaya, Kim Ki-duk’s Dream, Keeping Watch, Ghost In The Shell (2.0), Me… Myself, After School and God Man Dog, the winner of the “Tagesspiegel” Readers’ Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Full details of the TERRACOTTA FAR EAST FESTIVAL can be found at the festival’s official website »
The UK’s premier annual Asian film festival, the Terracotta Far East Festival, will be held over four days this year at London’s Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday 21st May to Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracotta Entertainment Group, the festival will feature 13 handpicked films representing the very best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.
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Oh dear, Angelica Lee’s (The Eye, Re-cycle) seeing dead people again. Again. This time Tsui Hark’s at the helm in this rather convoluted psychological thriller… (more…)
There’s something in the air all right… but Beijing Olympics or not, haven’t we seen it all before? (more…)
The Pang Brothers remake of their own classic Bangkok Dangerous opens at cinemas in the US and UK on 5 September, after being released around Europe from 22 August.
Danny Pang proves he can no longer see the wood for the trees in this disappointing, ill-conceived, badly scripted horror-thriller… (more…)
How terrible does this look? The Pang Brothers get to remake their classic original success – with Nicholas Cage in the lead? Oh, and is it just me, or have they remade John Woo’s The Killer by accident?
Let’s hope their sequel to The Storm Riders, Storm Warriors, delivers…
Bangkok Dangerous gets released in the US on 5 September after being ‘tried out’ in Europe for a bit.
The Pang Brothers reunite with the star of The Eye for another imaginative horror… (more…)
The Pang Brothers do it again with a worthy scary follow-up to their acclaimed horror The Eye, starring the Gorgeous Shu Qi… (more…)
