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…
With the long-awaited sequel The Storm Warriors out next Monday, we look back at the original adaptation of Ma Wing-Shing’s comic book Fung Wan, directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs)… (more…)
A French co-production, Johnnie To’s superb (partly) English debut pays homage to Jean-Pierre Melville’s classic Le Samouraï… (more…)
Finally out in the UK on DVD and Blu-Ray, S.P.L.: Kill Zone, starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung and Simon Yen. Here’s the UK promo to give you a taster…
Finally released in the UK – thanks to a tie-up between Cine Asia and Weinstein’s US-based Dragon Dynasty label – one of the best martial arts films of the last decade…! (more…)
Mad Detective writer/director Wai Ka-fai and lead Lau Ching-wan reunite for a sad, soppy, sloppy mess of a film… (more…)
The 33rd Hong Kong International Film Festival is now in full swing, after a gala premiere of Ashes Of Time Redux (yes, I know – well after the rest of the world?). There was a rare public appearance from Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia, long retired from the film industry. Director Wong Kar-wai also attended, with Tony Leung and his wife Carina Lau, and Charlie Yueng.
Elsewhere, John Woo and Tsui Hark celebrated the 25th anniversary of the production company they set up, Film Workshop, best known for 80s classics A Better Tomorrow and Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain.
Wong Kar-wai returns to his 1994 classic to produce a definite version – but is it really any better…? (more…)
Next Monday quite possibly the best martial arts/kung fu film ever finally makes its way on to DVD in UK! (more…)
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…)
Lau Ching Wan (Mad Detective, The Longest Nite) and Francis Ng (The Bride With White Hair, 2000 AD) star in this superbly paced thriller from writer/director Ringo Lam (Full Contact, City On Fire)… (more…)
Three undisputed masters of contemporary Hong Kong cinema – Tsui Hark (Seven Swords; Zu Warriors; Once Upon A Time In China), Ringo Lam (Full Contact; City On Fire) and Johnny To (Mad Detective; PTU) – join forces for the first time ever to apply their directorial skills ‘exquisite corpse’ style to Triangle, an “inventive, and darkly comic” (Mail on Sunday) crime thriller starring Louis Koo (Flashpoint), Simon Yam (SPL; Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life), Honglei Sun (Mongol; Seven Swords), Lam Ka Tung (Mad Detective; Infernal Affairs) and Kelly Lin (Mad Detective; Zu Warriors).
Three of Hong Kong’s most respected directors – Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnnie To – each take one half-hour segment of the same plotline, each with complete creative control – but is it any more than an self-indulgent experiment? (more…)
There’s something in the air all right… but Beijing Olympics or not, haven’t we seen it all before? (more…)
Triangle, featuring the combined directing talents of Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnny To, is released Manga Entertainment at selected cinemas on 29 August.
