The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is pleased to announce that one of Asia's most internationally acclaimed actors, Tony Leung, will serve as the President of the International Competition jury at the 37th TIFF.
TIFF Chairman Ando Hiroyasu expressed his delight that the renowned actor would be returning to TIFF again after last year's wonderful masterclass and screening. (See further comments below)
Tony Leung has an extensive list of awards throughout a career that began in the 1980s, and has gained international recognition for collaborations with director Wong Kar-wai, with whom he has worked on seven films including In the Mood for Love (2000), which earned him the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor Award, and 2046 (2004). He also appeared in three films that won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival: A City of Sadness (1989), directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Cyclo (1995), directed by Tran Anh Hung, and Lust, Caution (2007) by director Ang Lee.
TIFF Chairman Ando Hiroyasu expressed his delight that the renowned actor would be returning to TIFF again after last year's wonderful masterclass and screening. (See further comments below)
Tony Leung has an extensive list of awards throughout a career that began in the 1980s, and has gained international recognition for collaborations with director Wong Kar-wai, with whom he has worked on seven films including In the Mood for Love (2000), which earned him the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor Award, and 2046 (2004). He also appeared in three films that won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival: A City of Sadness (1989), directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Cyclo (1995), directed by Tran Anh Hung, and Lust, Caution (2007) by director Ang Lee.
- 5/17/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Leading Hong Kong actor Tony Leung has been set as the president of the jury that will decide the main competition prizes at the Tokyo International Film Festival later this year.
“Japan is close to my heart in more ways than one. And to be involved in celebrating film in this way, is a big deal for me. From the age of 12, growing up in Hong Kong, I remember going to see all the classic Japanese movies from that time. These exciting trips to the cinema were the start of a great love affair between Japanese film, people and its culture for me, that has just grown and grown. I’m already expecting the festival to be full of surprises and a lot of fun to preside over, I’m sure. What I hope is that it will be a bit of an adventure, with an audacious line up of quality films.
“Japan is close to my heart in more ways than one. And to be involved in celebrating film in this way, is a big deal for me. From the age of 12, growing up in Hong Kong, I remember going to see all the classic Japanese movies from that time. These exciting trips to the cinema were the start of a great love affair between Japanese film, people and its culture for me, that has just grown and grown. I’m already expecting the festival to be full of surprises and a lot of fun to preside over, I’m sure. What I hope is that it will be a bit of an adventure, with an audacious line up of quality films.
- 5/17/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Tony Leung will serve as the president of the international competition jury at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, organizers announced on Friday.
The Hong Kong acting icon, who gave a masterclass at the festival last year, will return to Tokyo to head up a jury that will be announced at a later date. Leung has a long history with Tokyo Film Festival and had attended the event for the screening of his 2013 film The Grandmaster.
Leung is widely considered one of the greatest actors Asia has produced. Best known globally for his work with Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, the pair have worked on seven films together — Days of Being Wild (1990), Chungking Express (1994), Ashes of Time (1994), Happy Together (1997), In the Mood for Love (2000), 2046 (2004), and The Grandmaster (2013). Leung has also starred in three films — A City of Sadness (1989), Cyclo (1995) and Lust, Caution (2007) — that have won the Golden Lion prize...
The Hong Kong acting icon, who gave a masterclass at the festival last year, will return to Tokyo to head up a jury that will be announced at a later date. Leung has a long history with Tokyo Film Festival and had attended the event for the screening of his 2013 film The Grandmaster.
Leung is widely considered one of the greatest actors Asia has produced. Best known globally for his work with Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, the pair have worked on seven films together — Days of Being Wild (1990), Chungking Express (1994), Ashes of Time (1994), Happy Together (1997), In the Mood for Love (2000), 2046 (2004), and The Grandmaster (2013). Leung has also starred in three films — A City of Sadness (1989), Cyclo (1995) and Lust, Caution (2007) — that have won the Golden Lion prize...
- 5/17/2024
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Zhang Yimou is set to receive the Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Far East Film Festival (Feff).
The auteur, a key figure in China’s Fifth Generation of filmmakers, is best known for his films Raise the Red Lantern, Red Sorghum, To Live, Hero and House of the Flying Daggers, and was also directed the memorable opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Also receiving the coveted Golden Mulberry at the 26th edition of Feff is Taiwanese producer Chiu Fu-sheng. Chiu, a legendary figure in the Asian film industry, is known for his collaborations with auteur filmmakers including Hou Hsiao-hsien, producing A City of Sadness (1989) and The Puppetmaster (1993) and Zhang, producing both Raise the Red Lantern and To Live (1994). Zhang’s 2023 film Under the Light will also compete in the main competition at Feff.
Feff, the respected Italian festival that takes place in the northern city of Udine,...
The auteur, a key figure in China’s Fifth Generation of filmmakers, is best known for his films Raise the Red Lantern, Red Sorghum, To Live, Hero and House of the Flying Daggers, and was also directed the memorable opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Also receiving the coveted Golden Mulberry at the 26th edition of Feff is Taiwanese producer Chiu Fu-sheng. Chiu, a legendary figure in the Asian film industry, is known for his collaborations with auteur filmmakers including Hou Hsiao-hsien, producing A City of Sadness (1989) and The Puppetmaster (1993) and Zhang, producing both Raise the Red Lantern and To Live (1994). Zhang’s 2023 film Under the Light will also compete in the main competition at Feff.
Feff, the respected Italian festival that takes place in the northern city of Udine,...
- 3/26/2024
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Italy’s Udine has unveiled the full line-up for its 26th edition, which will honour Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou with an honorary award and world premiere restored versions of his Raise The Red Lantern and To Live.
Running April 24 to May 2, the festival will open with a double bill: Chinese box office hit Yolo and South Korean action-comedy Citizen Of A Kind.
Yolo dominated this year’s Lunar New Year releases, grossing $484m in China, and is directed by Jia Ling, who stars as an unemployed woman in her 30s whose life is...
Running April 24 to May 2, the festival will open with a double bill: Chinese box office hit Yolo and South Korean action-comedy Citizen Of A Kind.
Yolo dominated this year’s Lunar New Year releases, grossing $484m in China, and is directed by Jia Ling, who stars as an unemployed woman in her 30s whose life is...
- 3/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
“The last thing I hate is that life always forces us to keep moving forwards.”
In the aftermath of the New York Film Festival, reporter Vincent Canby wrote an article about the films of the festival he aptly named “Why Some Films Don't Travel Well”. Works such as Zhang Yimou's “Red Sorghum”, Andrei Konchalovsky's “Asya's Happiness” and Hou Hsiao-Hsien's “Daughter of the Nile” are mostly relevant thanks to their “sociology factor” Canby begins his article, an aspect that these works are and have been applauded for around the world while as films themselves they are not that interesting. Hou Hsiao-Hien, one of the most popular directors of Taiwanese New Cinema along with Edward Yang, was still trying to find a cinematic language for his films, one which strongly resembled the works of Yasujiro Ozu in terms of style and content, the sense of resignation, as he writes...
In the aftermath of the New York Film Festival, reporter Vincent Canby wrote an article about the films of the festival he aptly named “Why Some Films Don't Travel Well”. Works such as Zhang Yimou's “Red Sorghum”, Andrei Konchalovsky's “Asya's Happiness” and Hou Hsiao-Hsien's “Daughter of the Nile” are mostly relevant thanks to their “sociology factor” Canby begins his article, an aspect that these works are and have been applauded for around the world while as films themselves they are not that interesting. Hou Hsiao-Hien, one of the most popular directors of Taiwanese New Cinema along with Edward Yang, was still trying to find a cinematic language for his films, one which strongly resembled the works of Yasujiro Ozu in terms of style and content, the sense of resignation, as he writes...
- 2/13/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
After such works as “A City of Sadness” Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien, member of the Taiwanese New Wave, was looking for new topics, also outside his home country. Eventually he stumbled upon a novel by Han Ziyun, translated into Mandarin by Eileen Chang, about the Shanghai flower houses, their relevance to urban life in the early 1900s and before, as well as their hierarchy. The work inspired “Flowers of Shanghai”, in they eyes of many cinephiles and critics his most artful feature, which was nominated for Best Film at Cannes Film Festival in 1998 and won the award for best Art Direction and the Jury Award at Golden Horse Film Festival.
Flowers of Shanghai is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema The Spark is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
The story takes place during the 1880s, and covers many characters and their encounters in...
Flowers of Shanghai is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema The Spark is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
The story takes place during the 1880s, and covers many characters and their encounters in...
- 2/9/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Acclaimed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf will serve as jury president at the 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema (Viffac), which runs from February 6-13.
Held in France, this year’s edition will spotlight Taiwanese cinema and Malayalam-language films from India. A total of 92 films from 29 countries will be screened.
Makhmalbaf’s works include A Moment of Innocence (1996), which won a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival, as well as Kandahar (2001), which won the Ecumenical Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Other jury members at Viffac this year include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2007, Iranian actress Fatemed Motamed-Arya and Japanese actor Shogen.
There are 17 films across the fiction and documentary competitions, which come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. There are two world premieres, five international premieres, six European premieres and four French premieres.
Held in France, this year’s edition will spotlight Taiwanese cinema and Malayalam-language films from India. A total of 92 films from 29 countries will be screened.
Makhmalbaf’s works include A Moment of Innocence (1996), which won a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival, as well as Kandahar (2001), which won the Ecumenical Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Other jury members at Viffac this year include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2007, Iranian actress Fatemed Motamed-Arya and Japanese actor Shogen.
There are 17 films across the fiction and documentary competitions, which come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. There are two world premieres, five international premieres, six European premieres and four French premieres.
- 2/1/2024
- by Sara Merican
- Deadline Film + TV
Taiwan and India in the spotlight at the 30th Vesoul Iff of Asian Cinema
The 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema will feature 92 films, including 52 never-before-seen films from 29 countries, under the banner of commitment!
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian director with 60 international awards to his credit, is President of the Jury. Other members include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin 2007, Fatemed Motamed-Arya, the most awarded Iranian actress in the history of Iranian cinema, and Japanese actor Shogen, cinema ambassador at the Sea-Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival.
The 17 films in the fiction and documentary competitions come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. Four are French premieres, six European premieres, five international premieres and two world premieres.
Feature Film Competition :
China: All Ears by Liu Jiayin – China (Tibet): The Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden – Korea: Work to...
The 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema will feature 92 films, including 52 never-before-seen films from 29 countries, under the banner of commitment!
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian director with 60 international awards to his credit, is President of the Jury. Other members include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin 2007, Fatemed Motamed-Arya, the most awarded Iranian actress in the history of Iranian cinema, and Japanese actor Shogen, cinema ambassador at the Sea-Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival.
The 17 films in the fiction and documentary competitions come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. Four are French premieres, six European premieres, five international premieres and two world premieres.
Feature Film Competition :
China: All Ears by Liu Jiayin – China (Tibet): The Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden – Korea: Work to...
- 2/1/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“A City of Sadness” is a critically acclaimed historical drama directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. It was awarded numerous times, notably at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Horse Film Festival. It is also worth mentioning that “A City of Sadness” was the first Taiwanese movie to win the Golden Lion. Moreover, it was chosen as Taiwan's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 62nd Academy Awards, though it did not get a nomination. In 2023, the restored version of the film was released in cinemas in Taiwan and Hong Kong, among others.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
The story, written by Chu T'ien-wen and Wu Nien-jen, shows the consequences of political change in Taiwan in the 1940s by delving into the tales of two families living near Taipei. In the first one, the eldest of four sons (Chen Sung-young) owns a restaurant and a trading company.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
The story, written by Chu T'ien-wen and Wu Nien-jen, shows the consequences of political change in Taiwan in the 1940s by delving into the tales of two families living near Taipei. In the first one, the eldest of four sons (Chen Sung-young) owns a restaurant and a trading company.
- 1/12/2024
- by Tobiasz Dunin
- AsianMoviePulse
Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, Spain’s Isabel Coixet and Chile’s Bernardita Ojeda, director of “Petit,” feature among the first recipients of funding from Ibermedia Next, a pioneering attempting to fund development on pioneering new IPs which yoke large artistic ambition and cutting edge tech.
García Bernal and Luna’s Mexico-based label La Corriente del Golfo co-produces one of the 14 winning submissions, “El Origen De La Experiencia,” which offers a VR immersive experience of Mexican mysticism and trance culture. Both will also voice characters.
Coixet is set to direct “Sophia (Sofía),” with Milena Smit, star of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers.”
Bernardita Ojeda, director on milestone Chilean toon series such as “Petit,” the International Emmy-nominated and Quirino Awards winner, produces two titles.
Also in the mix is Portugal’s David Doutel, whose shimmering, mottled social realist mood piece “Garrano,” proved a standout at Annecy and Sundance, and UniKo,...
García Bernal and Luna’s Mexico-based label La Corriente del Golfo co-produces one of the 14 winning submissions, “El Origen De La Experiencia,” which offers a VR immersive experience of Mexican mysticism and trance culture. Both will also voice characters.
Coixet is set to direct “Sophia (Sofía),” with Milena Smit, star of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers.”
Bernardita Ojeda, director on milestone Chilean toon series such as “Petit,” the International Emmy-nominated and Quirino Awards winner, produces two titles.
Also in the mix is Portugal’s David Doutel, whose shimmering, mottled social realist mood piece “Garrano,” proved a standout at Annecy and Sundance, and UniKo,...
- 11/29/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Ten years after he attended the Tokyo International Film Festival for the screening of The Grandmaster, Tony Leung returned to the festival on Thursday to conduct a masterclass.
The Hong Kong acting icon, dressed in a black tailored suit and fashion-forward Kolor sneakers, was met with warm applause at a packed house at Tokyo’s Hulic Hall. Festival programmer Shozo Ichiyama began proceedings with Leung’s early years as an actor, namely his work with Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien on the classic A City of Sadness, which Ichiyama considered one of his personal favorites. A City of Sadness was notable as it was set in Taipei, and Leung, at the time, had no experience working outside of Hong Kong and couldn’t speak Mandarin.
“It was the start of my career, and I wanted to challenge myself,” Leung said through an interpreter on why he took on the role, given...
The Hong Kong acting icon, dressed in a black tailored suit and fashion-forward Kolor sneakers, was met with warm applause at a packed house at Tokyo’s Hulic Hall. Festival programmer Shozo Ichiyama began proceedings with Leung’s early years as an actor, namely his work with Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien on the classic A City of Sadness, which Ichiyama considered one of his personal favorites. A City of Sadness was notable as it was set in Taipei, and Leung, at the time, had no experience working outside of Hong Kong and couldn’t speak Mandarin.
“It was the start of my career, and I wanted to challenge myself,” Leung said through an interpreter on why he took on the role, given...
- 10/28/2023
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The acclaimed director will no longer make ‘On The Shulan River’.
Acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien has retired and stopped work on planned feature On The Shulan River, according to a statement from his family.
The 76-year-old director had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease prior to work beginning on what was to be his next film but his condition worsened after contracting Covid-19, said the statement.
Hou is known as a pioneer of the Taiwanese New Wave in the early 1980s and won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1989 with A City Of Sadness. His last...
Acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien has retired and stopped work on planned feature On The Shulan River, according to a statement from his family.
The 76-year-old director had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease prior to work beginning on what was to be his next film but his condition worsened after contracting Covid-19, said the statement.
Hou is known as a pioneer of the Taiwanese New Wave in the early 1980s and won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1989 with A City Of Sadness. His last...
- 10/25/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
It’s official: Hou Hsiao-hsien has retired from filmmaking. Deadline reports that the Taiwanese filmmaker’s family released a statement earlier this week that confirms he’s retiring after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. That means “On The Sulan River,” the movie Hou Hsiao-hsien has been worked on since 2015’s “The Assassin,” will not longer continue production.
Read More: ‘Millenium Mambo’ Restoration Trailer: Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Ethereal 2001 Masterpiece Comes Back To The Screen
While Hou was beloved in Taiwain since his 1980 feature debut “Cute Girl,” he didn’t become a regular at international film festivals until 1985’s “A Time To Live, A Time To Die.” A global breakthrough happened in 1989 when he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for “A City Of Sadness.” His follow-up, 1993’s “The Puppetmaster,” wont the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Continue reading Taiwanese Director Hou Hsiao-hsien Retires From Filmmaking...
Read More: ‘Millenium Mambo’ Restoration Trailer: Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Ethereal 2001 Masterpiece Comes Back To The Screen
While Hou was beloved in Taiwain since his 1980 feature debut “Cute Girl,” he didn’t become a regular at international film festivals until 1985’s “A Time To Live, A Time To Die.” A global breakthrough happened in 1989 when he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for “A City Of Sadness.” His follow-up, 1993’s “The Puppetmaster,” wont the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Continue reading Taiwanese Director Hou Hsiao-hsien Retires From Filmmaking...
- 10/25/2023
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
Following recent speculation regarding Taiwanese director/writer/producer Hou Hsiao-hsien, his family has released a statement confirming that he has retired from filmmaking after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Most recently, the 76-year-old had been working on feature On the Shulan River, but is now unable to continue.
A festival regular and leading figure in Taiwan’s new wave cinema movement of the 1980s, Hou won the Golden Lion in Venice for 1989’s A City of Sadness, and the Best Director prize in Cannes for 2015’s The Assassin. His other credits include 1993’s The Puppetmaster which won the Jury Prize in Cannes, 1998’s Flowers of Shanghai, 2001’s Millennium Mambo and 2007’s Flight of the Red Balloon.
According to local media (and via translation), his family’s statement said, ”Before the diagnosis, he often told us that he found that his love for movies became more and more pure… He...
A festival regular and leading figure in Taiwan’s new wave cinema movement of the 1980s, Hou won the Golden Lion in Venice for 1989’s A City of Sadness, and the Best Director prize in Cannes for 2015’s The Assassin. His other credits include 1993’s The Puppetmaster which won the Jury Prize in Cannes, 1998’s Flowers of Shanghai, 2001’s Millennium Mambo and 2007’s Flight of the Red Balloon.
According to local media (and via translation), his family’s statement said, ”Before the diagnosis, he often told us that he found that his love for movies became more and more pure… He...
- 10/25/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
The immediate family of leading Taiwanese film director Hou Hsiao-hsien said on Wednesday that he had retired from filmmaking due to illness and is now living peacefully in retirement. They said that their family-run company remains active and in business.
The statement (see below) was issued in response to news articles earlier this week that followed an introductory speech given in London by critic and curator Tony Rayns before a screening of 1985 title “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,” one of Hou’s best-known features.
Rayns was reported to have said that Hou has dementia, will not direct again and that members of Hou’s company had lost their jobs.
The family statement – signed by Cao Baofeng, Hou’s wife, son Isaac Hou and daughter Bess Hou – explained that Hou had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease before the Covid pandemic and that Covid had, to their surprise,...
The statement (see below) was issued in response to news articles earlier this week that followed an introductory speech given in London by critic and curator Tony Rayns before a screening of 1985 title “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,” one of Hou’s best-known features.
Rayns was reported to have said that Hou has dementia, will not direct again and that members of Hou’s company had lost their jobs.
The family statement – signed by Cao Baofeng, Hou’s wife, son Isaac Hou and daughter Bess Hou – explained that Hou had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease before the Covid pandemic and that Covid had, to their surprise,...
- 10/25/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
He may be the world’s greatest living filmmaker, and now we know we’ve seen his last film.
Hou Hsiao-hsien, director of timeless masterpieces such as “A City of Sadness,” “The Puppetmaster,” “Flowers of Shanghai,” and “Millennium Mambo” is battling dementia and is now retired from filmmaking. The 76-year-old Taiwanese auteur had been hoping to make his long-in-development film “Shulan River” up until the past couple years, and location scouting had begun. Now, 2015’s “The Assassin” will stand as his final film.
The news broke that Hou is now retired via film scholar Tony Rayns’ introduction to a screening of his 1985 film “A Time to Live and a Time to Die” at the Garden Cinema in London on October 23. IndieWire has since confirmed the news with a source close to Hou as well as with the film curator of the Garden Cinema, George Crosthwait, who said that the director “will certainly not work again.
Hou Hsiao-hsien, director of timeless masterpieces such as “A City of Sadness,” “The Puppetmaster,” “Flowers of Shanghai,” and “Millennium Mambo” is battling dementia and is now retired from filmmaking. The 76-year-old Taiwanese auteur had been hoping to make his long-in-development film “Shulan River” up until the past couple years, and location scouting had begun. Now, 2015’s “The Assassin” will stand as his final film.
The news broke that Hou is now retired via film scholar Tony Rayns’ introduction to a screening of his 1985 film “A Time to Live and a Time to Die” at the Garden Cinema in London on October 23. IndieWire has since confirmed the news with a source close to Hou as well as with the film curator of the Garden Cinema, George Crosthwait, who said that the director “will certainly not work again.
- 10/24/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Tony Leung Chiu Wai is one of the most recognizable Asian actors in the world, chiefly through his collaborations with a number of master filmmakers, including Ang Lee, Hou Hsiao Hsien, John Woo and Wong Kar Wai. Leung, who also has a career as a pop singer, has been praised by audiences and critics for his ability to wonderfully portray a plethora of different roles, a skill stressed by the fact that he can fluently speak Cantonese, English and Spanish.
His career reached its apogee from the end of the 80s, and Leung never actually deteriorated, with the astonishing parts coming one of the other. It is by no surprise then, that this year, he was presented with the Venice Film Festival lifetime achievement award
1. A City of Sadness
The script depicts the experiences of the Lin family during the upheaval that occurred after 1945, when Japanese forces withdrew from Taiwan after 51 years,...
His career reached its apogee from the end of the 80s, and Leung never actually deteriorated, with the astonishing parts coming one of the other. It is by no surprise then, that this year, he was presented with the Venice Film Festival lifetime achievement award
1. A City of Sadness
The script depicts the experiences of the Lin family during the upheaval that occurred after 1945, when Japanese forces withdrew from Taiwan after 51 years,...
- 9/10/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival concludes today with the Closing Ceremony and presentation of the winners of the Lions. Director Yorgos Lanthimos took home the coveted Golden Lion for his film Poor Things, while Cailee Spaeny was honored as Best Actress for her performance in Priscilla, and Peter Sarsgaard received the Best Actor award for Memory.
The ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes cast uncertainty on the presence of celebrities gracing the iconic event over the course of the 10-day fest, with guild members participating in or promoting premieres doing so only under SAG-AFTRA interim agreements allowing them to make appearances and engage on the festival’s revered red carpet.
Related: Venice Film Festival: Yorgos Lanthimos Wins Golden Lion With ‘Poor Things’ — Full List
Edoardo De Angelis’s drama Comandante opened the festival with other highlight premieres from this year’s slate including Michael Mann’s Ferrari...
The ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes cast uncertainty on the presence of celebrities gracing the iconic event over the course of the 10-day fest, with guild members participating in or promoting premieres doing so only under SAG-AFTRA interim agreements allowing them to make appearances and engage on the festival’s revered red carpet.
Related: Venice Film Festival: Yorgos Lanthimos Wins Golden Lion With ‘Poor Things’ — Full List
Edoardo De Angelis’s drama Comandante opened the festival with other highlight premieres from this year’s slate including Michael Mann’s Ferrari...
- 9/9/2023
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
Tony Leung Chiu-wai has starred in three movies that have scooped the top prize Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and today he is receiving his very own Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
The 61-year-old Hong Kong actor and singer is one of Asia’s most successful and internationally recognized stars. Among his major global credits are Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 romantic drama In the Mood for Love, for which he won the Best Actor prize in Cannes. His other collaborations with Wong include Chungking Express, Happy Together and The Grandmaster.
Leung also starred in the Academy Award-nominated film Hero by Zhang Yimou, and the box office hits Hard Boiled by John Woo and Infernal Affairs by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. The latter trilogy formed the basis for Martin Scorsese’s Oscar winning The Departed.
Talking with the press today, Leung beamed of the Lifetime Achievement Lion, “Finally I can have it for myself,...
The 61-year-old Hong Kong actor and singer is one of Asia’s most successful and internationally recognized stars. Among his major global credits are Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 romantic drama In the Mood for Love, for which he won the Best Actor prize in Cannes. His other collaborations with Wong include Chungking Express, Happy Together and The Grandmaster.
Leung also starred in the Academy Award-nominated film Hero by Zhang Yimou, and the box office hits Hard Boiled by John Woo and Infernal Affairs by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. The latter trilogy formed the basis for Martin Scorsese’s Oscar winning The Departed.
Talking with the press today, Leung beamed of the Lifetime Achievement Lion, “Finally I can have it for myself,...
- 9/2/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the Hong Kong star of “In the Mood for Love” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” has joined the cast of “Silent Friend” by Oscar-nominated Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi (“On Body and Soul”).
Leung will be honored at the Venice Film Festival, where he will receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. He previously starred in three movies that have won the Venice Golden Lion: “A City of Sadness” (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien, “Cyclo” (1995) by Tran Anh Hung and “Lust, Caution” (2007) by Ang Lee.
“Silent Friend” is being produced by German banner Pandora Film. It marks Enyedi’s follow up to “The Story of My Wife” which competed at Cannes, and “On Body and Soul,” the Berlinale Golden Bear-winning film that earned an Oscar nomination.
Currently in pre-production, “Silent Friend” is set in the botanical garden of Marburg, a medieval university town in Germany,...
Leung will be honored at the Venice Film Festival, where he will receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. He previously starred in three movies that have won the Venice Golden Lion: “A City of Sadness” (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien, “Cyclo” (1995) by Tran Anh Hung and “Lust, Caution” (2007) by Ang Lee.
“Silent Friend” is being produced by German banner Pandora Film. It marks Enyedi’s follow up to “The Story of My Wife” which competed at Cannes, and “On Body and Soul,” the Berlinale Golden Bear-winning film that earned an Oscar nomination.
Currently in pre-production, “Silent Friend” is set in the botanical garden of Marburg, a medieval university town in Germany,...
- 8/23/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
It’s as David Bowie sang: revolution comes in the strangest ways. When Apichatpong Weerasethakul curated a series for New York’s Film at Lincoln Center this spring, the 35mm screening of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Puppetmaster––a 30-year-old Taiwanese feature with 1/15th the Letterboxd logs of the Mission: Impossible movie that opened yesterday––constituted the biggest (local) cinephile event I’ve seen in… well, who could count so far? Scarcity’s to thank, of course: last screened in New York seven years back, it’s (supposedly) the sole English-subtitled print in the United States and was accordingly treated like a brittle object––cinema essentially on the edge of oblivion.
So this news comes like a salve for the medium itself. Italy’s Far East Film Festival announced that next year’s edition, running April 24 to May 2, 2024, will host restorations of Hou’s The Puppetmaster and A City of Sadness,...
So this news comes like a salve for the medium itself. Italy’s Far East Film Festival announced that next year’s edition, running April 24 to May 2, 2024, will host restorations of Hou’s The Puppetmaster and A City of Sadness,...
- 7/13/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Liliana Cavani, one of the key directors of the New Italian Cinema movement and recognized internationally for The Night Porter, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the acclaimed Hong Kong actor known for his numerous collaborations with Wong Kar-wai, are set to receive Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
“I am very happy and grateful to the Biennale di Venezia for this wonderful surprise”, said Cavani, who first made a name for herself in Venice in 1965 with with Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy, followed by Francis of Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), I cannibali (The Year of the Cannibals, 1970), Il gioco di Ripley (Ripley’s Game, 2002) and Clarisse (2012).
“I am overwhelmed and honoured with the news from the Biennale di Venezia. I hope to celebrate this award with all the filmmakers I have worked with. This award is a tribute to all of them as well,” said Leung Chiu-wai, who...
“I am very happy and grateful to the Biennale di Venezia for this wonderful surprise”, said Cavani, who first made a name for herself in Venice in 1965 with with Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy, followed by Francis of Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), I cannibali (The Year of the Cannibals, 1970), Il gioco di Ripley (Ripley’s Game, 2002) and Clarisse (2012).
“I am overwhelmed and honoured with the news from the Biennale di Venezia. I hope to celebrate this award with all the filmmakers I have worked with. This award is a tribute to all of them as well,” said Leung Chiu-wai, who...
- 3/27/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Venice Film Festival has set filmmaker Liliana Cavani and actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai to receive this year’s Golden Lions for lifetime achievement. The 80th Venice fest runs from August 30-September 9 on the Lido.
Cavani, whose credits include 1974 classic The Night Porter, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, and 1985’s The Berlin Affair, has had several films at the festival, beginning with 1965’s Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy, which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. It was followed by Francesco d’Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), I cannibali (1970), Dove siete? Io sono qui (1993) — for which Anna Bonaiuto won the Coppa Volpi for best actress — Ripley’s Game with John Malkovich (2002) and Clarisse (2012).
As for Leung, whose credits include Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Zhang Yimou’s Hero, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs and recent Marvel title Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,...
Cavani, whose credits include 1974 classic The Night Porter, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, and 1985’s The Berlin Affair, has had several films at the festival, beginning with 1965’s Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy, which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. It was followed by Francesco d’Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), I cannibali (1970), Dove siete? Io sono qui (1993) — for which Anna Bonaiuto won the Coppa Volpi for best actress — Ripley’s Game with John Malkovich (2002) and Clarisse (2012).
As for Leung, whose credits include Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Zhang Yimou’s Hero, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs and recent Marvel title Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,...
- 3/27/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
The Venice Film Festival will honor “The Night Porter” director Liliana Cavani and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the Hong Kong star of “In the Mood for Love” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” with its 2023 Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement.
Cavani first attended Venice in 1965 with the historical doc “Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy,” which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. She was back the Lido in 1966 with her TV movie “Saint Francis of Assisi,” and, again, in 1968, with “Galileo,” followed by Patricia Highsmith adaptation “Ripley’s Game,” starring John Malkovich, in 2002 and “Clarisse,” a doc about an order of cloistered nuns in 2012.
“I am very happy and grateful to the Biennale di Venezia for this wonderful surprise,” Cavani, who is 90, said in a statement.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera praised Cavani as “One of the most emblematic protagonists of the New Italian Cinema of the 1960s,...
Cavani first attended Venice in 1965 with the historical doc “Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy,” which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. She was back the Lido in 1966 with her TV movie “Saint Francis of Assisi,” and, again, in 1968, with “Galileo,” followed by Patricia Highsmith adaptation “Ripley’s Game,” starring John Malkovich, in 2002 and “Clarisse,” a doc about an order of cloistered nuns in 2012.
“I am very happy and grateful to the Biennale di Venezia for this wonderful surprise,” Cavani, who is 90, said in a statement.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera praised Cavani as “One of the most emblematic protagonists of the New Italian Cinema of the 1960s,...
- 3/27/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) will open with two local films – Soi Cheang’s noir thriller Mad Fate and the world premiere of Ann Hui’s Elegies, a documentary about contemporary local poetry.
Mad Fate, starring Gordon Lam and Lokman Yeung, a member of hot boy band Mirror, recently had its world premiere at the Berlin film festival. Soi Cheang has also been chosen as the Filmmaker In Focus at this year’s Hkiff.
The world premiere of Cheuk Wan-chi’s Vital Sign, starring starring Louis Koo, Yau Hawk-sau and Angela Yuen, will close the festival.
Hkiff, which runs for 12 days from March 30 to April 10, is returning to its usual spring dates after being postponed to August last year due to Hong Kong’s fifth and most serious wave of Covid.
Overseas filmmakers, including Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-Liang and Lee Kang-Sheng, will be returning to the...
Mad Fate, starring Gordon Lam and Lokman Yeung, a member of hot boy band Mirror, recently had its world premiere at the Berlin film festival. Soi Cheang has also been chosen as the Filmmaker In Focus at this year’s Hkiff.
The world premiere of Cheuk Wan-chi’s Vital Sign, starring starring Louis Koo, Yau Hawk-sau and Angela Yuen, will close the festival.
Hkiff, which runs for 12 days from March 30 to April 10, is returning to its usual spring dates after being postponed to August last year due to Hong Kong’s fifth and most serious wave of Covid.
Overseas filmmakers, including Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-Liang and Lee Kang-Sheng, will be returning to the...
- 3/10/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSLandscape Suicide, included on Benning's Sight & Sound ballot.Sight & Sound has made individual ballots available for their Greatest Films of All Time poll. You can browse the full, alphabetical list of critics and filmmakers here, along with voters’ comments and accompanying essays. Some favorites of ours so far: James Benning on self-referentiality, Genevieve Yue on the wind.Eight years after The Intern, Nancy Meyers has a new romantic comedy in the works at Netflix, reportedly budgeted at $130 million. Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Owen Wilson, and Michael Fassbender are all in early talks, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Author and curator Barbara Wurm has been appointed the new head of the Berlinale Forum program, succeeding Cristina Nord.Recommended VIEWINGIf it's too bad to be true,...
- 3/8/2023
- MUBI
Hong Kong High
Already the highest grossing local film in its home market, courtroom drama, “A Guilty Conscience” has broken into Hong Kong’s all-time top ten box office ranking with a cumulative of Hk$107 million ($13.7 million). Data from Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. shows the film achieving the feat after just 41 days in cinemas and coming within Hk$1 million of overtaking “Top Gun: Maverick.” The data firm noted that the last time a Hong Kong film got this far was with fantasy-action-comedy “Kung Fu Hustle” in 2004. Since then, it has been overtaken by a fleet of Hollywood titles. Hong Hong’s current top ten is headed by “Avengers: Endgame” and includes six Marvel movies, the two “Avatar” titles and “Titanic.”
Streamer Encourages Churn
With its shares buoyed by recent more positive results, Chinese video streamer iQiyi is returning to the capital markets – again. The Nasdaq-listed company is issuing $600 million...
Already the highest grossing local film in its home market, courtroom drama, “A Guilty Conscience” has broken into Hong Kong’s all-time top ten box office ranking with a cumulative of Hk$107 million ($13.7 million). Data from Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. shows the film achieving the feat after just 41 days in cinemas and coming within Hk$1 million of overtaking “Top Gun: Maverick.” The data firm noted that the last time a Hong Kong film got this far was with fantasy-action-comedy “Kung Fu Hustle” in 2004. Since then, it has been overtaken by a fleet of Hollywood titles. Hong Hong’s current top ten is headed by “Avengers: Endgame” and includes six Marvel movies, the two “Avatar” titles and “Titanic.”
Streamer Encourages Churn
With its shares buoyed by recent more positive results, Chinese video streamer iQiyi is returning to the capital markets – again. The Nasdaq-listed company is issuing $600 million...
- 3/3/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
After last month kicked off with Sight and Sound unveiling of their once-in-a-decade greatest films of all-time poll, detailing the 100 films that made the cut that were led by Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, they’ve now unveiled the full critics’ top 250. While the discourse up until now has featured many wondering why certain directors were totally absent and why other films that previously made the top 100 were left out, more clarity has arrived with this update.
Check out some highlights we clocked below, the full list here, and return on March 2 when all ballots and comments will be unveiled.
The films closest to making the top 100 were Rio Bravo, The House Is Black, and Vagabond, which tied for #103. Four directors absent in the top 100––Terrence Malick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Jacques Demy––have two films each in the top 250: The Tree of Life...
Check out some highlights we clocked below, the full list here, and return on March 2 when all ballots and comments will be unveiled.
The films closest to making the top 100 were Rio Bravo, The House Is Black, and Vagabond, which tied for #103. Four directors absent in the top 100––Terrence Malick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Jacques Demy––have two films each in the top 250: The Tree of Life...
- 1/31/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has announced director-screenwriter Hou Hsiao-Hsien and songwriter Harry Belafonte as recipients of this year’s career achievement awards, and Norman Lloyd as the recipient of its legacy award.
“In light of the challenges that 2020 has presented, we are particularly thrilled to be expressing our profound admiration this year for our esteemed honorees,” said Lafca president Claudia Puig. “In addition to our two brilliant career achievement winners, it’s an honor to create an award worthy of an inspirational figure in time for his 106th birthday.”
A leading figure in Taiwanese cinema, Hsiao-Hsien has received several international prizes, including the Golden Lion at 1989’s Venice International Film Festival for “A City of Sadness,” and selected best director for “The Assassin” at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. He has written and directed a slew of films, including “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,...
“In light of the challenges that 2020 has presented, we are particularly thrilled to be expressing our profound admiration this year for our esteemed honorees,” said Lafca president Claudia Puig. “In addition to our two brilliant career achievement winners, it’s an honor to create an award worthy of an inspirational figure in time for his 106th birthday.”
A leading figure in Taiwanese cinema, Hsiao-Hsien has received several international prizes, including the Golden Lion at 1989’s Venice International Film Festival for “A City of Sadness,” and selected best director for “The Assassin” at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. He has written and directed a slew of films, including “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,...
- 10/28/2020
- by Janet W. Lee
- Variety Film + TV
Iconic Taiwan auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien will be presented with a lifetime achievement honor at the upcoming Golden Horse Awards.
The executive committee of the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, organizers of the annual prize ceremony, said Monday that their decision to reward Hou was a unanimous one. They said it recognizes his “distinguished accomplishment in cinematic aesthetics and his dedication to passing on the heritage of cinematic arts.” The award will be presented at the 57th edition of the Golden Horse Film Awards, on Nov. 21.
Hou founded the Golden Horse Film Academy in 2009, aiming to cultivate a young generation of filmmakers in Taiwan.
The internationally-acclaimed filmmaker began his career in 1973 as a script supervisor, growing in to roles such as scriptwriter and assistant director before making his debut as a film director with the romantic comedy “Cute Girl” in 1980. Hou then went on to become a leading figure of the...
The executive committee of the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, organizers of the annual prize ceremony, said Monday that their decision to reward Hou was a unanimous one. They said it recognizes his “distinguished accomplishment in cinematic aesthetics and his dedication to passing on the heritage of cinematic arts.” The award will be presented at the 57th edition of the Golden Horse Film Awards, on Nov. 21.
Hou founded the Golden Horse Film Academy in 2009, aiming to cultivate a young generation of filmmakers in Taiwan.
The internationally-acclaimed filmmaker began his career in 1973 as a script supervisor, growing in to roles such as scriptwriter and assistant director before making his debut as a film director with the romantic comedy “Cute Girl” in 1980. Hou then went on to become a leading figure of the...
- 8/24/2020
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
Palestinian director discusses dealing with lockdown and resuming shooting post-Covid-19.
Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad is gearing up to return to the set of his upcoming feature Huda’s Salon on July 15, after shooting was suspended on March 20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The “feminist spy thriller” set in the West Bank city of Bethlehem was three weeks into a six week-shoot when it shut down on March 20. Production will be able to start up again as soon the borders of Israel and the Palestinian West Bank reopen to non-citizens, enabling five key international crew members to fly in.
The reopening...
Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad is gearing up to return to the set of his upcoming feature Huda’s Salon on July 15, after shooting was suspended on March 20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The “feminist spy thriller” set in the West Bank city of Bethlehem was three weeks into a six week-shoot when it shut down on March 20. Production will be able to start up again as soon the borders of Israel and the Palestinian West Bank reopen to non-citizens, enabling five key international crew members to fly in.
The reopening...
- 6/24/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
The “White Terror” period in Taiwan’s history, during which thousands were executed by order of the repressive Kuomintang (Kmt) authorities, has been little explored in film. Hou Hsiao-hsien’s “A City of Sadness” is one exception, and Edward Yang’s “A Brighter Summer Day” makes oblique reference to it. But away from the arthouse, depiction of the state’s violent, decades-long suppression of “dissident” activity, has been all but taboo. John Hsu’s “Detention” is designed to address that lack in a populist format: the film is an ambitious, if not entirely successful mix of haunted-house horror, monster movie, love story, historical reckoning and sentimentalized call for the national remembrance of a period many would prefer to forget.
More surprisingly still, this homegrown hit, which won in five categories at the 2019 Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, is based on a videogame, which accounts for many of its strengths but...
More surprisingly still, this homegrown hit, which won in five categories at the 2019 Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, is based on a videogame, which accounts for many of its strengths but...
- 3/27/2020
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The Taiwan Film Institute has released a two-minute (but nonetheless impressive) clip demonstrating the before and after of the digital restoration process for Hou Hsiao-hsien's 1982 film Cheerful Wind, a romantic comedy that follows the relationship between a photographer and the blind man who becomes the subject of her latest work. Though Cheerful Wind seems a more lighthearted example, Hou's observations of the political skeleton that envelops everyday life appear to be an overall and very strong influence on Devotion, an atmospheric horror video game by Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games. Set in Taiwan between 1980 to 1986, the game pairs a bloodied tale of family and religion against a backdrop of political suppression—the timeline takes place during the last days of Taiwan's White Terror, a period of martial law from 1947 to 1987, marked by the mass execution and imprisonment of thousands deemed anti-government, spies, or communist sympathizers. Hou Hsiao-hsien's A City of Sadness...
- 5/18/2019
- MUBI
The BBC Culture annual critics’ poll has become one of the most anticipated film lists over the last three years. After asking critics to weigh in on the best American films (“Citizen Kane” topped the list), the best films of the 21st century (“Mulholland Drive” in first), and the best comedy movies (“Some Like It Hot” crowned the best), the BBC Culture has turned this year to the 100 greatest achievements in foreign-language film.
This year’s list was curated from top 10 lists from 209 film critics across 43 countries, including IndieWire’s own Kate Erbland and Christian Blauvelt. BBC Culture awarded 10 points to each critics’ first-ranked film, 9 for the second-ranked, and so on down to one. The finalized top 100 list was curated based on this point system.
Sitting on the top of the BBC Culture list is Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai.” The film’s breathtaking scope and intimate character work has...
This year’s list was curated from top 10 lists from 209 film critics across 43 countries, including IndieWire’s own Kate Erbland and Christian Blauvelt. BBC Culture awarded 10 points to each critics’ first-ranked film, 9 for the second-ranked, and so on down to one. The finalized top 100 list was curated based on this point system.
Sitting on the top of the BBC Culture list is Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai.” The film’s breathtaking scope and intimate character work has...
- 10/30/2018
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
“The last thing I hate is that life always forces us to keep moving forwards.”
In the aftermath of the New York Film Festival, reporter Vincent Canby wrote an article about the films of the festival he aptly named “Why Some Films Don’t Travel Well”. Works such as Zhang Yimou’s “Red Sorghum”, Andrei Konchalovsky’s “Asya’s Happiness” and Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “Daughter of the Nile” are mostly relevant thanks to their “sociology factor” Canby begins his article, an aspect that these works are and have been applauded for around the world while as films themselves they are not that interesting. Hou Hsiao-Hien, one of the most popular directors of Taiwanese New Cinema along with Edward Yang, was still trying to find a cinematic language for his films, one which strongly resembled the works of Yasujiro Ozu in terms of style and content, the sense of resignation, as...
In the aftermath of the New York Film Festival, reporter Vincent Canby wrote an article about the films of the festival he aptly named “Why Some Films Don’t Travel Well”. Works such as Zhang Yimou’s “Red Sorghum”, Andrei Konchalovsky’s “Asya’s Happiness” and Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “Daughter of the Nile” are mostly relevant thanks to their “sociology factor” Canby begins his article, an aspect that these works are and have been applauded for around the world while as films themselves they are not that interesting. Hou Hsiao-Hien, one of the most popular directors of Taiwanese New Cinema along with Edward Yang, was still trying to find a cinematic language for his films, one which strongly resembled the works of Yasujiro Ozu in terms of style and content, the sense of resignation, as...
- 9/26/2018
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The London East Asia Film Festival (Leaff), opens its third year on the 25th October at Vue Leicester Square with “Dark Figure of Crime”, the newest thriller by director Kim Tae-gyun, and runs until the 4th November. It will close with the intelligent and emotionally complex family drama, “Ramen Shop”, the latest feature film by acclaimed Singaporean director, Eric Khoo.
Having expanded to include the cinematic offerings of 13 countries – China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar – Leaff’s 2018 programme focuses on the “future”. Through the lens and unique perspectives of East Asian filmmakers, Leaff offers compelling insight into not only the future of those in East Asia but in London, with vital and thought – provoking dialogues being opened up around subjects such as youth, human interaction, development, cultural and social issues.
Leaff will screen 6 International premieres, 8 European premieres and 23 UK premieres,...
Having expanded to include the cinematic offerings of 13 countries – China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar – Leaff’s 2018 programme focuses on the “future”. Through the lens and unique perspectives of East Asian filmmakers, Leaff offers compelling insight into not only the future of those in East Asia but in London, with vital and thought – provoking dialogues being opened up around subjects such as youth, human interaction, development, cultural and social issues.
Leaff will screen 6 International premieres, 8 European premieres and 23 UK premieres,...
- 9/22/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Screened at the Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's works have always been compared to those of Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu. Now, he explicitly makes the connection by directing a Japanese film, set in Tokyo, about an ordinary family. In short, it's not unlike the kind of movies Ozu the elder predecessor used to make. He also dedicated the movie to Ozu.
Cafe Lumiere, like most of Hou's bare, unadorned dramas, is a slow and methodical affair. It's composed of long takes, minimal action and a very detached camera that often looks at the actors from the back or peeks through obscured doors and windows. This is not easy viewing, nor is it meant for the ordinary moviegoer.
Plotwise, little happens. Yoko (Yo Hitoto) is a young writer impregnated by her Taiwanese boyfriend when she was teaching Japanese in Taiwan. However, she doesn't want to marry him so she has returned to Japan to live with her parents, who naturally are worried about her circumstance. But all they do is worry and look pensive. There are no domestic arguments or emotional outbursts in this Tokyo story.
Instead, Yoko spends her time traveling through Tokyo's labyrinthine subway system, researches for an article about a Taiwanese jazz musician, hangs out at a secondhand bookstore run by an equally inert shopkeeper named Hajime (played by Tadanobu Asano who is completely unrecognizable from his famous Ichi the Killer role) and have coffee together. That's all that really occurs in the film.
This poetic portrait of simple Japanese life immerses you in the elegance of the ordinary. It could just as easily be set in Taipei with its very Asian routines: the daily buying and cooking of food, completely absorbing oneself in leisure hobbies and the reserved silence of families accustomed to noncommunicative displays of affection. In fact, the characters seem to be more comfortable talking to each other on the phone than in person.
While cinephiles are sure to pick up on the allusions and stylistic references to Ozu, Cafe Lumiere is in no way meant to imitate. Hou's own profound sense of alienation is very evident in the long stretches of silence. This is not Hou trying to copy Ozu but paying homage and carrying forward the lineage as Ozu's implicit disciple.
Still, this is one of Hou's lesser works. There isn't the historical gravitas or the deeply personal impressionism that mark his Taiwanese stories like City of Sadness or even 2001's disappointing but similarly aimless youth-themed Millennium Mambo. Cafe Lumiere is by Hou's standard a pretty lightweight effort. Just don't confuse lightweight with accessible viewing. The fact is if you can stay awake through the whole 100 minutes, you should get a medal for being a resilient movie diehard.
CAFE LUMIERE
Shochiku Co. ltd/The Asahi Shimbun Company/Sumitomo Corporation/Eisei Gekijo Co. ltd./Imagica Corp.
Credits:
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Producers: Hideshi Miyajima, Liao Ching-sung, Ichiro Yamamoto, Fumiko Osaka
Writers: Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chu T'ien-wen
Director of Photography: Lee Ping-ping
Editor:Liao Ching-sung
Production Designer: Toshiharu Aida
Sound: Tu Duu-chih
Cast:
Yoko: Yo Hitoto
Hajime: Tadanobu Asano
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 104 minutes...
TORONTO -- Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's works have always been compared to those of Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu. Now, he explicitly makes the connection by directing a Japanese film, set in Tokyo, about an ordinary family. In short, it's not unlike the kind of movies Ozu the elder predecessor used to make. He also dedicated the movie to Ozu.
Cafe Lumiere, like most of Hou's bare, unadorned dramas, is a slow and methodical affair. It's composed of long takes, minimal action and a very detached camera that often looks at the actors from the back or peeks through obscured doors and windows. This is not easy viewing, nor is it meant for the ordinary moviegoer.
Plotwise, little happens. Yoko (Yo Hitoto) is a young writer impregnated by her Taiwanese boyfriend when she was teaching Japanese in Taiwan. However, she doesn't want to marry him so she has returned to Japan to live with her parents, who naturally are worried about her circumstance. But all they do is worry and look pensive. There are no domestic arguments or emotional outbursts in this Tokyo story.
Instead, Yoko spends her time traveling through Tokyo's labyrinthine subway system, researches for an article about a Taiwanese jazz musician, hangs out at a secondhand bookstore run by an equally inert shopkeeper named Hajime (played by Tadanobu Asano who is completely unrecognizable from his famous Ichi the Killer role) and have coffee together. That's all that really occurs in the film.
This poetic portrait of simple Japanese life immerses you in the elegance of the ordinary. It could just as easily be set in Taipei with its very Asian routines: the daily buying and cooking of food, completely absorbing oneself in leisure hobbies and the reserved silence of families accustomed to noncommunicative displays of affection. In fact, the characters seem to be more comfortable talking to each other on the phone than in person.
While cinephiles are sure to pick up on the allusions and stylistic references to Ozu, Cafe Lumiere is in no way meant to imitate. Hou's own profound sense of alienation is very evident in the long stretches of silence. This is not Hou trying to copy Ozu but paying homage and carrying forward the lineage as Ozu's implicit disciple.
Still, this is one of Hou's lesser works. There isn't the historical gravitas or the deeply personal impressionism that mark his Taiwanese stories like City of Sadness or even 2001's disappointing but similarly aimless youth-themed Millennium Mambo. Cafe Lumiere is by Hou's standard a pretty lightweight effort. Just don't confuse lightweight with accessible viewing. The fact is if you can stay awake through the whole 100 minutes, you should get a medal for being a resilient movie diehard.
CAFE LUMIERE
Shochiku Co. ltd/The Asahi Shimbun Company/Sumitomo Corporation/Eisei Gekijo Co. ltd./Imagica Corp.
Credits:
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Producers: Hideshi Miyajima, Liao Ching-sung, Ichiro Yamamoto, Fumiko Osaka
Writers: Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chu T'ien-wen
Director of Photography: Lee Ping-ping
Editor:Liao Ching-sung
Production Designer: Toshiharu Aida
Sound: Tu Duu-chih
Cast:
Yoko: Yo Hitoto
Hajime: Tadanobu Asano
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 104 minutes...
- 9/20/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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