A UK-based Chinese film festival that strives to take on the responsibility of promoting the importance of a mutual understanding of diverse cultures between greater China and the UK, Mint Chinese Film Festival (Mint Cff) is back for its fresh 2nd edition from Feb 1-4 at Keswick Alhambra Cinema to welcome the Year of Dragon, showcasing the best and most pioneering Chinese films!
Mint is the first women-organised Chinese film festival in the UK and aims to curate for underrepresented voices, images, and stories, actively discovering and supporting Chinese creators, emerging women filmmakers and artists, and gender-diverse directors.
Founded by Chinese film curator Yixiang Shirley Lin and Keswick Alhambra Cinema's co-owner Dr Carol Rennie, Mint is a year-round active film festival; it not only holds an annual Chinese film festival but also curates and organises pop-up film screenings and relevant cultural and artistic events in various venues across the UK...
Mint is the first women-organised Chinese film festival in the UK and aims to curate for underrepresented voices, images, and stories, actively discovering and supporting Chinese creators, emerging women filmmakers and artists, and gender-diverse directors.
Founded by Chinese film curator Yixiang Shirley Lin and Keswick Alhambra Cinema's co-owner Dr Carol Rennie, Mint is a year-round active film festival; it not only holds an annual Chinese film festival but also curates and organises pop-up film screenings and relevant cultural and artistic events in various venues across the UK...
- 1/19/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Three years after “Flowers of Shanghai”, Hou Hsiao-hsen released “Millennium Mambo”, a film that signaled another change in his themes, as it deals with the life of youths in contemporary Taiwan. “Millennium Mambo” inaugurated his collaborations with Shu Qi, who played the protagonist roles in most of his later works. The film was screened in more film festivals than any of his previous works and was the first to receive distribution in the US, although limited.
Millennium Mambo is screening at Five Flavours
Vicky has recently moved to Taipei from Keelung and works doing PR in a nightclub. Hao Hao is her jealous boyfriend who checks everything she does, including her bank transactions, her phone calls, and even her body smell. She spends her days working, doing drugs and fighting with Hao Hao, at least when they are not having sex. At some point, Hao Hao starts having trouble with the police.
Millennium Mambo is screening at Five Flavours
Vicky has recently moved to Taipei from Keelung and works doing PR in a nightclub. Hao Hao is her jealous boyfriend who checks everything she does, including her bank transactions, her phone calls, and even her body smell. She spends her days working, doing drugs and fighting with Hao Hao, at least when they are not having sex. At some point, Hao Hao starts having trouble with the police.
- 11/18/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Explore where to stream the best films of 2023.
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Drylongso (Cauleen Smith)
Writer-director Cauleen Smith made Drylongso when she was in college, 25 years ago, premiering at Sundance in 1998. She has gone on to create dozens of short films, art installations, and more experimental work, focused on similar themes of feminism, racial violence, and Black communities. The low-key hangout movie should have been a stepping stone for Smith, but, as with many other works by Black female filmmaking of the last half-century, it fell out of circulation. – Michael F. (full interview)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Fingernails (Christos Nikou)
Is love quantifiable? No, but that doesn’t stop Greek filmmaker Christos Nikou from exploring that question over two dull, excruciating hours in Fingernails,...
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Drylongso (Cauleen Smith)
Writer-director Cauleen Smith made Drylongso when she was in college, 25 years ago, premiering at Sundance in 1998. She has gone on to create dozens of short films, art installations, and more experimental work, focused on similar themes of feminism, racial violence, and Black communities. The low-key hangout movie should have been a stepping stone for Smith, but, as with many other works by Black female filmmaking of the last half-century, it fell out of circulation. – Michael F. (full interview)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Fingernails (Christos Nikou)
Is love quantifiable? No, but that doesn’t stop Greek filmmaker Christos Nikou from exploring that question over two dull, excruciating hours in Fingernails,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Film geeks, rejoice. Leading indie label Kino Lorber is entering the world of streaming. The company has launched Kino Film Collection, a new subscription video service available in the U.S. via’s Amazon’s Prime Video Channels. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, many now streaming for the first time. It will cost users $5.99 per month.
Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).
Joining them are entries...
Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).
Joining them are entries...
- 11/2/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kino Lorber has launched a new subscription streaming outlet, Kino Film Collection.
The $6-a-month destination for recent theatrical releases and hundreds of other films drawn from the company’s vast library will be available in the U.S. on Prime Video Channels.
Kino Lorber also operates Kino Now, a platform for rentals and purchases of arthouse and specialty films. The company has made several streaming moves of late. In 2022, it acquired MHz Choice and installed AMC Networks veteran Ed Carroll and former IFC Films head Lisa Schwartz in key management roles. Schwartz, Kino Lorber’s Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee Kino Film Collection. Last spring, Kino Lorber also formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate both MHz Choice and First Look’s streaming service Topic.
Films available on Kino Film Collection at launch include new 4K restorations of The Conformist as well as key works by contemporary...
The $6-a-month destination for recent theatrical releases and hundreds of other films drawn from the company’s vast library will be available in the U.S. on Prime Video Channels.
Kino Lorber also operates Kino Now, a platform for rentals and purchases of arthouse and specialty films. The company has made several streaming moves of late. In 2022, it acquired MHz Choice and installed AMC Networks veteran Ed Carroll and former IFC Films head Lisa Schwartz in key management roles. Schwartz, Kino Lorber’s Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee Kino Film Collection. Last spring, Kino Lorber also formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate both MHz Choice and First Look’s streaming service Topic.
Films available on Kino Film Collection at launch include new 4K restorations of The Conformist as well as key works by contemporary...
- 11/1/2023
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Independent film distributor Kino Lorber has officially unveiled streaming service Kino Film Collection, available via Prime Video here.
The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.
New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.
Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...
The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.
New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.
Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...
- 11/1/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
This year's Special Screenings section features two classics directed by the masters of Taiwanese cinema – Tsai Ming-liang and Hou Hsiao-hsien. The screenings of films, restored in 4K, will be a nostalgic trip down the memory lane to the magic tales that have already earned an indisputable cult status and entered the canon of Asian cinema.
The process of digital restoration allows festivals to return to classic titles and bring them back to audiences to revisit and reevaluate through the lens of time passed. The feeling that the world is changing and that cinema follows in its steps will be one of the key emotions accompanying the screenings.
Tsai Ming-liang's “Goodbye, Dragon Inn” is not just a tribute to King Hu, whose retrospective is one of this year's Festival highlights, but also a symbolic goodbye to the golden era of the classic wuxia films that have been kindling the emotions of Asian audiences for many decades.
The process of digital restoration allows festivals to return to classic titles and bring them back to audiences to revisit and reevaluate through the lens of time passed. The feeling that the world is changing and that cinema follows in its steps will be one of the key emotions accompanying the screenings.
Tsai Ming-liang's “Goodbye, Dragon Inn” is not just a tribute to King Hu, whose retrospective is one of this year's Festival highlights, but also a symbolic goodbye to the golden era of the classic wuxia films that have been kindling the emotions of Asian audiences for many decades.
- 10/30/2023
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
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
Update: “Hou Hsiao-hsien’s family released a statement today confirming that Hou has Alzheimer’s. Initially, it didn’t affect his filmmaking work, but long Covid has forced him to stop. His company continues to operate, but he will no longer work,” reports Kevin Ma, from a translated report by Now News. “Hou’s family also adds that Hou is healthy and that his illness has also helped his family forge a tighter bond because he is spending so much time at home. They also ask for privacy and peace.”
Long-rumored, still unconfirmed, but seeming ever closer to terrible reality is Hou Hsiao-hsien’s retirement amidst struggles with dementia. It was alarming to read (via Twitter user @mattmccrac) that legendary Asian cinema scholar Tony Rayns claimed “Hou’s health is failing him and he likely won’t make another film.” A bit of dialogue with a colleague alleged this further...
Long-rumored, still unconfirmed, but seeming ever closer to terrible reality is Hou Hsiao-hsien’s retirement amidst struggles with dementia. It was alarming to read (via Twitter user @mattmccrac) that legendary Asian cinema scholar Tony Rayns claimed “Hou’s health is failing him and he likely won’t make another film.” A bit of dialogue with a colleague alleged this further...
- 10/24/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
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
Among those selected, Laura Poitras won the Golden Lion at the festival last year.
Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Laura Poitras and Martin McDonagh have joined the main Competition jury of the 80th Venice Film Festival (August 30-September 9).
The filmmakers will be joined by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (Wajib); Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, who was in Competition at the festival in 2021 with Freaks Out; Argentinian writer/director Santiago Mitre, whose Argentina, 1985 premiered in Competition at Venice last year; and Chinese actress Shu Qi, known for her performances in Hou Hsiao-Hsien films Millennium Mambo, Three Times and The Assassin.
US director Poitras...
Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Laura Poitras and Martin McDonagh have joined the main Competition jury of the 80th Venice Film Festival (August 30-September 9).
The filmmakers will be joined by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (Wajib); Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, who was in Competition at the festival in 2021 with Freaks Out; Argentinian writer/director Santiago Mitre, whose Argentina, 1985 premiered in Competition at Venice last year; and Chinese actress Shu Qi, known for her performances in Hou Hsiao-Hsien films Millennium Mambo, Three Times and The Assassin.
US director Poitras...
- 7/13/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
From the mid-1980s to the end of the 20th century, Hou Hsiao-hsien emerged as a kind of national historian, exploring Taiwan’s colonial history and attendant identity crisis across his work. Though his dramas of this period dealt with individuals and families, they tended to adopt a distanced, objective camera perspective with an emphasis on groups of people dwarfed by their physical and political surroundings. Eschewing close-ups, Hou ignored individual perspective to better study the tides of change playing on the characters as the accumulated weight of centuries of occupations shaped their sense of self and frequently alienated notion of belonging.
Hou took an opposite approach with 2001’s Millennium Mambo—that is, with a literally close-up portrait of an individual, Vicky (Shu Qi), navigating on-again, off-again romances with Hao-Hao (Tuan Chun-hao), the failed DJ and drug-using petty criminal with whom she shares an apartment, and Jack (Jack Kao), a kindly older gangster.
Hou took an opposite approach with 2001’s Millennium Mambo—that is, with a literally close-up portrait of an individual, Vicky (Shu Qi), navigating on-again, off-again romances with Hao-Hao (Tuan Chun-hao), the failed DJ and drug-using petty criminal with whom she shares an apartment, and Jack (Jack Kao), a kindly older gangster.
- 6/20/2023
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
New to Streaming: Pacifiction, R.M.N., Millennium Mambo, Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV & More
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
A vérité vignette of a small, expat-owned hair salon in Brussels’ African Quarter. Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s sophomore feature explores displacement, resilience, and the small economies migrants build to temper ties to their homelands, through mid-braid gossip and humble confessions.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Giving Birth to a Butterfly (Theodore Schaefer)
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college.
Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
A vérité vignette of a small, expat-owned hair salon in Brussels’ African Quarter. Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s sophomore feature explores displacement, resilience, and the small economies migrants build to temper ties to their homelands, through mid-braid gossip and humble confessions.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Giving Birth to a Butterfly (Theodore Schaefer)
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college.
- 5/19/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Writer/Director Anita Rocha da Silveira discusses a few of her favorite films with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Medusa (2022)
Switchblade Sisters (1975) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Blue Velvet (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Mulholland Drive (2001) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Clueless (1995)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
All That Jazz (1979) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – Darren Lynn Bousman’s trailer commentary
Last Night In Soho (2021)
Carrie (1976) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Suspiria (1977) – Edgar Wright’s American and international trailer commentaries, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Kill Me Please (2015)
Blood and Black Lace (1964) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentaries, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Suspiria (2018)
The Virgin Suicides (1999) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Somewhere (2010)
Goodfellas (1990) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary,...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Medusa (2022)
Switchblade Sisters (1975) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Blue Velvet (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Mulholland Drive (2001) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Clueless (1995)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
All That Jazz (1979) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – Darren Lynn Bousman’s trailer commentary
Last Night In Soho (2021)
Carrie (1976) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Suspiria (1977) – Edgar Wright’s American and international trailer commentaries, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Kill Me Please (2015)
Blood and Black Lace (1964) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentaries, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Suspiria (2018)
The Virgin Suicides (1999) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Somewhere (2010)
Goodfellas (1990) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary,...
- 7/26/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
The conclusion of a four part series by Cláudio Alves
In the cinema of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, the 21st century started with a neon dream. The camera follows Shu Qi's Vicky as she runs through a Taipei tunnel, lights flickering above. Everything happens in slow-motion, flickers turn into waves and the actress's movement makes a strange unnatural dance. She looks back at us, hair flying in a cloud of black tendrils, her eyes asking us to follow her down the tunnel, like Alice down the rabbit hole. It's a hypnotic sight, made more seductive by the music of Lim Giong, house beats and techno dronings that transform the screen into a pulsing heart.
2001's Millennium Mambo fulfills the formalistic promise of Daughter of the Nile, transcending Goodbye South, Goodbye's tethering to material truth. Like its protagonist, the film looks back at its director's history while moving forward to an unknown future.
In the cinema of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, the 21st century started with a neon dream. The camera follows Shu Qi's Vicky as she runs through a Taipei tunnel, lights flickering above. Everything happens in slow-motion, flickers turn into waves and the actress's movement makes a strange unnatural dance. She looks back at us, hair flying in a cloud of black tendrils, her eyes asking us to follow her down the tunnel, like Alice down the rabbit hole. It's a hypnotic sight, made more seductive by the music of Lim Giong, house beats and techno dronings that transform the screen into a pulsing heart.
2001's Millennium Mambo fulfills the formalistic promise of Daughter of the Nile, transcending Goodbye South, Goodbye's tethering to material truth. Like its protagonist, the film looks back at its director's history while moving forward to an unknown future.
- 4/12/2022
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Thanks to the interwebs, we learn that master filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien is finally set to begin pre-production on the long gestating Shulan River. Unsurprisingly he is set to reteam with his Millennium Mambo, Three Times and The Assassin muse in actress Shu Qi – who’ll topline the project next month. And the good news comes in spades. The septuagenarian is already looking to the future and is setting up another feature project featuring Chang Chen — who was a memorable presence in Three Times. We’ll be looking for more info over the weeks to come and there’ll likely be some international sales update during the Cannes Film Festival.…...
- 2/24/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Award-winning Taiwan actors Ding Ning and Tsao Yu-Ning have joined the cast of “Pierce” a sports drama film hailing from Jeremy Chua’s Singapore production firm Potocol.
Ding, who won a Golden Horse Award for her supporting role in “Cities of Last Things,” and Tsao, who won at the Taipei Film Festival for his supporting role in another sports drama, 2014 baseball tale “Kano,” respectively play the mother and elder brother of a promising young fencer. The high school fencer is portrayed by rising star Liu Hsiu-Fu.
The story sees the youngster choose to trust and help his dangerous older brother who is released from jail. This means defying their mother’s attempts to bury the brother’s existence and hide the family’s traumatic past.
The film is written and directed by first-time feature director Nelicia Low, who previously represented Singapore on the country’s national fencing team, before retiring to focus on filmmaking.
Ding, who won a Golden Horse Award for her supporting role in “Cities of Last Things,” and Tsao, who won at the Taipei Film Festival for his supporting role in another sports drama, 2014 baseball tale “Kano,” respectively play the mother and elder brother of a promising young fencer. The high school fencer is portrayed by rising star Liu Hsiu-Fu.
The story sees the youngster choose to trust and help his dangerous older brother who is released from jail. This means defying their mother’s attempts to bury the brother’s existence and hide the family’s traumatic past.
The film is written and directed by first-time feature director Nelicia Low, who previously represented Singapore on the country’s national fencing team, before retiring to focus on filmmaking.
- 9/14/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Shot shortly after Pai Ching-jui returned from Italy, where he studied film and got acquainted with neo-realism,”A Morning in Taipei” delivers exactly what its title suggests, through a number of sequences that highlight a plethora of aspects of life in Taipei, accompanied by music scored by Lim Giong, singer, musician and film composer.
A Morning in Taipei is screening at Electric Shadows Asian Film Festival
As Pai Ching-jui’s approach is that of the tour guide, the short begins from very early in the morning, as the city gradually begins to wake up. The sequences begin from outside the city, where a group of women are carrying baskets on a stick placed in their shoulders, probably containing fruits and vegetables. Then the camera gets into the city as the dawn breaks and traffic begins to pick in the filled with fog streets. The billboards in the street, the bright...
A Morning in Taipei is screening at Electric Shadows Asian Film Festival
As Pai Ching-jui’s approach is that of the tour guide, the short begins from very early in the morning, as the city gradually begins to wake up. The sequences begin from outside the city, where a group of women are carrying baskets on a stick placed in their shoulders, probably containing fruits and vegetables. Then the camera gets into the city as the dawn breaks and traffic begins to pick in the filled with fog streets. The billboards in the street, the bright...
- 4/18/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The world we currently orbit is a strange and confined one. This world has introduced us to a new type of solitude as unfamiliar feelings surface that are unique to a chaotic world amidst a global pandemic. During this time, reflection has happened upon us all to varying degrees. As we move into winter with no prospect of clarity, we seek out ways to stay positive and escape the distress of uncertainty. A constant source of solace during this time has been the (re)discovery of cinema. Through cinema the exploration of other worlds is possible: small pockets of alternate realities to escape the reality of a winter stuck inside the house, missing loved ones and the joys of full bodied freedom.It came as perfect timing then, that as "melancholy fall" became my particular cinematic mood, Pure Person Press released a new charity compilation Va focused on musician and...
- 12/4/2020
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDisney has announced that Barry Jenkins will helm the live-action The Lion King sequel, which reportedly includes "Mufasa's origin story."Speaking of sequels, Chinese authorities have approved the production of a project written by Wong Kar-wai, curiously titled Chungking Express 2020. The synopsis states that at least a portion of the film will take place in 2036, where "young Xiao Qian and May are unwilling to be held back by genetic partnerings, and insist on finding their own ‘destiny’.”Festival season persists: The Cannes Film Festival will be hosting a three-day "Special Cannes" event in October that will feature the screening of four Official Selections, in-competition short films, and the Cinéfondation’s school films. This year's San Sebastian Film Festival concluded with the sweep of Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature Beginning, which received four of seven jury prizes.
- 9/30/2020
- MUBI
“A Sun” is another high-quality production of Taiwanese Studio Mandarin Vision (“The Great Buddha+” 2017). The two and a half-hour long crime drama directed by Mong-Hong Chung (“Godspeed” 2016) has been selected for the Netflix catalog and was the big winner of the 2019 Golden Horse Film Festival including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Leading Actor.
Coming from the homeland of the great Edward Yang, the story incorporates many similar topics such as broken families, lost youth, and the ultimate road to redemption. It all starts with a gritty scene of violence in which A-Ho, played by Wu Chien-Ho (“Xiao Mei” 2018), attacks a young man in a neon trenched back ally store of a dark city. As a result, he is sent away to a juvenile detention center and his father A-Wen decides to cut ties with him and solely focuses on his driving teacher job and the eldest son,...
Coming from the homeland of the great Edward Yang, the story incorporates many similar topics such as broken families, lost youth, and the ultimate road to redemption. It all starts with a gritty scene of violence in which A-Ho, played by Wu Chien-Ho (“Xiao Mei” 2018), attacks a young man in a neon trenched back ally store of a dark city. As a result, he is sent away to a juvenile detention center and his father A-Wen decides to cut ties with him and solely focuses on his driving teacher job and the eldest son,...
- 6/9/2020
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
Three years after “Flowers of Shanghai”, Hou Hsiao-hsen released “Millennium Mambo”, a film that signaled another change in his themes, as it deals with the life of youths in contemporary Taiwan. “Millenium Mambo” inaugurated his collaborations with Shu Qi, who played the protagonist roles in most of his later works. The film was screened in more film festivals than any of his previous works and was the first to receive distribution in the Us, although limited.
Vicky has recently moved to Taipei from Keelung and works doing PR in a nightclub. Hao Hao is her jealous boyfriend who checks everything she does, including her bank transactions, her phone calls, and even her body smell. She spends her days working, doing drugs and fighting with Hao Hao, at least when they are not having sex. At some point, Hao Hao starts having trouble with the police. Vicky...
Vicky has recently moved to Taipei from Keelung and works doing PR in a nightclub. Hao Hao is her jealous boyfriend who checks everything she does, including her bank transactions, her phone calls, and even her body smell. She spends her days working, doing drugs and fighting with Hao Hao, at least when they are not having sex. At some point, Hao Hao starts having trouble with the police. Vicky...
- 10/27/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
By Lai Kun-Yu
“Missing Johnny” is a story that records young people in Taipei. Filled with energy and power, this film expresses different faces of Taipei with the soul of the Taiwanese New Wave. It is an unforgettable work in this year Taipei Film Festival.
The story is about three young people who live in the same building, in different apartments. Lee is the landlady’s son who is autistic. Feng is a worker who helps the landlady to maintain her house. As for Hsu Zi Qi, she is a girl from Hong Kong who loves birds. These three main characters live their own lives and have their own troubles. Hsu Zi Qi is confused about the future between her and her boyfriend. Feng is involved in an embarrassing family argument. Lee tries to find himself in this complicated world. Their own individual storylines sometimes connect, making the film very interesting.
“Missing Johnny” is a story that records young people in Taipei. Filled with energy and power, this film expresses different faces of Taipei with the soul of the Taiwanese New Wave. It is an unforgettable work in this year Taipei Film Festival.
The story is about three young people who live in the same building, in different apartments. Lee is the landlady’s son who is autistic. Feng is a worker who helps the landlady to maintain her house. As for Hsu Zi Qi, she is a girl from Hong Kong who loves birds. These three main characters live their own lives and have their own troubles. Hsu Zi Qi is confused about the future between her and her boyfriend. Feng is involved in an embarrassing family argument. Lee tries to find himself in this complicated world. Their own individual storylines sometimes connect, making the film very interesting.
- 8/26/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Annual awards hype tends to drive the perception that the Oscar is the highest award in the film community. But for countless filmmakers and cinephiles around the world, the Palme d’Or comes out ahead. Ever since 1955, the Cannes Film Festival has assembled a discerning jury of A-listers to bestow this honor on an exclusive Competition section featuring some of the greatest auteurs the medium has known.
Originally known as the Grand Prix, the shimmering Golden Palm has played a key role in advancing careers, but it has just as often fallen to veterans of the form, and across seven decades juries have acknowledged an astounding range of cinematic accomplishments. But some of these prizes were worthier than others.
Here’s a look at all the Palme winners over the years, ranked in order of which ones we believe deserved it the most. Viewed as a whole, the winners provide...
Originally known as the Grand Prix, the shimmering Golden Palm has played a key role in advancing careers, but it has just as often fallen to veterans of the form, and across seven decades juries have acknowledged an astounding range of cinematic accomplishments. But some of these prizes were worthier than others.
Here’s a look at all the Palme winners over the years, ranked in order of which ones we believe deserved it the most. Viewed as a whole, the winners provide...
- 5/13/2019
- by Eric Kohn, Christian Blauvelt, Kate Erbland, Anne Thompson, Chris O'Falt, David Ehrlich, Tom Brueggemann, Tambay Obenson and Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Known has the 3D film (where glasses are applied around the midway point), the best film playing in Cannes this year and reserved for the Un Certain Regard section was Bi Gan‘s sophomore feature film. Made less than three years after his breakout Kaili Blues, Long Day’s Journey Into Night makes Hou Hsiao Hsien’s Millennium Mambo feel dated.
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- 4/10/2019
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
On Thursday, 6 September 2018, Kino Lumière in Bratislava screens the first of the eleven films included in the Programme Cycle “Taiwanese Season“ that brings Taiwanese films spanning from the 1960s till today. The screenings will include introductions and are scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6.15 Pm, with the last film programmed for 18 October.
“Taiwanese cinema offers many works by recognized film-makers as well as artistically influential films, many of which are not known to Slovak audience,” says Kristína Aschenbrennerová of the Slovak Film Institute, Curator of Taiwanese Season. “Our intention is to present Taiwanese films as a part of Taiwanese cultural identity, as well as an integral part of the popular entertainment. That is also why the line-up of Taiwanese Season spreads over different decades and genres and lists art house films, social realist ʻblack filmsʻ and wuxia films alongside romantic films or socially critical films from the 1960s until today.
“Taiwanese cinema offers many works by recognized film-makers as well as artistically influential films, many of which are not known to Slovak audience,” says Kristína Aschenbrennerová of the Slovak Film Institute, Curator of Taiwanese Season. “Our intention is to present Taiwanese films as a part of Taiwanese cultural identity, as well as an integral part of the popular entertainment. That is also why the line-up of Taiwanese Season spreads over different decades and genres and lists art house films, social realist ʻblack filmsʻ and wuxia films alongside romantic films or socially critical films from the 1960s until today.
- 9/4/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Hou Hsiao-hsien is best known and most acclaimed for historical dramas like A City of Sadness, The Puppetmaster, Flowers of Shanghai, and The Assassin, but a much more persistent subject for him has been contemporary films about young women. From his first two films through the early 2000s (after which he took a break from his native Taiwan, and, soon, directing in general), urban-set and neon-lit portraits of restless youth have proven a renewable source of interest. For those who casually dismiss Cute Girl and Cheerful Wind as pop entertainments he made for hire – they were, but they’re quite good – this trend can more definitively traced back to 1987’s Daughter of the Nile.
Lin (played by pop star Lin Yang) is in her late teens, working at KFC and attending night school (where, typically, underperforming or troubled students are shuffled). Her mother has passed away, her eldest brother killed in gang activity.
Lin (played by pop star Lin Yang) is in her late teens, working at KFC and attending night school (where, typically, underperforming or troubled students are shuffled). Her mother has passed away, her eldest brother killed in gang activity.
- 7/19/2017
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
Exclusive: Wild Bunch to handle sales on ‘Kaili Blues’ director’s second feature
Chinese director Bi Gan has attracted a top-flight cast for his second feature, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, including Tang Wei (Lust, Caution), Sylvia Chang (Mountains May Depart) and Huang Jue (The Final Master).
In addition, Wild Bunch has come on board to handle international sales on the detective drama, which also stars Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-chi (Thanatos, Drunk) and reunites the director with Chen Yongzhong, the lead actor of his award-winning debut, Kaili Blues.
Shanghai-based Dangmai Films, established by Bi and producer Shan Zuolong, is producing with Huace Group and Han Han’s Pmf Pictures, while Charles Gillibert’s Paris-based CG Cinema will co-produce. Wild Bunch, which will commence sales on the film in Cannes next week, is handling all territories outside China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The story follows a man who returns to his hometown to find a mysterious...
Chinese director Bi Gan has attracted a top-flight cast for his second feature, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, including Tang Wei (Lust, Caution), Sylvia Chang (Mountains May Depart) and Huang Jue (The Final Master).
In addition, Wild Bunch has come on board to handle international sales on the detective drama, which also stars Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-chi (Thanatos, Drunk) and reunites the director with Chen Yongzhong, the lead actor of his award-winning debut, Kaili Blues.
Shanghai-based Dangmai Films, established by Bi and producer Shan Zuolong, is producing with Huace Group and Han Han’s Pmf Pictures, while Charles Gillibert’s Paris-based CG Cinema will co-produce. Wild Bunch, which will commence sales on the film in Cannes next week, is handling all territories outside China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The story follows a man who returns to his hometown to find a mysterious...
- 5/12/2017
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
He’s one of the most praised directors of international cinema, but Hou Hsiao-hsien‘s films haven’t always received a substantial (or even negligible) release here in the United States. With his last film, the quiet epic The Assassin — which he picked up Best Director at Cannes for — getting a proper roll-out here, we hope it provokes distributors to seek out the rest of his catalogue for restoration and release treatment.
While there’s no word if it will arrive in the U.S. yet, one of his earlier films will in fact be getting a new release in the United Kingdom. Daughter of the Nile, his 1987 film which follows a young woman who struggles to support her family in Taipei, will arrive on Blu-ray in the U.K. this summer and a new trailer has now arrived. Showcasing the beautiful restoration, check it out below.
Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien (The Assassin,...
While there’s no word if it will arrive in the U.S. yet, one of his earlier films will in fact be getting a new release in the United Kingdom. Daughter of the Nile, his 1987 film which follows a young woman who struggles to support her family in Taipei, will arrive on Blu-ray in the U.K. this summer and a new trailer has now arrived. Showcasing the beautiful restoration, check it out below.
Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien (The Assassin,...
- 3/27/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
She’s only been making feature films for less than a decade — and truly only gained international recognition this decade — but it seems as if the talents of Mia Hansen-Løve as a writer-director are already fully formed. This isn’t to discount room for certain growth in her relatively young career, but with Goodbye First Love, Eden, and now Things to Come, her ruminations on life are expressed as if conveyed by an elder master director. Looking at her eclectic list of all-time favorite films — provided for the latest Sight & Sound poll — one can get a glimpse at her impeccable taste and where her formative influences come from.
“All of my films are my versions of Heat,” she recently told us, speaking about one of her picks. “Because Heat is actually a film about melancholy, about action, and it’s action vs. melancholy and self-destruction — action becoming self-destruction. It’s a couple.
“All of my films are my versions of Heat,” she recently told us, speaking about one of her picks. “Because Heat is actually a film about melancholy, about action, and it’s action vs. melancholy and self-destruction — action becoming self-destruction. It’s a couple.
- 12/2/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
To mark the release of The Assassin, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray. The magnetic Shu Qi (Millennium Mambo, The Transporter) continues her regular collaboration with Hou to play Nie Yinniang, the eponymous ‘Assassin’ of the story, adapted from a traditional Chinese folk tale of a young girl raised as a […]
The post Win The Assassin on Blu-ray appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The post Win The Assassin on Blu-ray appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 7/11/2016
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
As the Chinese New Year approaches, start your celebrations with Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s martial arts masterpiece …
BFI Southbank, London SE1 8Xt 22 January to 4 February 2016 Hou Hsiao-Hsien, winner of the Best Director award at Cannes Film Festival 2015, presents his mesmerising first foray into martial arts.
Plot
Breathtakingly elegant and ravishing in its composition, The Assassin is set in 9th-century China towards the end of the Tang dynasty. Lethal assassin Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi, Three Times, Millennium Mambo) fails an important assignment and is sent back to her homeland on the orders of the nun who abducted her as a child and trained her in the deadly arts.
Her new orders, designed to both punish her and eliminate the last vestiges of feeling in her being, are to kill the man to whom she was once betrothed – her cousin, the powerful governor of Weibo, played by Chang Chen (Three Times,...
BFI Southbank, London SE1 8Xt 22 January to 4 February 2016 Hou Hsiao-Hsien, winner of the Best Director award at Cannes Film Festival 2015, presents his mesmerising first foray into martial arts.
Plot
Breathtakingly elegant and ravishing in its composition, The Assassin is set in 9th-century China towards the end of the Tang dynasty. Lethal assassin Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi, Three Times, Millennium Mambo) fails an important assignment and is sent back to her homeland on the orders of the nun who abducted her as a child and trained her in the deadly arts.
Her new orders, designed to both punish her and eliminate the last vestiges of feeling in her being, are to kill the man to whom she was once betrothed – her cousin, the powerful governor of Weibo, played by Chang Chen (Three Times,...
- 1/21/2016
- by The Tiger
- AsianMoviePulse
Hou Hsiao-Hsien strives for realism, not magic. That's why he took the Cannes Best Director prize this year for "The Assassin" back to Taiwan, where the master auteur has been making films ("The Puppetmaster," "A City of Sadness," "Millennium Mambo," "Flight of the Red Balloon") for over three decades. The China-financed film endured decades of stop-and-go development and production before becoming Hou's seventh Cannes competition contender. A departure from his recent dramas including "La Belle Epoque," this modestly scaled martial arts epic shows Hou painting on a much bigger canvas — but with tweezers. Starring Shu Qi as the titular warrior, "The Assassin" is set in 9th-century, Tang Dynasty China, where the 10-year-old daughter of a general is abducted by a nun who transforms her into an efficiently badass martial arts assassin tasked with wiping out corrupt governors. After failing an assignment, as seen...
- 10/16/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Hou Hsiao-hsien. Photo by Yao Hung-i.The Assassin, Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien's first film in eight years, was one of the most sublime revelations at the Cannes Film Festival this May, where the film premiered and took home the Best Director prize. We wrote about the film, enraptured, during the festival:"This film, decades in the making, feels like the condensation and purification of something long lived with by all involved. It is a nüxia (woman knight) story, loosely based on a Tang dynasty tale, and it is spoken in guwen, a very classical, literary style of Chinese. And yet for his lady assassin Hou has chosen his most modern of performers, Shu Qi, his pop muse from 2001's Millennium Mambo onward, and so we see the young embodiment of Taiwanese modern woman transported into a past of courtly rules and manners, etiquette and architecture binding and restrictive for all,...
- 7/16/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Above: Bound to get taken offline by the time you read this, hurry up and watch Star War Wars: All 6 Films At Once (Full Length)Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory visit the famed closet of the Criterion Collection and recount their experiences encountering Godard's Weekend and films by Antonioni.At the invaluable chrismarker.org, Chris Marker's short film 2084 (1984) has been remixed.At its premiere at the Berlinale, Queen of the Desert, Werner Herzog's long-awaited return to epic filmmaking, garnered an unfortunate, uneven response. Now the full trailer for the film is out, and we hope it grows in our estimation upon re-viewing. As a recap, read impressions from Daniel Kasman and Adam Cook, as well as our interview with long-time Herzog cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger about working on the film.
- 6/17/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
“Where Godard wrenches out, a saturator stirs in.” This suggestive statement, adapted from an article by Jean-Pierre Gorin, can trigger a close study of the work of Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien—winner of Best Director award at the recent Cannes Film Festival for his magisterial The Assassin. In this audiovisual essay, however, we return to a movie of his that has yet to receive its full due: Millennium Mambo (2001)—and we pick not one of its most spectacular or lyrical passages, but an "ordinary," long-take scene that, on inspection, reveals a multi-layered complexity of construction.>> - Adrian Martin and Cristina Alvarez-Lopez...
- 6/14/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
“Where Godard wrenches out, a saturator stirs in.” This suggestive statement, adapted from an article by Jean-Pierre Gorin, can trigger a close study of the work of Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien—winner of Best Director award at the recent Cannes Film Festival for his magisterial The Assassin. In this audiovisual essay, however, we return to a movie of his that has yet to receive its full due: Millennium Mambo (2001)—and we pick not one of its most spectacular or lyrical passages, but an "ordinary," long-take scene that, on inspection, reveals a multi-layered complexity of construction.>> - Adrian Martin and Cristina Alvarez-Lopez...
- 6/14/2015
- Keyframe
It took eight long years between Hou Hsiao-hsien's "Flight Of The Red Ballon" and his latest, Cannes Best Director prize winning "The Assassin." And the good news for fans of the filmmaker is that he's already brewing his next picture and hopefully it won't take so long to get it made. His next project is about "a waterway enthusiast who encounters a river goddess while studying the city’s waterway system," and it will be set in the modern era. Shu Qi will return to star, with Chu Tien-wen ("The Assassin," "Millennium Mambo") penning the script. No word yet on when production starts. [Taipei Times] Read More: Cannes Review: Hou Hsiao-hsien's 'The Assassin' Is An Epic Visual Poem Catherine Hardwicke will tackle another tale about young people, signing up to helm "Love Letters To The Dead." An adaptation of the book by Ava Dellaira (who will also write the script...
- 5/29/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
How nice it's been to anticipate another set of tales from modern Portugal in the form of Miguel Gomes's Arabian Nights! The film's three parts have been shown every other day here in Cannes, and I've finally caught the last and I must say I already miss the idea that Gomes and his Scheherazade will unspool even more for me two days hence. If she told the stories to her king to stave off her death, I feel Gomes is telling me stories, among many others reasons, in order to stave off the powerful aura of respectable averageness prevalent at Cannes 2015.Arabian Nights Volume 3: The Enchanted One had me smiling for a good forty-five minutes in a row. After a brief glimpse of Gomes's modern version of Scheherazade in Volume 1, we finally get to spend some time with her in "Baghdad," wandering the landscape encountering lovers and bandits,...
- 5/24/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Taking a page from Wkw, Taiwanese master filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien took a full eight years working on martial arts film, The Assassin. He first surfaced on the Croisette in Directors’ Fortnight section in 1988 with Daughter of the Nile, and since then the Main Comp have owned most of his filmography: The Puppetmaster (1993), Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996), Flowers of Shanghai (1998), Millennium Mambo (2001), Three Times (2005), Flight of the Red Balloon (2008) and let us not forget his worn out theatre segment in the 60th anniversary anthology film To Each His Own Cinema. Looking at our grid, The Assassin was either worth the weight or…was worn out long before it’s final edit. Starring Shu Qi (she made her mark on Millennium Mambo and showed up in Three Times and 2011 short film omnibus 10+10) this claws away at the decline of the Tang Dynasty. We’re hopeful that an eight year absence means quality reigns.
- 5/21/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Taiwanese film director Hou Hsiao Hsien is known for a kind of hyper-contemplative realism, but for his latest effort, he’s gone in a major gear shift direction by making a martial arts wuxia film. Although he’s known for polar opposite films like "Millennium Mambo" (a film we listed as one of the best movies of 2003) and "Three Times," he’s apparently always wanted to do a fighting film, and that's what he's done with his latest, “The Assassin.” This is his first film since 2008s’ “Flight of the Red Balloon.” It has been rumored to show in Cannes for the past couple of years, but he reveals he had trouble getting the backing. “I’ve always had a dream to make this story into a film. I first came across the Tang Dynasty legendary tales when I was in university studying film, and before that I had read...
- 5/14/2015
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
While we've been rather fixated on the Alex de la Iglesia retrospective running at Toronto's Tiff Bell Lightbox right now - as we should be, being that we're presenting it - there's plenty of other good stuff going on there, too. Such as? How about a lengthy retrospective of the films of Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien? That series is going on right now, too, with a screening of his classic Millennium Mambo hitting the big screen on March 1st at 6:30 pm. And we've got a pair of tickets to give away!Hou's In the Mood for Love, Millennium Mambo captures the sheer weightlessness, the inertia and amnesia of life in contemporary Taipei by focusing on free-spirited bar hostess Vicky (Hong Kong diva Shu Qi) as...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/25/2015
- Screen Anarchy
A Demon in My View: Chow Returns with Rousing, Comedic Action
Director Stephen Chow returns with Journey to the West: Conquering Demons, his first film since the effervescent CJ7 (2008), this time granting co-director credit to Derek Kwok. Adapted from a famous 16th century novel (which in English, is known as Monkey), it’s considered one of the four great classics of Chinese literature, though those familiar with Chow’s frenetic mix of slapstick humor and striking visuals should rightly assume that considerable liberties have been taken in adapting the source material. Chow certainly stands as one of the very few directors who can smartly mix sappy with sweet, silly with exhilarating, and box it all in a mainstream composite of galvanizing aesthetic. While his latest starts to feel a bit batshit crazy by the time we get to the final lap, it’s easy to forgive the sometimes rampantly unfocused broad strokes.
Director Stephen Chow returns with Journey to the West: Conquering Demons, his first film since the effervescent CJ7 (2008), this time granting co-director credit to Derek Kwok. Adapted from a famous 16th century novel (which in English, is known as Monkey), it’s considered one of the four great classics of Chinese literature, though those familiar with Chow’s frenetic mix of slapstick humor and striking visuals should rightly assume that considerable liberties have been taken in adapting the source material. Chow certainly stands as one of the very few directors who can smartly mix sappy with sweet, silly with exhilarating, and box it all in a mainstream composite of galvanizing aesthetic. While his latest starts to feel a bit batshit crazy by the time we get to the final lap, it’s easy to forgive the sometimes rampantly unfocused broad strokes.
- 3/4/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire the next generation of visionary filmmakers? As part of our monthly Ioncinephile profile (read here), we ask the filmmaker the incredibly arduous task of identifying their top ten list of favorite films. Tim Sutton (Pavilion), provided us with his all time top ten film list (dated: March 2013).
Ballast – Lance Hammer (2008)
“A film of strung-together moments that make up a whole becomes not only mesmerizing, but truly sublime. I saw Ballast and decided not to give up on making a feature. The fact that people in the industry refer to this film as a cautionary tale rather than as a masterpiece is sad to me.”
Beau Travail – Claire Denis (1999)
“Simply, Clair Denis and Agnes Godard are one of the sweetest director/cinematographer teams in cinema, and this is their masterpiece – effortless in its rhythm and sun-baked imagery, with an ending that makes you think for days.
Ballast – Lance Hammer (2008)
“A film of strung-together moments that make up a whole becomes not only mesmerizing, but truly sublime. I saw Ballast and decided not to give up on making a feature. The fact that people in the industry refer to this film as a cautionary tale rather than as a masterpiece is sad to me.”
Beau Travail – Claire Denis (1999)
“Simply, Clair Denis and Agnes Godard are one of the sweetest director/cinematographer teams in cinema, and this is their masterpiece – effortless in its rhythm and sun-baked imagery, with an ending that makes you think for days.
- 3/10/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
For Cinema Scope, Mark Peranson reported from Tiff:
First things first: despite the presence of Selena Gomez and the blonde Disney Channel twins, Spring Breakers is not a commercial film: it is hardcore art house. It’s not even Harmony Korine’s most commercial film, though maybe the many industry experts who have so opined associate boobies with commercialism. Nor is it at all revolutionary. Many things pop out of Spring Breakers along with those boobies, but first and foremost this is Harmony Korine doing late Hou Hsiao-hsien (say, Millennium Mambo and Flowers of Shanghai) via Miami Vice (the TV show and the movie) and Girls Gone Wild (the DVD and the downloadable internet version), and it’s as intriguing but also as problematic as that sounds. The structure is also right of out The Wizard of Oz, or I should say, thanks to the omnipresent vulgarity, Wild at Heart,...
First things first: despite the presence of Selena Gomez and the blonde Disney Channel twins, Spring Breakers is not a commercial film: it is hardcore art house. It’s not even Harmony Korine’s most commercial film, though maybe the many industry experts who have so opined associate boobies with commercialism. Nor is it at all revolutionary. Many things pop out of Spring Breakers along with those boobies, but first and foremost this is Harmony Korine doing late Hou Hsiao-hsien (say, Millennium Mambo and Flowers of Shanghai) via Miami Vice (the TV show and the movie) and Girls Gone Wild (the DVD and the downloadable internet version), and it’s as intriguing but also as problematic as that sounds. The structure is also right of out The Wizard of Oz, or I should say, thanks to the omnipresent vulgarity, Wild at Heart,...
- 1/17/2013
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Dear Danny,
So here we are in Toronto, with a week and a half of cinema ahead of us. I make no secret of how eagerly I wait for this time of the year, which to a cinephile with my usual limited access to international releases plays like a veritable banquet. Even before the festival's first screening, however, the fact that this year the two of us are writing for the same outlet had me worrying over how we’d go about covering it. Who gets what? Do we do capsule reviews? Can we both discuss the same film? I liked your one-word solution: “Correspondence.” A report of what we’d seen, sure, but also a dialogue, a catalog of contrasts and overlaps, a record of experiences.
On to the first day, then, and on to the strange, remarkable Like Someone in Love. As that fantastic opening sequence unfurled—with its multiple levels of focus,...
So here we are in Toronto, with a week and a half of cinema ahead of us. I make no secret of how eagerly I wait for this time of the year, which to a cinephile with my usual limited access to international releases plays like a veritable banquet. Even before the festival's first screening, however, the fact that this year the two of us are writing for the same outlet had me worrying over how we’d go about covering it. Who gets what? Do we do capsule reviews? Can we both discuss the same film? I liked your one-word solution: “Correspondence.” A report of what we’d seen, sure, but also a dialogue, a catalog of contrasts and overlaps, a record of experiences.
On to the first day, then, and on to the strange, remarkable Like Someone in Love. As that fantastic opening sequence unfurled—with its multiple levels of focus,...
- 9/8/2012
- MUBI
In this episode of They Shot Pictures, I am joined by my friends, Sean Gilman (@theendofcinema) and Lance McCallion (@LanceJMc) to talk about a much beloved Taiwanese filmmaker, Hou Hsiao-hsien. We start with his 1984 film, A Summer at Grandpa’s, move on to 1995′s Good Men, Good Women and conclude with a discussion of Millennium Mambo (2001).
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- 8/28/2012
- by Seema
- SoundOnSight
Updated through 4/30.
The San Francisco International Film Festival (Sfiff), the longest one running in the Americas, opens tonight with Mike Mills's Beginners and closes on May 5 with Mathieu Amalric's On Tour. Among the 150 films screening in between, give or take, will be the centerpiece, Azazel Jacobs's Terri.
"In terms of artistic achievement, it's safe to say no producer has contributed to independent American cinema over the last two decades like Christine Vachon," writes Dennis Harvey, introducing his interview. Vachon will be delivering the State of Cinema address on Sunday evening (it's a busy time for her; she's also on Tribeca's Documentary and Student Short Film Competitions jury). Also at SF360, Michael Fox has cinema studies professor Bill Nichols give him a preview of the discussion he'll be leading on the Social Justice Documentary and talks with Bay Area filmmakers who have work in the lineup.
Max Goldberg...
The San Francisco International Film Festival (Sfiff), the longest one running in the Americas, opens tonight with Mike Mills's Beginners and closes on May 5 with Mathieu Amalric's On Tour. Among the 150 films screening in between, give or take, will be the centerpiece, Azazel Jacobs's Terri.
"In terms of artistic achievement, it's safe to say no producer has contributed to independent American cinema over the last two decades like Christine Vachon," writes Dennis Harvey, introducing his interview. Vachon will be delivering the State of Cinema address on Sunday evening (it's a busy time for her; she's also on Tribeca's Documentary and Student Short Film Competitions jury). Also at SF360, Michael Fox has cinema studies professor Bill Nichols give him a preview of the discussion he'll be leading on the Social Justice Documentary and talks with Bay Area filmmakers who have work in the lineup.
Max Goldberg...
- 4/30/2011
- MUBI
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