The Private Eyes (1976)

The Private Eyes (1976)


March 17th, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)



The 1970's saw a transformation in all levels of Hong Kong cinema. This had to do with the shifting of the Mandarin dialect cinema which evolved through the 1950's and possessed great sense of connection to the pre-Civil War Mainland cinema to a domestic Cantonese dialect industry that fully embraced Hong Kong and its people. A major player in this change are the Huo brothers whose English names are Michael, Sam and Ricky. They found great fame in a TV variety program that they headlined which in tone and impact can be compared to the Smothers Brothers in the United States. In it they looked at aspects of everyday Hong Kong life including its hypocrisies with an eye towards irony.

Michael was the first to move into cinema, starring in four films at the Shaw Brothers studio under director Li Han Hsiang. They were major hits and allowed all three brothers to have creative freedom in producing their own film, this time under the Golden Harvest studio. The films they made were tremendous hits, becoming some of the most popular productions of the decade and making them the preeminent force in Hong Kong comedy.

Co-directed by Michael Hui and John Woo, The Private Eyes has becomes one of the most popular comedies rating number thirteen on the Hong Kong film awards list of the 103 greatest Chinese films. Woo, who had been working for the Shaw Brothers moved to Golden Harvest in the 1970's and became known as a successful comedic director years before his pioneering work in the Heroic Bloodshed film. The story deals with two everyman played by Ricky and Sam Hui who come to work for an abusive boss, played by Michael at a detective agency. The ideas that it deals with include the viewpoint of the average person who aspires to great wealth and power but also wishes to avoid any kind of honest labor.

Hong Kong, Directors Michael Hui and John Woo, Cast Michael Hui, Sam Hui, Ricky Hui, Richard Ng and Sek Kin, 94 minutes, in Cantonese with English subtitles

No Screning this Wednesday

No screening this Wednesday (March 24). The series will return next week with the classic Hong Kong comedy The Private Eyes.

Virgins From Hell (1987)

Virgins From Hell (1987)


March 17th, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)



The late 1970's opened up a golden age for Indonesian cinema, as government grants helped local producers make films for their domestic market. But instead of more conventional fair, they wisely choose to create a cinema filled with all types of strangeness. From vampiric flying heads that stalk the countryside at night to mythological super-heroes, super villains and mounds of gore.

In the 1980's the age of the home video market further expanded this trend, sending waves of strange genre mixing films out into the Western world. This resulted in some very odd hybrids such as 1988's Lady Terminator which mixed the Western original with folk tales leading to an insane spectacle of one over the top set piece after another.

Virgins From Hell is one of the strangest of these Indonesian exploitation films. It appears that it was produced principally for its domestic market given the absence of Western actors, a common device to allow for ease of international video sales.

Its story is a mix of women in prison, mercenary jungle action and biker gang elements and in all cases these are taken to excess. While Indonesian exploitation cinema is not for everyone, it is virtually unbeatable when it comes to those who like their cinema on the wild side.

Indonesia, Director Ackyl Anwari, Cast Enny Beatrice, Yenny Farida, Nina Anwar and Dicky Zulkarnaen, 93 minutes, in English

Pulgasari (1985)

This screening has been postponed owing to scheduling issues.


Pulgasari (1985)


March 10th, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)

North Korea, Directors Shin Sang-ok, Chong Gon Jo, Producer by Kim Jong-il, Cast Chang Son Hui, Ham Gi Sop, Jong-uk Ri and Gwon Ri, 95 minutes, in Korean with English subtitles

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)


March 3rd, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)


The films of Director Kazuo Hara typically elicit questions on the role and limits of documentary film making. They are shocking, strange and some say criminal, but are they also profound? For his first film Goodbye CP (1972) Hara documented the scorn and isolation that sufferers of cerebral palsy experience in conformist Japan. In other films he would look at the changing role of women and the totality of a great artist, but for his third directorial effort he shoots an arrow into the heart of Japanese society.

Kenzo Okuzaki is an angry World War II veteran of Japans Imperial Army. He suffered greatly and had a hard time reconciling his experiences in civilian life. Then after killing a man he discovered that he was a divine force of judgment on earth. Now he has pledged to uncover the truth about the execution of several Japanese soldiers at wars end.

Kenzo’s quest is documented including his interviews with witnesses and if they would stand against divine justice, then he has no choice but to use violence. Made over a five year period, Hara documents Kenzo’s activities, but never intervenes or expresses judgment of the man. This gives the film a stark and disturbing quality that most documentaries seem to shy away from.

Japan, Director Kazuo Hara, Featuring Kenzo Okuzaki, 122 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles

City of Life and Death (2009)

City of Life and Death (2009)


February 24th, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)


The Nanjing Massacre, or as it more popularly known, The Rape of Nanking is a subject that has been attempted as material numerous films and documentaries. From the earliest of these, Frank Capra’s The Battle of China (1944) an instalment in his Why We Fight documentary series to later examples, there have been at least nine films centering on the events. It might surprise many to hear that this 2009 Mainland Chinese entry is easily one of the most balanced and reflective of these films.

It might be appropriate to go over the most commonly excepted view the events of the massacre. In early December of 1937 elements of the Japanese army attacked and captured the city of Nanjing, formerly the capital of the Republic of China under the Nationalists. The Japanese were able to take the city after a short battle, capturing a large number of surrendered Chinese troops. One explanation for what happened next involves a sense of frustration on the part of the Japanese because in previous months they had been bogged down in costly urban combat with Nationalist forces, another involves a general lack of discipline and clear direction from the upper command structure. Either way, the Japanese began mass executions of Chinese prisoners of war. The likely number sits at around 57,000 and this action was only the beginning.

In a six week period, Japanese soldiers committed a series of atrocities that in both scale and variety seem beyond comprehension. The lowest estimates are those of the Japanese which range between 100,000-200,000 deaths. Estimates of around 300,000 deaths are generally held by the Chinese and depending on the time period cited and including the general area around the city an estimate of more then 400,000 is possible. The range of atrocities that are leveled against the Japanese army includes burying people alive, indiscriminate machine gunning of crowds, the use of explosives, bayonets, swords, fire and much more.

The term Rape of Nanking also has a very literal meaning. The official estimate made by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East is 20,000 rapes, but subsequent estimates range from 40,000 to 80,000. The rapes were viewed as a way of punishing the population and they included infants as well as the elderly. A great number of women were literally raped to death, that is gang raped until blood loss or beatings reached a fatal level. One of the few positive events surrounding the massacre involved the Nanking Safety Zone. It was a space set up by a group of foreigners who resided in the city and lead by Nazi representative John Rabe. It was able to offer citizens a refuge where the Japanese army was largely denied access. Rabe was eventually recalled to Germany because the Nazi leadership viewed his actions in trying to save Chinese civilians and document the events as detrimental to their relationship to the Empire of Japan.

The nature of these facts illustrates how any representation of these events can cause heated passions. Due to the chaos of the later Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China, many aspects of the massacre were played down for decades. But in recent years historical debate has intensified and the events have become reasonably well known in the West as well as the Far East. One aspect of this comes from an increasingly high profile campaign by Japanese cultural conservatives to claim that no massacre had ever taken place. This includes the production of the film The Truth About Nanking (2007) funded through donations, which denies the events of the massacre. That same year the American documentary Nanking premiered in commemoration of the seventieth anniversary of the massacre. Later in 2009 two more high profile films would follow, both dealing with similar settings in the midst of the massacre. Besides City, the other film is entitled John Rabe, a German, French and Chinese co-production centering on the events taking place in the Nanking Safety Zone and focusing on the tittle character.

City of Life and Death also centers on the Nanking Safety Zone, but not surprisingly John Rabe becomes a secondary character in favor of a focus on Chinese civilians. What might be a shock is that there are a handful of major Japanese characters, several of which are generally portrayed in a positive, or at the very least a sympathetic way. The films story deals with a range of characters including civilians, foreigners, Japanese officers and enlisted men, nationalist soldiers and both Japanese and Chinese comfort women. Many Japanese soldiers are shown as either genuinely disturbed by the events, or reluctantly falling down a slippery slope of actions that lead to the horrific acts. This dimension was enough to cause protests by some Chinese groups over the films tone. But it reflects well upon the state of Chinese cinema and culture that such a film can now be produced and widely viewed.

The film is also far less graphic then a viewer might expect, although that is not to say that disturbing imagery is absent, in fact it is abundant. The focus of the film is primarily on the events taking place in the Nanking Safety Zone with a approach that seems to attempt to put the viewer in the shoes of someone finding themselves in a hell on earth where nothing is certain and danger is everywhere. The choice of black and white gives the film a raw, documentary quality that color cinematography would find a challenge to equal. I feel that City of Life and Death will be remembered as an important film in both the popular conception of the massacre and the continuing cultural dialog about these haunting events from the not distant past.

Mainland China, Director Lu Chuan, Cast Liu Ye, Gao Yuan-Yuan, Qin Lan and Fan Wei, 135 minutes, in Mandarin, Japanese and English with English subtitles

Guns & Talks (2001)

Guns & Talks (2001)


February 17th, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)

A group of four men, two of them brothers, live together in what seems like a pleasant middle-class household. They hang out together and also share an obsession with the attractive host of a morning show that they never miss. The twist is they are all professional assassins.

Jang Jin made his name as a playwright and later broke into the South Korean film industry as a writer-director. He has often been associated with quirky stories including authoring the play that became the basis for the hit film Welcome to Dongmakgol. So the blackly comedic tone of Guns & Talks should come as no surprise.

The story takes a mater of fact approach to the killing, giving the film a slightly disturbing atmosphere. The four men are never villainized and even with the presence of several police officers who are hunting them, they might just as well be bankers as far as the tone of the film goes.

South Korea, Director Jang Jin, Cast Shin Hyun-Joon, Won Bin, Shin Ha-Gyun and Jeong Jin-Young, 125 minutes, in Korean with English subtitles