Thursday, September 6, 2012
The New BLOG
The regular season of the Asian Film Series begins with the comedy hit Golden Chicken. This Thursday (September 6th) at the normal place and time. You can follow the series under its new management at on this BLOG.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
A Touch of Zen (1971)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Passing Flickers (1982)
Passing Flickers (1982)
May 17th, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)
This screening will be my last as head of the Asian Film
Series, but a new individual will be taking over and hopefully it will continue
for many more years. Look to this blog for information regarding where to find
news on future screenings. To celebrate this end I have chosen to screen a film
that is very special to me along with a newsreel, the topic of both being
moviemaking in Hong Kong. The short film is a remembrance of the actress Linda
Lin Dai after her 1964 suicide. With a kind of bizarre glee, the Shaw Brothers
studio put their entire promotional department behind an extravaganza of Lin
Dai as they continued to put out still unreleased films starring the actress.
The feature is a 1982 film also produced by the Shaw Brothers
studio and directed by Li Han Hsiang. Named after his popular newspaper column
which anonymously informed readers of all of the strange goings on in the movie
business, Passing Flickers is an episodic comedy following the behind the
scenes progress of a series of fictional productions ranging from studio to
independent style works. One of Hong Kong’s great studio directors, Li had been
working since the 1950’s making everything from refined palace dramas to erotic
farces which mixed everything from melodrama, slapstick, horror and complex
historical illusion.
Passing Flickers is packed full of both general and specific
references to three decades of Hong Kong cinema. This includes an extended
reference to the 1962 Shaw Brothers version of Madame White Snake and their
abortive Wong Fei Hung films. This should not discourage those unfamiliar with
such topics from seeing the film, as it works upon many levels. In a way both
feature and short provide an indictment of and exultation Hong Kong film from
an insider’s perspective.
Hong Kong, Director Li Han Hsiang, Cast Ku Feng, Helen Poon Bing-Seung,
Lee Din-Hing and Yuen Wah, 90 minutes film, 18 minutes short, feature in Mandarin with English subtitles, short in Mandarin with English and Traditional Chinese subtitles.
Labels:
Black Comedy,
Comedy,
Documentary,
Hong Kong,
Li Han Hsiang,
Spring 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The Taebaek Mountains (1994)
The Taebaek Mountains (1994)
May 10th, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)
A village finds itself in the impossible situation as both
sides demand their loyalty in the just crusade to defeat the other. Seen
through the perspectives of a wide range of individuals, the front lines have
again shifted north while partisans remain in the mountains to continue the
fight.
This 1994 film dealing with domestically sensitive issues
regarding the war performed poorly despite its ambitious scale. Similar tales
have found their audience years later when time has made a public dialog more palatable.
During the war the front lines shifted radically south and north to the degree
that nearly every point of the peninsula experienced this at least once if not
several times. This underscores why the material of this film might bring up
difficult memories for many.
South Korea, Director Im Kwon-taek, Cast Ahn Sung-ki and Bang Eun-jin, 168 minutes, in Korean with English subtitles
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Milarepa (2006)
May 3rd, 7:00PM in Garland 104 (2441 E. Hartford)
A tagline sometimes used for this film is "Magician, Murderer, Saint"
and that is a deceptively accurate summation of the story of Milarepa.
The figure himself was an eleventh century Yogi who would become one of
the most celebrated Tibetan historical figures for both his
accomplishments and an extremely influential biography written after his
death. This film represents a retelling of that story including
depictions of the supernatural events that intertwined with his life.
As a figure Milarepa represented a yogic tradition distinct
from the monastic Buddhism that most associate with Tibet. This version of the
story was produced and directed by Neten Chokling a Lama from Bhutan and shot
in terrain similar to that found in Tibet. The narrative of Milarepa’s story reinforces
classical Buddhist patterns of transcendence of worldly matters after a misspent
youth and an acceptance of one’s own mortality.
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