...and topknots -- don't forget the topknots! (is that what you call them?) -- can be quite dreamy. Witness Tony LEUNG Chiu-Wai in RED CLIFF UNCUT. (Although Tony LEUNG Kar-Fai is really worth mooning over as well. Remember Marguerite Duras' The Lover?) Even Sammo Hung got into the act with a long 'do in Kung Fu Chefs and it looked pretty good on him too. (For a plot summary, think: Iron Chef meets the Shaw Brothers)
Yes, it's time once again for the 9th (!) Annual NY Asian Film Festival, run by the every excitable and cheery Grady Hendrix -- he of the powder blue ruffled tux, for those of you whom I've dragged along to see movies about demonic cell phones, hopping vampires, cursed eyeballs, and other fun craziness. Sadly, I missed the year they had the 5-1/2 hour two-parter with Thai war elephants, but I made up for it this year with Red Cliff Uncut (288 minutes + intermission). Besides the screenings at the Walter Reade Theater (pictured below), the NYAFF also had events at the Japan Society and IFC this year.
In fact, since I decided to go see 4 movies at the festival, I thought it made sense to sign up for a Level 2 membership at the Film Society of Lincoln Center this year which not only enabled me to buy discounted tickets for $7 each (when was the last time you paid THAT in Manhattan?) but also entitled me to a subscription to Film Comment. (Yes, I know -- just what I need: MORE paper in my hoarders-like home.)
So I started off my weekend film fiesta with a noon showing on Saturday of a GOOD Jackie Chan movie, Little Big Soldier, which proves that he is indeed a good actor and still in fine physical form -- he just needs to stay the hell away from Hollywood scripts: this project was developed entirely in Asia over the course of 20 years. According to IMDB, when the project was originally conceived, he was to play the younger character. The older character is much more interesting, actually, but that could also be the result of the startling combination of a GOOD script with nuanced acting. Shocking. (As one friend pointed out no Wilson brother other American comedian made an appearance.)
We then segue to Sunday, and John Woo's RED CLIFF UNCUT, which was mangled into a US release of exactly half its actual running time. Now try to imagine watching the first 2 parts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a single movie half as long as the combined films. Um... yeah, pass.
The interesting question that comes to mind is: what was cut out of the US version? The love story? Or shortening the endless battle scenes? Sword dancing? Or character development? Or...? I mean, which movie were they trying to market here? The action movie or the epic drama? In any case, the John Woo archetypes are all there. Bromance? Check. Doves? Check. Ballistic arrow-cam? Yup. And since I read space opera and Horatio Hornblower novels, you will not be surprised to hear that I found the military tactics fascinating. (By the way, did I mention that the Chinese government lent the production 1,500 soldiers as extras? See: epic, above.)
Happily for me, the NYAFF coincided with a SCORCHING heat wave here (triple digits) that's still chugging along: what better way to spend a broiling holiday weekend than in a comfy, air-conditioned theater with great sightlines for over 8 hours in total?
Coming up on Thursday night: Blades of Blood -- more swordplay, set this time in 16th century Korea. I foresee lots of red corn syrup splashing across the screen, and more men in long robes and topknots. Heeee-YAH!
Yes, it's time once again for the 9th (!) Annual NY Asian Film Festival, run by the every excitable and cheery Grady Hendrix -- he of the powder blue ruffled tux, for those of you whom I've dragged along to see movies about demonic cell phones, hopping vampires, cursed eyeballs, and other fun craziness. Sadly, I missed the year they had the 5-1/2 hour two-parter with Thai war elephants, but I made up for it this year with Red Cliff Uncut (288 minutes + intermission). Besides the screenings at the Walter Reade Theater (pictured below), the NYAFF also had events at the Japan Society and IFC this year.
In fact, since I decided to go see 4 movies at the festival, I thought it made sense to sign up for a Level 2 membership at the Film Society of Lincoln Center this year which not only enabled me to buy discounted tickets for $7 each (when was the last time you paid THAT in Manhattan?) but also entitled me to a subscription to Film Comment. (Yes, I know -- just what I need: MORE paper in my hoarders-like home.)
We then segue to Sunday, and John Woo's RED CLIFF UNCUT, which was mangled into a US release of exactly half its actual running time. Now try to imagine watching the first 2 parts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a single movie half as long as the combined films. Um... yeah, pass.
The interesting question that comes to mind is: what was cut out of the US version? The love story? Or shortening the endless battle scenes? Sword dancing? Or character development? Or...? I mean, which movie were they trying to market here? The action movie or the epic drama? In any case, the John Woo archetypes are all there. Bromance? Check. Doves? Check. Ballistic arrow-cam? Yup. And since I read space opera and Horatio Hornblower novels, you will not be surprised to hear that I found the military tactics fascinating. (By the way, did I mention that the Chinese government lent the production 1,500 soldiers as extras? See: epic, above.)
Happily for me, the NYAFF coincided with a SCORCHING heat wave here (triple digits) that's still chugging along: what better way to spend a broiling holiday weekend than in a comfy, air-conditioned theater with great sightlines for over 8 hours in total?
Coming up on Thursday night: Blades of Blood -- more swordplay, set this time in 16th century Korea. I foresee lots of red corn syrup splashing across the screen, and more men in long robes and topknots. Heeee-YAH!
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