Special Los Angeles red carpet premiere of FAGARA tomorrow, September 12th and will open to the general public on September 13th

China Lion and

Hyundai Motor America

Present

Li Xiaofeng, Megan Lai, and Sammi Cheng (Photo Credit- China Lion Film Distribution, Inc.)

Fagara / Hua jiao zhi wei

Directed by Heiward Mak

China, 2019, 120 minutes

China Lion Film Distribution has acquired and will release Fagara, with worldwide superstar Sammi Cheng in the lead role. Hyundai Motor America and its brand new 2020 Palisade SUV will be the official sponsor of the North American release, showcasing the film first at a special Los Angeles red carpet premiere on September 12th at AMC Atlantic Times Square 14 in Monterey Park.. The new film, written and directed by Heiward Mak, will open to the general public in celebration of the mid-autumn festival on September 13th throughout the United States and Canada. Mak is the award winning writer of the film Love in a Puff and the well regarded High Noon.

The film also stars actress Megan Lai, best known for Bromance, Miss Rose and Mars (all three are TV series), and actress Li Xiaofeng, best known for the films Love At First… and the Feng Xiaogang epic Youth. In addition to the lead cast of Sammi Cheng, Megan Lai and Li Xiaofeng, the film co-stars award winning actress Wu Yanshu, Liu Juei Chi and Richie Jen. Acting legend Andy Lau makes a special guest appearance in the film as well.

The film follows a woman (Sammi Cheng) who, in the wake of her father’s untimely death, rediscovers her connection with her two distant sisters. But with her own relationship uncertain and the future of her departed father’s hot pot restaurant in question, she worries her feelings for the past will add complications to the reunion. She finds that while their upbringing was different, they too experience ongoing trials and tribulations in their lives. Her sister from the Mainland (Li Xiaofeng) is pressured by her elderly grandmother to get married; her sister from Taiwan (Megan Lai) is plagued by a toxic relationship with her mother. Together, they decide to strive to find happiness, love and peace – the same peace their father was unable to provide to them during his life.

The film is currently set to open in the United States and Canada in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver, expanding to other cities in the weeks following. A complete theater list is available at www.ChinaLionFilm.com/fgra.

The film’s international trailer can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq4xnFALye0

Record-making women-centric Chinese drama SOULMATE will arrive on DVD on June 14th, 2019

Cheng Cheng Films

Presents

SoulMate / Qi yue yu an sheng

Directed by Derek Tsang

Starring: Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun

China/Hong Kong, 2016, 110 minutes

SoulMate, a highly regarded drama from director Derek Tsang, will be coming to DVD in the USA and Canada on June 14th, 2019.

Featuring unforgettable performances from Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun, who made history by tying for "Best Actress" at the biggest Chinese film award, the film portrays the decades-long friendship between two disparate women who both struggle to find positions for their real selves in the modern world. The poignant drama is a heartfelt tribute to everyone's best friend and an honest examination of the evolving gender role in fast-changing China.

SoulMate's accolades include:
Winner-Best Actress, Film of Merit, Hong Kong Film Critics Society
Opening Film-Hong Kong Asian Film Festival
Opening Gala-Reel Asian Film Festival
Official Selection-New York Asian Film Festival
FILM OF THE YEAR-Weibo Film Night
12 Nominations at Hong Kong Film Awards
7 Nominations at Taiwan Golden Horse Film Awards Awards
2 Nominations at Asian Film Awards
4 Nominations at Chinese Directors' Guild
Winner, Best Director, Hong Kong Directors' Guild
Winner-Outstanding Young Filmmaker of the Year-Motion Pictures Association

WHITE HAIRED WITCH to debut March 10th from Well Go USA

Well Go USA

Presents

White Haired Witch

Directed by Jacob Cheung

China, 2014, 104 minutes

Jacob Cheung’s (Twin Dragons) elaborate wuxia-fantasy White Haired Witch debuts on Blu-ray™, DVD and digital March 10 from Well Go USA Entertainment.

The martial arts extravaganza is loosely adapted from Liang Yusheng’s novel Baifa Monü Zhuan and stars Fan Bingbing (Iron Man 3, X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Huang Xiaoming (Eastern Bandits, Ip Man 2) as a pair of star-crossed lovers whose love could change the fate of the nation. The films also stars Vincent Zhao (Wu Dang) and features action choreography by Stephen Tung (Saving General Yang).

Bonus features on White Haired Witch include a “Making-of” featurette.

Synopsis: In the twilight of the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial court is plagued by corruption as tyrants rule over the land. With the Manchurians preying on a weakened empire, war is imminent. To save the victims from their suffering, sorceress Jade Raksha fights the soldiers who oppress people for their own gain. As payback, local government officials decide to pin the murder of Governor Zhuo Zhonglian on Jade, turning her and the members of her cult into wanted fugitives for a crime they didn’t commit.

Happy Birthday, Zhang Ziyi

As Gong Er in Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster (2013)

Today marks the 36rd birthday of Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi. Born in Beijing in 1979, she began studying dance when she was eight years old. In 1996, when she was seventeen, she began studying at the prestigious Central Drama College in Beijing. Her first noteworthy role was as Zhao Di, the young woman who's determined to marry the new teacher who comes to her village in Zhang Yimou's The Road Home (1999).

Her career skyrocketed with Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon the following year. Her dance training served her well in that film's many martial arts sequences, and she at least held her own opposite veteran costars Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh.

As Empress Wan in Legend of the Black Scorpion

She's also worked with director Tsui Hark in The Legend of Zu (2001), his unfortunately inferior remake of his own Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain; Wong Kar-wei in 2046 and The Grandmaster (2013); Seijin Suzuki in his Princess Racoon (2005), and Robert Marshall in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). She also re-teamed with Zhang Yimou for Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004).

As Bai Ling in 2046

Multi-talented and beautiful, her career to date has been phenomenal. Recently, she showed her comedic chops in director Eva Jin's delightful Sophie's Revenge (2009). For my review of the film, which screened at the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival, click here.

As Xiao Mei in House of Flying Daggers

So, heartfelt "Happy Birthday" wishes to you, Ziyi Zhang. Your fans in the U.S. surely wish you health, happiness, a continued, long and lustrous career, and to see you again soon doing what you do so well - lighting up our theaters, our widescreeen TVs, and our hearts.

A Brief Post-Script About Names:

Early in her career, her name appeared in English as Zhang Ziyi, using the traditional Chinese order of family name first, personal name last. This was how she was billed through House of Flying Daggers (2004).  Subsequently she's been billed as Ziyi Zhang in English. My guess is that she got fed up with being mistakenly addressed or referred to as "Ms. Ziyi" and that's why her name started appearing in credits in Western order. She'll probably always be "Zhang Ziyi" to me,

20 ONCE AGAIN opens today

CJ E&M America

Presents

 20 Once Again

Directed by Leste Chen
China, 2015, 125 minutes

Romantic comedy stars K-pop chart topper Luhan in his first big screen

debut alongside Huabiao Award winning actress Yang Zi Shan

20 Once Again is a delightful romantic comedy about a grandmother who miraculously regains her youth and has the opportunity she originally missed to become a famous singer, as well as to find true love. The film makes its U.S. and Canada debut in major market cinemas today, Friday, January 16, 2015. Check your local listings or visit www.cj-entertainment.co.

Shen Mengjun, center) with her grandson, son, daughter-in-law and grnaddaught

Shen Mengjun (Grace Guei) is a seventy-year-old grandmother who was widowed when her only child, Guobin, was just over a year old. She lives with him, his wife Yangqin, and their two children, daughter Xiang Xinran and son Qianjin (Luhan, former member of the K-pop group EXO), who's a guitarist.

Shen is partial to the men in her life: her son, her grandson, and Uncle Li Dahai, who worked for her family when he was a teenager and who has always loved her. The women in Shen's life, on the other hand, suffer from the harridan aspect of her personality. One victim is Chen Yumei, one of the women with whom Shen plays mahjong. Closer to home, Shen berates her granddaughter for what she eats and how she dresses. But her most vituperative comments are for her daughter-in-law, whom Shen seems to feel can do nothing right.

When the stress puts Yangqin in the hospital, Shen's son (who happens to be a college professor who specializes in social issues of the elderly!) reluctantly decides to put his mother in a nursing home so his wife can recuperate. Overhearing these plans, Shen goes for a walk. She comes across a store that she'd somehow never noticed before, the Photography Studio of Youth, and has her funeral picture taken so her family will have something to remember her by.

The rejuvenated Shen, now calling herself Meng Lijun (Yang Zi Shan)

 When she leaves, however, Shen (now played by Yang Zi Shan) has become the twenty-year-old she once was. She adopts the name Meng Lijun. Antics ensue as do romantic rivalries. She becomes the singer for her grandson's band, and he -- having no idea who she really is -- begins to fall for her. So does Mr. Tan, a talent scout. And, of course, Uncle Li, once he realizes who she is, has his feelings stirred.

20 Once Again is pretty much a Chinese language remake of the South Korean film Miss Granny (2013), which was also presented by CJ Entertainment. In fact, after Shen has regained her youth, she comes to a bus stop and there's an image of actress SHIM Eun-Kyung from Miss Granny behind the bench Shen is sitting on! (Read my January 2014 review of Miss Granny here.)

Shen's grandson Qianjin (Luhan)

But don't let the word "remake" dissuade you. 20 Once Again is a terrific comedy in its own right. All the acting is wonderful, especially Grace Guei and Yang Zi Shan. It also has some nice touches of its own. For example, there's one shot of Meng and the three male members of the band walking across a street that's an obvious wink at the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album cover.

And so, like Miss Granny, I'm giving 20 Once Again a 3.5 out of 4 star rating; very highly recommended.

WOMEN WHO FLIRT opens in North America on November 26th, 2014

China Lion Film Distribution

presents

 

Women Who Flirt

Directed by Pang Ho-Cheung

China, 2014, 96 minutes

China Lion Film Distribution will release Hong Kong director Pang Ho-Cheung's rom-com Women Who Flirt in major metro areas throughout North America on Wednesday, November 26th, 2014. China Lion Australia/New Zealand will release the film the following day, Thursday, November 27th. Both North American audiences and audiences in Australia/New Zealand will be able to see the film ahead of the Mainland Chinese release on Friday, November 28th. For the film's official website, which includes specific release locations, click here.

The Mandarin language film stars Zhou Xun (Painted Skin, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate) as Angie Zhang, a young professional women who has been in love with Marco Gong (Huang Xiao Ming (Eastern Bandits, The Guillotines) at least since their college days. In fact, she abandoned her desire to be a sculptor so that she could take the job and be near him after they graduated.

Zhou Xun as Angie

Unfortunately, Marco is clueless about Angie's feelings. Because of family issues, he's always been intent on succeeding in a career, and has always fondly thought of Angie as a friend, never really as a woman. In part this is because he likes "sweet girls" and regards Angie as too "butch." At one point he even describes her to a male friend as a dude who pee's standing up.

Marco (Huang Xiao Ming) on assignment in a restaurant

When they are together on an assignment to evaluate the service at a restaurant, Merco reveals to Angie that he's begun seeing someone he met while on a business trip to Taiwan. Her name is Hailey (Sui Tang, a.k.a. Sonia Sui) and she's an expert at manipulative flirting. She also has a derriere that's superb, as revealed by a shot of her wearing cut-off shorts that expose the bottom of her butt cheeks.

On her own, Angie has next to no chance of competing with this brazen hussy because she has no talent whatsoever at flirting. She is totally unable to be provocative, to send a man the kind of signals that indicate that she's really interested in him, and not just as a friend.

May (Sie Yi Lin, second from left) and two "Barbies" advise Angie (right)

Fortunately, her friend May (Sie Yi Lin) is quite knowledgeable about such things. She assembles "The Barbie Army," four of the best female pickup artists in Shanghai to teach Angie the ropes and help her win Marco away from Hailey and convince him that she's the one he should be with.

Hailey (Sui Tang, left) and Angie

Women Who Flirt is a charming and delightful romp. It does a terrific job of successfully crossing cultures and languages, a journey that is often beset with severe pitfalls, particularly for comedies. The cast is quite solid across the board, but special mention must be made of the exceptionally fine performance by Zhou Xun. Her facial expressions are ofttimes hilarious on their own; for example when she's trying to learn how to say "I hate you" with just the right degree of petulance.

Oh, and be sure to stick around after the colorful end credits begin for a wonderful coda, especially you fans of the 1990 film Ghost, which starred Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very highly recommended.

THE GOLDEN ERA acquired by China Lion for distribution in Australia, New Zealand, U.S. & Canada

China Lion Film Distribution has acquired Ann Hui’s historical epic The Golden Era from Edko Films for release in the U.S. and Canada, as well as Australia and New Zealand. The Mandarin-language film stars Tang Wei as female novelist Xiao Hong and will be released in theaters on October 16th in Australia and New Zealand and October 17th in the United States and Canada. The film, which is the official Hong Kong selection for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its Best Foreign Language category, closed the Venice Film Festival this year and was an Official Selection at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Vancouver International Film Festival. The Golden Era will have its U.S. premiere in Monterey Park in Los Angeles on October 7th sponsored by Hyundai USA at the AMC Atlantic Times Square 14.

Directed by Ann Hui (A Simple Life, God of Killers, The Postmodern Life of My Aunt), the film traces the life of Xiao Hong, one of China’s most famous essayist and novelist, reflecting the progressive thinking not frequently seen during the time period. Set in 1930s China, the film uses personal accounts and the author’s own writings in piecing together a turbulent life in a turbulent time. Tang Wei, a multiple award winner for her lead role in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution as well as her starring turn in last year’s blockbuster hit Finding Mr. Right, plays Xiao Hong, with Feng Shaofeng co-starring. Shaofeng recently was in the Chinese hit The Continent and will star in the upcoming film Wolf Totem, written by Jean-Jacques Annaud and John Collee, from the best-selling novel by Jian Rong.

China Lion Film released Hui’s last film, A Simple Life, to spectacular reviews and audience reception; the film was also featured at the previous year’s Venice Film Festival, winning multiple awards for star Deanie Ip and going on to make Roger Ebert’s Top Films of the Year before his passing. Additionally, China Lion Film released Tang Wei’s last film Finding Mr. Right and will be opening up the Xu Zheng/Huang Bo-starrer Breakup Buddies this Friday, October 3rd.

China Lion Film will release The Golden Era in major metro areas throughout North America, including in select college towns, in addition to Australia and New Zealand; specific release locations will be announced on the company’s website, as well as its Facebook and Weibo soon. China Lion Film Distribution previously released But Always on September 5th, which is still in limited release.

ACF 2103: FINDING MR. RIGHT opens today, Friday, November 8th in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York

China Lion Film

Presents

Finding Mr. Right

Written and directed by Xiao Lu Xue

Starring Wei Tang and Xiubo Wu
2013, China/Hong Kong, 123 minutes

Finding Mr. Right, a big hit in China will be opening today in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York. (Check local listings.) The film is one of China’s highest grossing films. It attracted a large audience there both because of interest in the story’s main backdrop of Seattle and because of the film's rather controversial subject matter.

Wen Jiajia (Actress Tang Wei, Lust Caution) arrives in Seattle on a flight from Beijing and waits curbside in the cold until her ride, Frank Hao (Xiubo Wu) finally arrives thirty minutes late. She's rich, selfish, self-centered, a real prima donna. She thinks she can get whatever she wants because she has access to apparently unlimited wealth, and usually she succeeds. Jiajia is also pregnant.

Formerly an editor for a gourmet food magazine, she has come to the U.S. because her wealthy lover is married and won't seek a divorce. She therefore would not be able to obtain legal permission to give birth in China because of that country's highly restrictive one-child policy.

Wen Jiajia (Tang Wei, left) and Frank Hao (Xiubo Wu)

Frank, who had been a doctor in China, now works as a chauffeur for illegal "birthing houses." For various reasons, Chinese women live in rooms in these houses until they give birth. The landladies of these homes provide room and board as well as transportation to medical appointments, etc.

Jiajia ends up having to stay in a house owned by Mrs. Huang, a Taiwanese landlady. Jiajia immediately buys her way into the largest room in the house. But her high-handed ways are of no avail when her wealthy businessman lover can't come to visit as he'd promise, when she can't reach him by phone, and especially not when her credit card stops being accepted.

As her life takes various twists and turns, it becomes rather problematic as to just who is her "Mr. Right" and whether or not she'll realize it, let alone be able to act upon it.

Actress Wei Tang was blacklisted by the Chinese government because of her participation in Ang Lee's Lust Caution (2007), a film whose subject matter the authorities objected to. This cost her dearly, both in terms of roles and endorsements. She did not appear again in a film until 2010's Crossing Hennessy. The following year she had a lead role in Dragon (a.k.a. Wu xia), which starred Donnie Yen and Takeshi Kaneshiro. She's outstanding in her role in Finding Mr. Right, exhibiting a wide range as Jiajia undergoes significant transformation from an arrogant person of privilege to one of abject poverty.

For his part, 45 year old Xiubo Wuis quite convincing as a man who's been humbled by the course his life has taken, but who hasn't given up on regaining his dignity and his desire to provide both emotionally and financially for his young daughter.

I would describe Finding Mr. Right as primarily a drama, but one with strong rom-com elements. It's well-paced and well-acted. It hits both the serious and dramatic notes with a sure hand. All in all, a most enjoyable watch.

ACF 2032: MY LUCKY STAR opens tomorrow in select cities

China Lion Film Distribution

Presents

My Lucky Star

Directed by Dennie Gordon

Starring ZHANG Ziyi, Leehom WANG, and Terri KWAN

China, 2013, 114 minutes

My Lucky Star is a most charming and delightful romantic comedy. It opens tomorrow, Friday, September 20th, 2013, at select theaters throughout North America and Hawaii. Release locations, subject to change, are Boston, Chicago, the Dallas/Plano Area, Honolulu, Houston, the Los Angeles Metro Area/Orange County, the New York Metro Area, the San Francisco/Bay Area, Seattle, the Washington, D.C. Metro Area, the Toronto Metro Area, and the Vancouver Metro Area. Check local listings for theaters and showtimes.

Sophie at her job at a travel agency

Zhang Ziyi stars as Sophie, a talented, aspiring cartoonist. Although skilled at drawing her romantic stories, she hasn't yet become successful enough to earn a living at it and has a day job at the Beijing Feng Guang Travel Agency. She's the company's worse customer service phone reps because she daydreams and doesn't pay attention to what the customers are saying. Her personal life is not anything to rave about either. She lives in an apartment off an alley, has no taste when it comes to clothing, and is pretty clumsy. Her love life is non-existent.

Sophie's taste in couture lacks refinement

Things change when she wins a sweepstake for a 5 day trip to Singapore. There she runs into David Yan (Leehom Wang), a secret agent. His current assignment is to recovery the Lucky Star Diamond, which has been stolen from an exhibition in London and is a crystal oscillator for a high-energy laser. In other words, it has the potential to be a most devastating weapon.

The hero in Sophie's comic looks like real life secret agent David Yan

David also happens to look exacttly like the hero in Sophie's comics. Naturally she's attracted to him, which results in her getting involved in the operation. The infamous Mr. Gao (Jack Koo), a ruthless killer, is to retrieve the diamond from Li wan and bring it to Charlize Won (Terri Kwan), a.k.a. the "Black Widow," who marries rich men and kills them for the inheritance. But Sophie gets in the middle of the transaction and inadvertently becomes the key to making the Lucky Star accessible. Hilarious hijinks ensue.

Sophie acts to seduce Li Wan, seller of the Lucky Star Diamond

My Lucky Star, it should be mentioned, has absolutely nothing to do with My Lucky Stars, the 1985 Hong Kong action comedy that starred Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, and Sammo Hung, who also directed. Rather it marks the return of  Ms. Zhang to a role she first played in Sophie's Revenge, the 2009 comedy that became the highest grossing romantic comedy hit in the history of Chinese cinema. In that first film, Sophie's fiance´ calls off their wedding because he's fallen for a gorgeous actress, and Sophie tries to win him back. It played at the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival, and my review of it can be found here. (Sophie's Revenge is available on Netflix streaming and as a Region I DVD from Amazon and Best Buy.)

David and Sophie

My Lucky Star, however, is not really a sequel; it's simply the second film in what hopefully will be a continuing series; it completely stands on it own. While I urge you to see Sophie's Revenge, you don't need to be familiar with it at all to understand and appreciate My Lucky Star.

My Lucky Star succeeds largely because of Zhang Ziyi. (I'm using the Chinese arrangement of family name first, personal name second, as that is how it appears in the film's credits. She is usually credited as Ziyi Zhang in Western releases.) She is a most talented actress, beyond her physical looks and abilities. She has a real feel for comedy and is capable of remarkable expressiveness. Watch her face early in My Lucky Star when her hero frees her ankles fro restraints. There are some slight gestures that she makes that go way beyond what's called for to express sensual delight.

Sophie in disguise as a gondolier in Macau

As a child, Zhang studied dance. This background stood her in good stead for her martial arts roles in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Wong Kar Wai's recently-release The Grandmaster, the films for which she probably is most widely known in the Western world. I wonder of that training was also useful to her in portraying the physically awkward -- read klutz -- that is Sophie. In any case she is both convincingly and comically uncoordinated when that's called for.

I must also give credit to director Dennie Gordon. A graduate of Yale's School of Drama, she has directed over 100 hour of network television, the teen cult hit Joe Dirt (2001), the romantic comedy What a Girl Wants (2003), and the Warner Bros. comedy New York Minute (2004). Her work caught the attention of Song Ge, General Manager at Wanda Media, who had produced Sophie's Revenge and wanted to work with Ziyi again. One of the challenges Ms. Gordon obviously had to deal with concerned language, namely the fact that the production was conducted in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. She's reportedly the first American woman to have handled this type of situation and she's done a fantastic job.

Sophie to the rescue! (?)

So if you're in the mood for a wonderful rom-com and can make it to one of the screening sites, do so without hesitation. If you don't live in or near one of these cities, hope for a Region 1 DVD release, which I consider likely.

ACF rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; highly recommended.

ACF 2009: MY LUCKY STAR set for September 20th release

China Lion has acquired and will release the film My Lucky Star on September 20th in North America, day-and-date with Mainland China. The film stars Ziyi Zhang and Wang Leehom and follows the continuing comedic adventures of Sophie (Zhang) as she finds herself caught up in an international diamond heist that draws her towards a sexy spy (Wang) trying to save the world. The film serves as a standalone production with a contained storyline rather than a sequel to the film Sophie’s Revenge, the hilarious 2009 comedy that was shown at the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival. (My review of Sophie's Revenge can be found here.)

Directed by American helmer Dennie Gordon and produced by Ming Beaver Kwei, Second Chan, William Cheng, Ling Lucas and Zhang, the film is set for a limited release across the U.S. and Canada in major metro areas, including Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and the Washington, D.C., area, with specific locations to be announced.

Ziyi Zhang is the star of the Wong Kar Wai’s action, drama The Grandmaster and known for her performance in the Academy Award winning films, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha.

Wang Leehom, who starred in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, is currently filming Michael Mann’s untitled cyberthriller with Chris Hemsworth and Viola Davis. Leehom has also signed to play the title role in Magic Storm Entertainment’s The Annihilator, based on the Stan-Lee created character.

ACF 1954: Interviewing Dada Chan

This afternoon I had the great pleasure of interviewing actress Dada Chan, who is in New York for the world premiere of Hardcore Comedy, one of the films in the Hong Kong Cinema Now & Beyond section of the New York Asian Film Festival. In addition to appearing in a Q&A for tonight's 10:00 PM screening, Ms. Chan revealed to me that this will actually be the first time that she has seen the completed movie. Hardcore Comedy is an omnibus film featuring separate segments by three directors. Ms. Chan appears in director Chong Siu-wing's "Run on Drugs" as "an ecstasy-gulping party girl."

Hardcore Comedy was inspired by Pang Ho-cheung's Vulgaria, NYAFF 2012's opening night film that featured Ms. Chan's break-out role as Popping Candy, a would-be starlet. I must admit here and now that my review of Vulgaria last year did not give full, proper credit to her truly talented performance. Like many others, I imagine, I was initially beguiled by her incredible beauty. But it's truly a performance that warrants all the attention and accolades she has received for it.

In person Ms. Chan was not only lovely, but also smart, expressive, friendly and enthusiastic. I'll be making my best effort to transcribe the interview promptly, even thought the current heatwave NY is experiencing has been really taxing on my energy level. In fact, it was only the interview with her that got me to leave my apartment and take a bus and then the subway down to Lincoln Center where the interview took place.

I did get a scoop in the course of the interview. When I asked her if she had any projects lined up, she told me that she had just learned that she was going to be in Lan Kwai Fong 3. She appeared as Cat in the original Lan Kwai Fong (2011), one of the films she was in prior to Vulgaria. Ms. Chan said I was the first person, outside of those involved, to learn about this. Apparently the word is not even out in Hong Kong yet.

So on many levels the trip through NY's sweltering heat, which Ms. Chan said didn't bother her because she really likes summer, was well worth it for me.

Incidentally, after posing with me for the above photo, Ms. Chan said -- in Chinese -- that she thought I looked like Santa Claus! After this was translated for my benefit, I responded -- in total honesty -- that I wish I was so I could bring her lots of wonderful gifts. The sweet smile this elicited from her -- one of several she bestowed upon me in the course of the interview -- was priceless.

So thank you, Ms. Chan, for coming to New York, appearing at the NY Asian Film Festival, and granting me and other journalists interviews. Also, thanks to the members of Subway Cinema & the Film Society Lincoln Center (co-presenters of NYAFF) and the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office of NY for bringing her here.

ACF 1755: Happy Birthday, Gong Li

Gong Li as the Empress in Curse of the Golden Flower
Image copyright 2006 Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc

Gong Li was born December 31st, 1965, in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China and graduated from the Central Drama Academy in Beijing in 1989. While still a student, she was cast as the female lead in the 1987 release Hong gao liang (Red Sorghum), the initial directing effort of Zhang Yimou. She starred in a number of his other films, including Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern, over the next several years and reunited with him for Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). Her work in the films of other notable Chinese directors includes Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige and Wong Kar Wai's 2046.

Talented and lovely, she has won numerous awards as Best Actress or Female Actor, and has been named as one of the "sexiest movies stars" or "most beautiful" women in various lists.

Ms. Gong has also appeared in such Hollywood films as Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Miami Vice (2006), and Hannibal Rising (2007). While these failed to make her a "cross-over" star for Western audiences, we'll hopefully continue to see her in films produced in Asia for many years to come.

Gong Li @ IMDb
Gong Li @ WikipedeaGong Li @ Fandango

ACF 1742: RED SORGHUM at Asia Society on Sunday, December 2nd

GONG Li as Jiu'er in Red Sorghum

 Red Sorghum / Hong gao liang
Directed by ZHANG Yimou

Starring GONG Li

China, 1987, 88 minutes

Color, 35mm.

When: Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 4:00 pm

Where Asia Society

725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), NYC

Map

In the countryside of Shandong province in the 1930s, a young peasant girl, Jiu’er (Gong Li), is arranged to marry a leper, a much older man who owns a winery. After her husband's death, Jiu’er takes over the running of the business. Her life is completely changed when a man she had an unusual sexual encounter with re-emerges, followed by the Japanese invasion. Stunningly shot with luscious color and imagery, it was the first Fifth Generation film to enjoy popular success at home and it won the Golden Bear (Best Picture) award at the Berlin International Film Festival. A directorial and acting debut for Zhang Yimou and Gong Li, respectively, the film catapulted both to international stardom and launched a series of collaborations between the two. This film is an adaptation of 2012 Nobel Literature Prize winner Mo Yan's novel of the same name.  

Online ticketing for this program is now closed. Tickets are available and can be purchased in person at the door. $7 members; $9 students/seniors; $11 nonmembers.

To learn more about the film and the novel, click here. 

This screening of Red Sorghum is part of the film series Goddess: Chinese Women on Screen which runs through December 8, 2012.

ACF 1722: TWO STAGE SISTERS to screen at Asia Society on November 28th, 2012

 Two Stage Sisters

Directed by XIE Jin

With XIE Fang, CAO Yindi

China, 1964, 107 minutes

Color, 35mm.

When: Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 6:30 pm

Where Asia Society

725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), NYC

Map
Buy Tickets

One of the last films made before the Cultural Revolution, Two Stage Sisters follows the lives of two female opera performers, Chunhua (Xie Fang) and Yuehong (Cao Yindi), from 1935 to 1950 as they leave a small countryside folk opera troupe and join a theater company in Shanghai. Their relationship is put on trial as ideological differences develop over a period of turbulent political and social upheavals. Director Xie Jin, known for his women's pictures, is one of the most successful filmmakers in Chinese cinema history, having weathered major political storms in a career that spanned half a century.

This screening of Two Stage Sisters is part of the film series Goddess: Chinese Women on Screen which runs through December 8, 2012.

ACF 1717: DAYBREAK playing at Asia Society on Tuesday, November 20th

Daybreak

Directed by SUN Yu

With LI Lili

China, 1933,  96 minutes

Silent, B/W, 35mm.

When: Tuesday, November 20, 2012, 6:30 pm

Where Asia Society

725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), NYC
Map

Ling Ling (Li Lili) leaves her war-ravaged rural fishing village for a better life in Shanghai. She soon confronts the dark side of life in this metropolis marked by poverty and material decadence. After being raped by her factory boss, Ling Ling seeks help from a stranger who sells her to a brothel. Now a prostitute, Ling Ling has not forgotten her roots and provides for those who are even less fortunate. She is able to find her ultimate redemption as a revolutionary martyr. Director Sun Yu, a member of the progressive left of his time, masterfully juxtaposes the punishing reality of Shanghai with idyllic images of Ling Ling's rural past. The film looks longingly at lost traditional values and offers hope for a renewed society

This screening of Daybreak is part of the film series Goddess: Chinese Women on Screen which runs through December 8, 2012.

ACF 1701: THE GODDESS kicks off new film series at Asia Society

The Goddess / Shen nu

Directed by WU Yonggang

Starring: RUAN Lingyu

Shanghai, 1934, 76 minutes

B&W, silent, with English intertitles

When: Friday, November 9, 2012 at 6:30 pm

Where Asia Society

725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), NYC

Map

Goddess: Chinese Women on Screen, a series of nine films, begins at Asia Society tomorrow night with this silent masterpiece from 1934 that inspired the series' name. It stars Ruan Lingyu, who was known as the "Chinese Greta Garbo," as an unnamed prostitute living in Shanghai with her young son.

One night the police make a sweep of the area where she works, and she finds herself being saved from arrest by a somewhat corpulent street boss. In return for his "good deed" he "suggests" that she spend the night with him. He soon comes to regard her as his property and a source for his gambling money.

When her son becomes school age, she is determined that he get an education and have the chance at living a good, decent life that was denied her. But her neighbors know what she does for a living and create problems by forbidding their children to associate with him and by objecting to his presence at the school he attends.

The drama centers on whether she, alone except for a sympathetic school principal, can overcome the obstacles in her path to securing a better life for her child, namely the possessiveness of the street boss and the animosity of her neighbors.

Ruan Lingyu made 29 films of which only 8 are still available. She committed suicide in 1935, having been vilified in the tabloids for her private life. The Goddess provides ample testimony to her greatness as an actress. With facial expressions, gestures and posture, she gives a magnificent performance that demonstrates a wide range of emotions as her character faces her myriad struggles.

Quite simply, The Goddess is a super-must-see for anyone seriously interested in the history of Chinese cinema. But it should also be of great interest and considerable enjoyment to lesser aficionados.

Ruan also figures in two other films in the series. New Women, her final film, will be shown on Sunday, November 11th at 4:00 pm. Center Stage, Stanley Kwan's 1992 bio-pic about her, will close out the series on Saturday, December 8th. also at 4:00 pm. Maggie Cheung most deservedly won four best actress awards for her portrayal of Ruan.

For more information about The Goddess and to order tickets for it, click here.

For complete information about the series, all the films in it, and to order tickets, click here.

ACF 442: Happy Birthday, Gong Li!

Gong Li as the Empress in Curse of the Golden Flower
Image copyright 2006 Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc

Gong Li was born December 31st, 1965, in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China and graduated from the Central Drama Academy in Beijing in 1989. While still a student, she was cast as the female lead in the 1987 release Hong gao liang (aka Red Sorghum), the initial directing effort of Zhang Yimou. She starred in a number of his other films, including Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern, over the next several years and reunited with him for Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). Her work in the films of other notable Chinese directors includes Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige and Wong Kar Wai's 2046.

Talented and lovely, she has won numerous awards as Best Actress or Female Actor, and has been named as one of the "sexiest movies stars" or "most beautiful" women in various lists.

Unfortunately, her Hollywood films (Memoirs of a Geisha, Miami Vice, Hannibal Rising) thus far have failed to strike Box Office gold. Ms. Gong is due to be seen next in the period piece Shanghai, which has a January 1, 2010 release date. She also is set to star along with Mickey Rourke, Forest Whitaker, and Ray Winstone in Walter Hill's St. Vincent, which currently is in pre-production. Hopefully we'll continue to see her in Western as well as Eastern productions for many years to come.

Gong Li @ IMDb
Gong Li @ WikipedeaGong Li @ Fandango