An evening with WONG KAR WAI at MoMA NY on May 23rd

MoMA

Presents

Brigitte Lin in Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express (Hong Kong, 1994)

An Evening with Wong Kar Wai

When: Monday, May 23rd, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

11 West 53rd Street, NYC

T1, Titus Theater 1

Map

Tickets go on sale May 9th

Known for his striking visual sensibility, Wong Kar Wai, cinema’s reigning aesthetician, has taken films about romance and heartbreak to a whole new level, earning the hearts and minds of critics and cinephiles alike who favor loftier philosophical and moral inquiry. Lovelorn and lonesome souls, always played by the most glamorous film stars, inhabit a richly constructed world saturated with elaborate visual and sonic details. Lush colors, sensuous music, and sinuous movements combine with kinetic camerawork, shifting film speeds, and exhilaratingly fast editing to create a total sensory overload whereby Wong explores themes of time, memory, love, and loss.

Born in Shanghai in 1958, Wong studied graphic design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University before enrolling in a training program offered by a local television station. He became a screenwriter, first in television, then in film, and made his directorial debut with As Tears Go By in 1988, during the heyday of Hong Kong cinema. This gangster film combined genre conventions with an unusual visual flair, signaling a gift for formal experimentation that has continued in his subsequent work—and earned him a place among the greatest living auteurs.

Wong Kar Wai joins La Frances Hui, Associate Curator, Department of Film, to discuss his films (along with short film clips), work processes, and partnerships with various long-term collaborators, both on and off screen.

The program is followed by a book signing and sale of Wong Kar Wai and John Powers’s WKW: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai (Rizzoli, 2016).

Remembering Hideo Gosha

Hideo Gosha on the set of Three Outlaw Samurai

Japanese director Hideo Gosha was born on February 26, 1929 in Akasake, Tokyo, Japan. He died on August 30, 1992 at age 63. From 1964 until his death he directed 24 feature films.

His first, Three Outlaw Samurai (1964), is an almost nihilistic view of the code of the samurai, rampant with failures of loyalty and betrayals. It recently came out in the U.S. in a Criterion Collection release. The transfer is, as one would expect, gorgeous. However, the only extra is a trailer, which is interesting to watch because several shots in it were replaced by others in the released film.

His second film, Sword of the Beast (a.k.a. Samurai Gold Seekers, 1965), is also available from Criterion. It's another tale in which betrayal plays a prominent role, leading to the protagonist fleeing his clan to live in the wilds like a beast. It, too, does not come with any significant extras.

Both films are must sees for anyone interested in samurai films in particular or Japanese cinema in general. Perhaps more of Gosha's films will become available in the coming years. Meanwhile, these will have to suffice to keep his memory alive on our flat screen televisions.

Kon Ichikawa remembered

Japanese film director Kon Ichikawa was born on November 20, 1915 in Mie, Japan. His IMDb filmography lists 89 titles, including two TV movies and one TV series. This past October, Japan Society NY presented three of his films that were recently restored: Conflagration (1958), Her Brother (1960), and An Actor's Revenge(1963). His final film, The Inugamis, was released in 2006.

He is perhaps best known, at least in the West, for such films as The Burmese Harp (1956), Fires on the Plain (1959), Tokyo Olympiad (1965, a documentary), and The Makioka Sisters (1983). All of these titles, except for Tokyo Olympiad (which is out of print), are available from Criterion. Kyoto, a short documentary released in 1968 recently became available on DVD from Marty Gross Film Productions Inc.

Ichikawa died on February 13, 2008 in Tokyo.

Happy 52nd Birthday to Korean director Park Chan-wook!

Writer/director/producer PARK Chan-wook was born on August 23rd, 1963 in South Korea. Some of his films that are best known to Western audiences include:

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Oldboy (2003)
Lady Vengeance (2005)
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
Thirst (2009)
Stoker (2013)

So, Happy 52th Birthday to you, Director Park! Thanks for the films you've given us so far, and here's hoping you keep them coming for a long time in the future.

Remembering Hideo Gosha

Hideo Gosha on the set of Three Outlaw Samurai

Japanese director Hideo Gosha was born on February 26, 1929 in Akasake, Tokyo, Japan. He died on August 30, 1992 at age 63. From 1964 until his death he directed 24 feature films.

His first, Three Outlaw Samurai (1964), is an almost nihilistic view of the code of the samurai, rampant with failures of loyalty and betrayals. It recently came out in the U.S. in a Criterion Collection release. The transfer is, as one would expect, gorgeous. However, the only extra is a trailer, which is interesting to watch because several shots in it were replaced by others in the released film.

His second film, Sword of the Beast (a.k.a. Samurai Gold Seekers, 1965), is also available from Criterion. It's another tale in which betrayal plays a prominent role, leading to the protagonist fleeing his clan to live in the wilds like a beast. It, too, does not come with any significant extras.

Both films are must sees for anyone interested in samurai films in particular or Japanese cinema in general. Perhaps more of Gosha's films will become available in the coming years. Meanwhile, these will have to suffice to keep his memory alive on our flat screen televisions.

Happy Birthday wishes to Johnnie To

Writer, producer and director Johnnie To was born in Hong Kong on April 22, 1955. He's probably best known for his crime/action or policier films. Among the more than 50 movies he's directed are:

The Mission (1999

 

PTU (2003)

 

Drug War (2012)

 
Such well known Hong Kong stars as Simon Yam, Andy Lau, and Suet Lam frequently star in To vehicles.

So Happy 59th Birthday wishes to you Johnnie. Looking forward to more great films from you in the future.

Remembering Kaneto Shindo

Japanese writer/director Kaneto Shindo was born on April 22 1912 in Hiroshima prefecture. He died of natural causes on May 29th, 2012, at the age of 100.

Shindo is credited at IMDb with directing 45 titles writing 168. His career began in 1941; his last film, Postcard, which he also directed and wrote the screenplay for, was released in 2010. He won 30 awards and received 15 other nominations.

He is perhaps best known for his screenplays of Hachi-ko (1987) and its American remake Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) and for writing and directing Onibaba (1964) and Kuroneko (1968), the latter two films both being available in The Criterion Collection. Shindo's last film, Postcard, which he also directed and wrote the screenplay for, was released in 2010.

ACF 2041: Happy Birthday wishes to Japanese director Yôjirô Takita

Director Takita addressing a New York audience after a screening of Departures subsequent to its winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film (Photo by S. Glick)

Japanese director Yôjirô Takita was born on December 4, 1955 in Toyama, Japan. His first film, Chikan onna kyôshi, was released in 1981, and he currently has forty-four films listed in his IMDb filmography. He is best and most widely known in the West for Departures (Okuribito, 2008), which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at the 2009 Academy Awards. The win was somewhat of a surprise as it was widely expected that the award would go to either The Class (from France) or Waltz with Bashir (Israel). And no one at the awards ceremony seemed more surprised by the win than Takita himself. 

Departures is a touching movie about Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki, who won both the Asia Pacific Screen Award and the Asian Film Award for his performance in the film), a musician who's orchestra is disbanded. Kobayashi and his wife move to a house he has inherited, and he responds to an ad that he thinks is for a position at a travel agency. But the "departures" referred to are those of the recently deceased and the job is to help prepare their bodies for their final departure. It's a wonderful film.

So very Happy 58th Birthday wishes to you Yôjirô Takita from AsianCineFest and your many other fans. And best wishes also for continued successes.

ACF 1720: Kon Ichikawa remembered

Japanese film director Kon Ichikawa was born on November 20, 1915 in Mie, Japan. His IMDb filmography lists 89 titles, including two TV movies and one TV series. His final film, The Inugamis, was released in 2006.

He is perhaps best known, at least in the West for such films as The Burmese Harp (1956), Fires on the Plain (1959), Tokyo Olympiad (1965, a documentary), and The Makioka Sisters (1983). Except for Tokyo Olympiad, which is out of print, these titles are currently available from Criterion.

Ichikawa died on February 13, 2008 in Tokyo.

ACF 1600: Happy Birthday Wishes to Japanese Film Director Takashi Miike!

Prolific Japanese film director Takashi Miike was born in the town of Yao near Osaka, Japan on August 24th, 1960. His filmography at IMDb lists 88 movies from 1991 to the present. Many of his early films were made for the direct-to-video market, which is, or at least was, respectable in Japan, unlike here in the U.S. where its reputation has always been rather  disreputable.

The first film directed by Miike that I saw (years and year ago on a VHS tape from Tokyo Shock!) was Fudoh: The New Generation (1996), but I didn't really note his name until I saw Ichi the Killer (2001) when it screened at the Focus on New Japanese Cinema film series at the Walter Reade Theater of the Society of Lincoln Center early in 2002. Ichi totally blew me away, as I wrote in my review in Asian Cult Cinema magazine, Issue 35 (2nd Quarter 2002).

Since then I've seen many other films by Miike. Among my favorites are Audition and Dead or Alive (both 1999). While initially known for hard-hitting adult fare, Miike has recently branched out, producing such child-friendly films as Zebraman (2004) and Ninja Kids!!! (2011).

Most impressively, he's done terrific new versions of two classic Japanese films: 13 Assassins (2010), based on Eiichi Kudo's The Thirteen Assassins (1963), and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011), based on Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri (1962).

So happy 52nd birthday, director Miike. Keep 'em comin'!

ACF 1598: Happy 49th Birthday to Korean director Park Chan-wook!

South Korean writer/director PARK Chan-wook was born on August 23rd, 1963 in South Korea. Perhaps you've seen some of his films, which include:

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Oldboy (2003)
Lady Vengeance (2005)
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
Thirst (2009)

Alright, more than likely you've seen most if not all of the above. If you haven't seen them all, you should. Every on is terrific.

So, Happy 49th Birthday to you, Director Park! Thanks for the films you've given us so far, and here's hoping you keep them coming for a long time in the future.

ACF 1496: Happy Birthday, Hirokazu Koreeda; Happy Birthday To You

Japanese film director Hirokazu Koreeda was born on June 6, 1962 in Tokyo. He is perhaps best known in the West for Nobody Knows (2004), Hana: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai (2006), Still Walking (2008), and I Wish (2011). My personal favorite is Air Doll (2009), which stars BAE Doona. (For my review of Air Doll, click here.)

So Happy ACF Birthday Wishes to Hirokazu Koreeda. Many happy returns, too.