I Link to Link

Salon on the "Magical Negro," the offensive movie cliche that just won't die.
pullquote the Cinetrix appreciates the mise-en-scene of a unique triple feature: Pee Wee's Big Adventure, In the Mood for Love and Metropolis. Three great disparate movies. If I lived in Boston I would surely love the Brattle.
IMDB Penélope Cruz' rep makes it official: She's pregnant. The world will get the genetically blessed spawn of Cruz-Bardem in January or Februaryish.
Sina Tony Leung Chiu-Wai snapped leaving a noodleshop. Wait, isn't Maggie Cheung supposed to be the one fetching those? I can't believe he's nearing 50.


Critical Condition "the mysterious case of the disappearing 80s movies". This is a good read but I disagree with the resolution. I don't actually think modern technology will prevent films from becoming lost. I think the constant succession of new technologies will only acerbate the problem. Notice how many thousands and thousands of films that were available on VHS are not on DVD and now Blu-Ray is taking over.
Nicks Flick Picks has a thoughtful reaction to the Venice "scandal" and its weird jury presumptions.
Kenneth in the (212) Madonna: "Most Likely To Direct". Hee.
Vanity Fair Natalie Portman on her role in Black Swan
ticklepickleme has 10 thoughts on those Rabbit Hole clips we were just watching.
Empire James Cameron's True Lies may become a tv series. Can Eliza Dushku reprise her role please?
Hollywood Reporter Toronto's "It Girl" is Brit actress Andrea Riseborough who stars in three films.

Finally, here's Julianne Moore politicking. Good on her.

Modern Maestros: Wong Kar Wai

Robert here, continuing my series on important contemporary directors. This week I'm happy to feature a director I've loved for a long time. Yet now, perhaps more than any other time in his career (or at least since I've been following it) it seems like ages since we've heard from him. But that's not true. His last film came out the same year as Paul Thomas Anderson's last. Yet Anderson still seems very of the moment, while Wong Kar Wai has seemingly fallen off the radar. Such is the difference, I suppose, between a critical hit and a flop.

Maestro: Wong Kar Wai
Known For: beautiful films about people who love each other, and don't. And occasionally an action movie.
Influences: The inherent coolness of Godard. The luscious romanticism of Visconti. The stylish noirness of Huston.
Masterpieces: Hard to narrow it down. But the one-two punch of In the Mood for Love and 2046 do it for me.
Disasters: I suppose no one really feels passionate enough about My Blueberry Nights for it to really be a disaster.
Better than you remember: Ashes of Time is somewhat undervalued. And 2046 has more dissenters than I'd expect. Obviously, since I think it's a masterpiece, I disagree with those in dissent.
Box Office: In the Mood For Love is the champ with nearly 3 million dollars.
Favorite Actor: the wonderful Tony Leung

Wong Kar Wai's characters are in love. Their world is sweeter than ours. Colors are more vibrant, music more meaningful, and time often speeds up or slows down for emphatic emphasis. It's a sumptuous dreamlike reality. And juxtaposed against this reality is the inescapable fact that there is a problem. For Wong Kar Wai, love is the most universal element of the human experience. But not the sunshine, lollipops and rainbows Hollywood happy ending kind of love. Heck, almost no one experiences that. The part we all know is the sadness. "Love is all a matter of timing," says Tony Leung's character in 2046. It's a telling quote in that it suggests the presence of factors well beyond our control that conspire to control our lives. Love isn't as easy as two attractive characters shrugging of the contrived dramas that separate them as in so many industry films. Sometimes if something as simple as the timing is wrong, then the love hasn't a chance. Wong seems to have an endless fascination with all of the potential factors that can sabotage a person's chances at love, complex as they may be. Consider the neighbors of In the Mood For Love. They connect over the realization that their spouses are carrying on an affair. This connection evolves into deep longing but to submit to it would be to behave no better than their spouses. There can be no happy ending here. A confluence of circumstances including social norms (its the 1960's... in China), personal ethics, and bad timing all compound to keep these characters apart. The lush world they live in isn't a dream. It's a sad prison. But there are more potential saboteurs out there. The one you love may simply not love you back as is evident again and again in 2046. Or the one you love may complicate your life to an unhealthy extreme as in Happy Together.

Let's talk about that beautiful prison (since we're sentenced to live there). The melancholy of love isn't that unusual a topic in cinema history. What sets Wong's films apart is his ability to evoke mood and setting. In large part this is thanks to the contributions of artists like director of photography Christopher Doyle or composer Shigeru Umebayashi (to name just two of many who've worked with the director) who help Wong create some of the most sensuous films being made today. But the aesthetic beauty of Wong Kar Wai movies isn't just superficial. Wong is a visual storyteller. A scene in 2046 finds our protagonist having dinner with a woman he loves, who does not love him in return. Wong shoots the scene through a bent glass window, swaying the camera from person to person, watching their images draw closer and then break apart in the twisted glass; all an illusion. Similarly, shots of the waterfalls that the two lovers in Happy Together hope to eventually visit keep popping up throughout the movie. They are a wonder of nature, both beautiful and violent.

More playing with images

The outliers here are action movies like Ashes of Time that, while not immersed in the wretchedness of love, prove that Wong's style is not bound by any one genre. We'll have yet to see if Wong's next film, The Grand Master (about Bruce Lee's mentor) revisits the action-based reality of Ashes of Time or treads new ground for the director. A remake of The Lady from Shanghai is also slated to be released by Wong Kar Wai in 2010 (though it's still in pre-production) and should give the director an opportunity to marry the romantic and the thrilling into a successful whole. It will be his second English-language feature (his first, My Blueberry Nights is fine if you enjoy looking at beautiful images of Rachael Weisz, Natalie Portman, Norah Jones and pie, but otherwise not noteworthy), and my hope is that (along with The Grand Master) it will rise him back up to the top of the cinematic world where he belongs.

Favorite 100 Movies of the Decade (#75-51)

We're doing this a little different than we did the male and female performances... but we're still skipping the 2009 films -- we'll get to those soon

the list #100-76, #75-51, #50-31, #30-16 and #15-1.

Awards for 2009 begin tomorrow or thereabouts.

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*****
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Here we go again...


75 The Fountain dir. Darren Aronofsky (2006)
Who needs drugs when you can snort Aronofsky movies?

74 thirteen dir Catherine Hardwicke (2003)
I still maintain that this was a stunning debut, deeply felt and ferociously performed. I'm still confused about what followed with Hardwicke.

73 Monsoon Wedding dir. Mira Nair (2001, released 2002)
For its color, energy and beauty and for one of my all-time favorite portraits of extended family love. Naseeruddin Shah and Shefali Shetty jerk my tears every time. Plus a great soundtrack.

72 Kings and Queen (Kings and Queen) dir. Arnaud Desplechin (2004, released in 2005)
Anchored by two of the most important French actors of the decade (Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos) and so rich with feeling and complication, that I actually feel guilt that I haven't returned for a second look


71 Brødre (Brothers) dir. Susanne Bier (2004, released in 2005)
The remake is Globe nominated and in theaters right now, but this is the one for you.

70 Lovely & Amazing dir. Nicole Holofcener (2001, released in 2002)
So few films are made about women and when they are they're so often cheaply written romantic comedies with clichéd quirks for lovable girlwomen protagonists. I love how thorny and mature these characters are and how authentically they navigate their relationships. Bonus points to Holofcener for achieving here what she didn't achieve with Friends With Money which is the threading of thematics (body image and identity) through interpersonal drama without coming across as stiffly THEMATIC at its core.

69 Peter Pan dir. PJ Hogan (released in 2003)
If more people had read the source material, they'd understand how diluted this story had become and what a gift this movie was for the centennial of J.M. Barrie. Bonus points for the amazing below the line team: Roger Ford (production design) known for the Babe films, Donald McAlphine (cinematography) fresh off of Moulin Rouge! and Janet Patterson (costumes) of Jane Campion filmography fame.

68 Ying Xiong (Hero) dir. Zhang Yimou (2002, released in 2004)
It couldn't possibly live up to my expectations since I had to wait two years for it (Damn you Weinsteins!) but it was still a joy to lay eyes upon. The color and structure alone... orgasmic. Please don't remind me that this is the last pairing of one of the greatest screen couples of the entirety of cinema (Maggie Cheung & Tony Leung Chiu Wai) or I may well burst into tears. Don't do it!


67 Me and You and Everyone We Know dir. Miranda July (2005)

))<>(( forever

66 Sen to Chihiro no Kamikushi (Spirited Away) dir. Hayao Miyazaki (2001, released in 2002)
Transfixing. I really need to see it again. I only wish it had proven more influential. I'm not going to pretend it hasn't been a great decade for animated films, but there is a certain "sameness" that can occassionally feel like poison. Miyazaki is the antidote.

65 American Psycho dir. Mary Harron (2000)
What could have been another disposable serial killer picture (my god there are too many of them) was instead a slickly sick smart and well judged character piece. Without the character.

There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping you and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

64 Shia Mian Mai Fu (The House of Flying Daggers) dir. Zhang Yimou (2004)
Eye candy extraordinaire

63 Shortbus dir. John Cameron Mitchell (2006)
I've realized in the years since its debut that the cracks from concept to execution show. But whatever. This is one of my favorite films about New York City and it's recognizable to me in a way too few films are. The cinema needs more intensely personal visions like this. Mitchell has only made two films and they're both on this countdown. Needless to say, I cannot wait to see Rabbit Hole.

62 Morvern Callar dir. Lynne Ramsay (2002)
A signature role for the screen's most talented enigma, Samantha Morton.

61 Pola X dir. Leo Caraz (1999, released in 2000)
Restless, foreboding, confident, shocking, erotic, dangerous, indelible... certifiable. At least that's how I remember it.


60 Ratatouille dir. Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava (2007)
Everyone can cook. Too bad that not everyone can make movies as well as Pixar.

59 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl dir. Gore Verbinski (2003)
Every once in a blue moon a summer blockbuster is perfect. I still remember the joy and shock of the first viewing. I pretend that the useless sequels don't exist and I watch this grand adventure any time it's on TV.

58 Tillsammans (Together) dir. Lukas Moodyson (2000, released in 2001)
So unusually warm, generous and moving that I felt scarred by the brutality of Moodyson's follow up Lilya 4Ever (2002). I've been scared to go forward into any of the subsequent miserabilist movies since. I like depressing hopeless movies (as this countdown should make clear) but I don't want to think of Moodyson making them after the humane beauty of Together and Show Me Love (1998)

57 Se, Jie (Lust, Caution) dir. Ang Lee (2007)
Against all odds, the follow up to Brokeback Mountain wasn't a letdown at all but another startlingly potent and exquisitely rendered doomed romance.

56 The Devil Wears Prada dir. (2006)
über quotable and movies that achieve that last. Think about it: they do. "Gird your loins!"

55 Children of Men dir. Alfonso Cuarón (2006)
So many great moments: a morning coffee explosion, the purring kitten, that slow car escape, that long violent tracking shot, Theo crying by the tree, the "theatrics" of the kidnapping. I don't even mind so much that they left out such fascinating parts of the book. Here was a complicated concept beautifully executed. I'm still mortified that Oscar didn't give Emmanuel Lubezki the cinematography prize. How many times have they stiffed him now? For shame.

54 Happy-Go-Lucky dir. Mike Leigh (2008)
Leigh's follow up to the brilliant Vera Drake put another cheerful woman center stage to very different inspirational effect. Life isn't always sweet, but why not enjoy it all the same?

53 In the Bedroom dir. Todd Field (2001)
Because I saw it so long ago but I can still feel the sting of the Sissy slap, the echo of the gunshot and the disturbing domesticity of that subversive quiet finale.

52 Pride & Prejudice dir. Joe Wright (2005)
One of the freshest liveliest filmmaking debuts of the decade... and for something that should have felt so disposable. Thankfully Joe Wright didn't make us wait for more. (Atonement almost made this top 100 list, too)

51 Milk dir. Gus Van Sant (2008)
If we have to have so many biopics every year, why can't they all be like this one: original, focused on a worthy subject, technically accomplished, and overflowing with fine performances?

continue on to #50-31

back to beginning / back to full blog
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Golden Horse Awards: Maggie Cheung, Ang Lee, Leon Dai, Tsai Ming-liang

Maggie Cheung alert!
She walked the Taiwanese red carpet today in this white number to your left. She was presenting Best Picture at the Golden Horse Awards. The Golden Horse is Taiwanese in origin but it's for Chinese language films regardless of country of origin so it's very competitive now. Warlords and Lust, Caution, which both had international releases, were recent winners of Best Picture.

This year, Maggie handed the trophy to No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti which, if we ever see it in the States, might be called I Can't Live Without You or Not Without You. That's Taiwan's submission for this year's Foreign Language Film Oscar race. The film is from actor/director Leon Dai and it's about a poor man who loses his daughter once the government learns of their illegal living conditions.

No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (2009) from Taiwan

Winners
Best Picture: No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti
Best Director: Leon Dai, No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti
This prize was presented by four previous winners: Ang Lee, Ho Hsiao Hsien, Johnny To and Stanley Kwan. Imagine receiving your prize from that illustrious quartet.
Best Actress: Bingbing Li, The Message
You may have seen her last year in The Forbidden Kingdom. The Message is an espionage thriller

Best Actor: Was a tie for the first time in Golden Horse history.
Nick Cheung in Ching Yan (aka The Beast Stalker) a police drama
Bo Huang in Dou Niu (aka Cow) as a Chinese peasant protecting his livestock in the 1940s
Supporting Actor: Xueqi Wang, Mei Lanfang which is China's Oscar submission this year, a biopic about a famous opera star which also stars Zhang Ziyi

Supporting Actress: Kara Hui, Sham Moh

Original Screenplay: No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti

Adapted Screenplay: Dou Niu

Cinematography: City of Life and Death

Tsai Ming-Liang's gives good eye candy in Visage (Face)

Art Direction: Face

Makeup and Costume Design: Face

Choreography: Ip Man ... choreography is one of those prizes, like stunts, that one has to wonder why the Oscars never thought to reward.

Visual Effects: Fengkuang de Saiche (aka Crazy Racer)
Film Editing: KJ: Music and Life
Sound Effects: KJ: Music and Life
Original Score: The Equation of Love and Death
Original Song: "For My Heart"
Documentary: KJ: Music and Life
Lifetime Achievement: Ming Ji (I'm not sure who this is or why they were rewarded since there are several Ming Jis or Ji Mings listed at IMDB)
Special Contribution: George Wang

Maggie presented Best Picture alone at the ceremony but said publicly that she most wanted to present it with Tony Leung Chiu Wai (her frequent co-star) and Carina (his wife). As Tony -- TFE reader, not the movie star ;) -- reminded me in conversation, this will undoubtedly cause a media stir since Tony & Maggie's relationship is always primo gossip fodder.

Here's a bit of the fashions on the red carpet. In order of appearance: Terri Kwan (star of Prince of Tears, another Oscar submission this year), Ting Ting Hu (Ghosted), Lynn Hung, the beauty in yellow plays Ip Man's wife and she's the real life girlfriend of Aaron Kwo, Maggie and Ang, Lunmei Kwai (in black), Shu Qi (who you'll recognize) walks with Ho Hsiao Hsien, Best Actress winner Li Bingbing is with Alec Su (in the leather pants), Yung-yung Chan star of Yang Yang, Vivian Hsu is wearing a necklace that I can't stop staring at.


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Speak up if you've seen any of these films. A few of you surely have. And can we get a petition going to pull Maggie Cheung out of retirement, please?
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Decade in Review: 2001 Top Ten

What follows is my original top ten list of 2001. We'll discuss each year of the decade over the next month or two (we already did 2000). I do this because I am curious about which films "stick" and which fade and why and maybe you are too? Best year of the decade I think. The top five films would all be valid #1 film choices in some years. New comments are in red.

Note: This list references films released in NYC in 2001, not year of production or year in which they first the hit festival circuit or whatnot.


Runners Up (in descending order): Sexy Beast, Ali, Series 7: The Contenders, The Others, Last Resort and Waking Life. I don't remember loving Ali that much... and more than The Others? I don't remember that at all. I mean Nicole Kidman was the shit TWICE OVER in 2001.

In my round up of the year I also sang the praises of Monsters, Inc, Crazy/Beautiful and Wet Hot American Summer. Even though I listed Monsters, Inc as "underrated" I still didn't have it in the top 16. That was weird, me! I never consider documentaries eligible for the year's top ten. That's a quirk of mine that I can't really defend except for to say that I don't see enough of them to fairly evaluate their merits and I find it nearly impossible to compare their merits to those of narrative features. That said, in 2001 I was wild for The Gleaners and I.

10 No Man's Land
This acclaimed Bosnian film from Danis Tanovic is a startling visceral comedy about the lunacy of war. Let's hope it beats the overpraised (if admittedly enjoyable) Amélie to the foreign language Oscar this year.

I was surprisingly prophetic there though I understand a lot of people are still mad about that underdog win.

09 The Royal Tenenbaums
A film that flirts with greatness and becomes all the more touching by missing the mark. There's one great scene after another in Wes Anderson's fairy tale document on a family of failed geniuses. The film is blessed with a beautiful team-spirit bouquet of fine performances from Paltrow, Hackman, Huston, Glover, and the Wilson brothers. They've got character.

er... I get what I was saying but I'm not so sure this film missed the mark. It's a thing of melancholy beauty and curious singular humor. Anderson's best by a significant margin.

08 In the Bedroom
Todd Field's studied and terrific debut may not be the masterwork some have claimed it to be but it's a damn good film nonetheless. Its most remarkable feature is its honest deceptiveness. You think it's a love story. Bang, It's not. You think it's a thriller. Oops, think again. It's not that the film is lying, but that we are so accustomed to certain plot trajectories that its difficult to see the film's harrowing turns coming or to immediately understand how thoroughly it undermines traditional notions of revenge or catharsis. Bonus points to the cast for illuminating the emptying effects of grief, and the rage of the broken.

Todd Field and Wes Anderson's subsequent films have made me question my love for these on occasion. I can't say that I remember In the Bedroom well but I like what I remember still. That The Tenenbaums is all the way down at #9 only goes to show what a great year 2001 was.

07 Tillsammans (Together)
The sweetest film of the year is also one of the smartest. Lukas Moodyson throws a broken family into a 70s commune and the resulting emotional, personal, romantic, and idealistic collisions that ensue expose, illuminate, and energize all involved. "Feel good" is a term often used to describe manipulative, simple-minded, happy endings and Hollywood-style sugarcoating. Thankfully, this Swedish comedy has neither of those attributes and actually feels good. It uplifts while engaging you both emotionally and intellectually.

Nobody talks about this movie (maybe because Lukas Moodyson's subsequent films have been so brutal as to be deemed unwatchable by some fans of his first movies) and in truth I don't remember it well but I do remember how I felt leaving the theater: marvelous.

06 Gosford Park
No movie this year approaches it in terms of its nimbleness and fluidity in mixing character, theme and wit. Robert Altman's return to form is wildly entertaining.


05 Mulholland Dr.
This, the critical darling of 2001 (OK, In the Bedroom came close) was the year's most familiar complete stranger. We've seen all the Lynchian motifs, images, and characters before but this time, the singular auteur fashioned something new and revelatory out of his used parts. This picture, a grand one, had tremendous "give" in it allowing for multiple correct intrepetations, thereby prompting the most fascinating critical discussions of the year. But all that aside, the truly smart way to watch Lynch's mindfuck is to just let go and give in to its undeniable and nonsensical pull. From the frenetic overexposed jitterbug opening sequence to the final silencing moment, it's undeniably gripping. Just dive into the blue box.

Subsequent years have only strengthened its grip on the imagination, haven't they?

04 Hedwig and the Angry Inch
A triple threat triumph from writer/director/star John Cameron Mitchell. That this unforgettable theatrical experience made such a successful transfer to the screen with its punk edge, subversive charm, and visceral rock spirit intact was the year's happiest little miracle.

03 In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar Wai has outdone himself. The year's most glorious foreign film has the year's best cinematography. It paints a masterful and hypnotic meditation on memory, emotional stasis, and romantic yearning. The luminous coupling of Maggie Cheung as Mrs Chan and Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Mr. Chow astonish: They're as erotic as Mulholland Dr's Nancy Drew lovers without a sex scene, as glamorous as Moulin Rouge!'s doomed bohemians without as many costume changes and in the end they're more emotionally affecting than either of those sensational couplings. Unmissable.

If I had a gazillion dollars I would have this movie projected on my bedroom wall 24/7. Who needs photos, wallpaper, art or paint? Just these visuals on loop, forever.

02 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Pure magic. Peter Jackson's new film sets the bar high. Released just one month prior to it, Harry Potter looks even more factory-like next to it. The Fellowship of the Ring recalls the grandiose Star Wars magic minus the bad acting and none of the eventual dissappointments of an embarassing Episode One. Fellowship is compared to many films but the one it looks prettiest sitting next to is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. In just two short years, two signature adventure epics for The East and the West have arrived that dwarf everything their genre has offered for years. Both films will likely inspire future filmmakers who are now but starry eyed children discovering the enormous magic of the cinema while watching them for the first time.

01 Moulin Rouge!
It's no secret that I've always adored Bazmark productions. (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet were also top ten entries in their years.) But Luhrmann and his troupe topped themselves this time. With the final film in his Red Curtain Trilogy celebrating 'real artificiality,' Baz delivered his masterpiece. A lot of ink has been spilt covering Bazmark's divisive musical fantasia and I could certainly spill a lot more, but I think this revolution of a musical sums itself up quite well and accurately in one of its first numbers.

Spectacular! Spectacular!
no words in the vernacular
can describe this great event
you'll be dumb with wonderment.

More than any film in 2001 this film hit my nerve center of cinephilia: I got completely lost in the daring aesthetics, inspired performances, music, dance, and romance. I was stunned, flabbergasted, thrilled, moved, entertained, and drained all at once. When it was over I could only applaud, buy the soundtrack, and return to the theater repeatedly. To paraphrase another song from the film: come what may... come what may.... I will love this film until my dying day.

I wasn't kidding.

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What were your favorite pictures from 2001?
Do they hold up now? Do you agree that 2001 was the best film year of the decade? For the record the films I was not at all crazy about that quite a few other people love include: The Devil's Backbone, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, A Beautiful Mind, Shrek, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone and Ghost World.
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Halfway House: In the Mood For a Nap

halfway house halfway through the day, we stop a movie 'bout halfway through... what do we see?

49 minutes into In the Mood for Love: a sticky rice snack and short nap

Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) and Mr. Chow (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) are eating sticky rice, killing time until the coast is clear and she can leave his rented room. They haven't cheated on their spouses (who never appear in the movie) but they're obsessed with appearances

Mr. Chow: What would they assume?
Mrs. Chan: One can't put a foot wrong

...and with good reason, too. It's not hard to read their love, however languidly they try to sidestep it. Director Wong Kar Wai, his art director/costumer (William Chang) and cinematographers (Christopher Doyle and Pin Bing Lee) are also obsessed with appearances. The beauty of this movie can render one speechless.

In the Mood For Love just aches with longing throughout. Every time I see this couple I just want them to tear each other's clothes off and pretend they're in Lust, Caution instead. They're so painfully separated even when they're sharing a frame. It's a heartbreaker and one of the masterpieces of the decade.
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Tony's Wing is on the Mend

More Tony Leung Chiu-Wai cast photos here.
Thanks to reader Jeffrey for pointing out!

Reports had said it was his right arm. Reports were wrong.
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Broken Sword With Broken Arm

"Broken Sword" has broken his arm! It's practically all I've been thinking about today. Perhaps I should explain for those who haven't yet heard...

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai was so injured while training for Wong Kar Wai's next picture, a biopic about Bruce Lee's mentor called The Grand Master (not to be confused with Ip Man starring Donnie Yen which is on the same topic). Apparently his arm must rest for over a month (the September start date is looking shaky). My poor Tony. That arm is a cinematic treasure: it draped languorously over his head while he smoked in bed, it tenderly held stuffed animals and Faye Wong's legs, it smoked endless cigarettes and carried so many noodles, it held Tang Wei down while another appendage had its way with her, it embraced the goddess Maggie Cheung so many times. No real harm should ever come to it.

If you're thinking 'Nathaniel's laying it on thick,' I hereby assign you a triple feature of Chiu Wai essentials.


You'll thank me. Any triple from this list will more than make the case for loving him deeply, fanatically.

• Chungking Express (1994) see the first Wong Kar Wai movie to make a real dent in America. It's so gorgeous. Bonus points: Brigitte Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
• Happy Together (1997) Tony's stormy gay romance with Leslie Cheung.
• In the Mood For Love (2000) among the very best romantic dramas of all time. That isn't hyperbole.
  
• Hero (2002) when Tony did martial arts without breaking his arm.
• Infernal Affairs (2002) doing the DiCaprio thing before DiCaprio himself did it, The Departed being a remake and all.
  
• Lust, Caution (2006) See Tony in the altogether giving (arguably) his best performance.

He's made many other movies. Some fine. Some not so. Like any giant movie star. But he's the best. He's even won the equivalent of three Oscars for Chinese language films.

If anything Tony's broken arm makes me love him even more.
I'm not sure what it is but there is something so appealing about the wounded. I don't mean that in a sick violent way but in an... um... affectionate healer way. Consider. Was Brad Pitt ever more attractive than when his arm was in a sling and his head and nose were all bloody and bandaged in Se7en ? Didn't Javier Bardem radiate more heat from his wheelchair lovemaking in Live Flesh than he did standing on two legs in other movies? Or is this just a personal quirk?

Nah, it can't be. Oscar loves wounded men, too. I know I'm not completely alone. But they like their wounds to be permanent (disabilities, disease) so that they can praise the man for soldiering forth with courage and determination. They like their women wounded too... if you consider the surrendering of beauty (de-glam!) to be a physical disability (and you know they do).

I've lost the thread. My point is this: Get well soon, Tony.
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Takeshi Kaneshiro Lost in Thought

Perhaps he's contemplating his beauty?


This could take all night.

In fact, he should probably lie down. Carrying around all that Beauty can be exhausting.


Speaking of Takeshi...

Whatever happened to that Emporio Armani campaign he was supposed to be in these past couple of months? It was a big deal that he was joining David Beckham as advertising's latest [insert celebratory trumpets] Underwear Man -- first Asian and all that.

But here's the pressing question that has me lost in thought. Why, despite his international profile, do none of his movies open in America? The last time he graced US screens was five whole years ago when the international hit The House of Flying Daggers opened. Since then Takeshi has appeared in one strange Oscar submission from Hong Kong Perhaps Love (2005) and a crime drama Confessions of Pain (2006) with an even higher profile co-star Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. He followed that up with a Brad Pitt/Meet Joe Black-like star turn in Accuracy of Death (2007) and another crime drama K-2 (2008).

Finally he was part of the orgy of Asian film stars fighting it out in not one, not two, but three action blockbuster spectacles: The Warlords (2007) and the John Woo directed double Red Cliff (2008) and Red Cliff II (2009). None of these films ever saw the inside of US theaters (outside of your festivals or errant one offs) !?!?! Me no understand.

Asian action flicks like Crouching Tiger ($128) and Hero ($53) once made considerable bank in the US. I'm assuming that distributors got gun swordshy with the comparatively low takes for Curse of the Golden Flower ($6) and Flying Daggers ($11). Or maybe it was the non success of the Oscar submission The Promise (which did not crack a million at the US box office) that did it. Though if it was the latter that's a rather unfair comparison point since The Promise had no stars as famous as Kaneshiro, Leung, Li, Cheung or Ziyi to advertise and not many high profile critical champions either.

If you're a Takeshi fan you basically have to settle for DVDs, pirated or otherwise. No big screens for you! Somebody splash some cold water on US distributors and wake them back up.

Or just throw it on Takeshi.


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Rental Queue Alert: Australia, Ashes of Time, Wonder Woman

Calling out sick never quite works for me...confessions of a blogaholic, I guess. Here are today's new DVDs. (Links go to Netflix for your ease of queue'ing)

The Must See
Ashes of Time Redux I once tried to watch a copy of Ashes of Time before the "reworking" and the image quality was so bad that I gave up after five minutes. Who wants a Wong Kar Wai movie with its visuals compromised? Nobody who knows how ravishing his imagery is, that's who. I'm thrilled to have a real go at this swordsmen drama starring the unbeatable Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and his two greatest screen lovers: Happy Together's Leslie Cheung and In the Mood for Love's Maggie Cheung. Plus there's Tony's frequent co-star and offscreen wife Carina Lau, Jacky Cheung and the legendary Brigitte Lin (The Bride With White Hair). Yes please sextupled.

Your Other Options
I've Loved You So Long Kristin Scott-Thomas slow burns through this French drama like a woman possessed by intractable personal demons. Some people think she should've been in the Oscar lineup. My interview with this great British actress is here.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua Remember when Dalmations were all the rage and everybody had to have one and true animal lovers were a little concerned that people weren't getting pets for the right reasons. That's what's going on with chihuahuas now, right?

Lake City Sissy Spacek and Troy Garity (Soldier's Girl) star in this indie drama as an estranged mother and son. If the script is as good as these two actors it might be a gem.

Australia Baz Luhrmann's messy '30s outback epic might be both diminished and reenergized on DVD. On the downside, the huge vistas will be smaller and that great cattle drive sequence, the obvious highlight, will be less of a stunner. On the other hand, DVD viewing tends to break up movies and Australia might feel less like a misfire and more like a generously overstuffed adventure serial once you're able watch it in pieces. Baz's wife Catherine Martin fetishizes Nicole Kidman with costumes and Baz fetishizes Hugh Jackman with the camera. Mucho eye candy [full review]


Wonder Woman If you're a fan of the Amazon princess you'll want to savor this new animated feature since you know that that live action film is never going to happen, right? You've accepted that, haven't you? DC does not have a clear vision for their movie franchises. Remember how long it took them to get Superman flying again? Wonder Woman is basically DC's kryptonite. She's always popping up and the very thought of her defeats them. We'll be lucky if a live action Wonder Woman gets made in our lifetime. Or maybe we'll be luckier if it doesn't since her transfer would be tremendously difficult to pull off. She'd need a strong screenplay and directorial vision, not a corporate board, guiding her to the screen.
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Contest Winners Times Two

I am such a scatterbrain. When I left for DC I neglected to wrap up that Lost Boys 2 contest. And now Tony Leung Chiu Wai is breathing down my neck (I wish) to settle his DVD contest. So here we go... drawing randomly as per usual.

Seoul Raiders "Take Tony Leung Home" Contest Winners
'BeRightBack' from Chicago. Why does he love Tony?

...for the scene in Happy Together that takes place on the rooftop. I mean, there's lots of reasons, and not just in that movie, but that's what I always think of. And this... [see photo, left]

Joanna in San Francisco also won. And why does she heart TLCW?

Because we would wait in the rain to eat noodles with him. We would transform ourselves into an android/sexbot for him , we would wear red kimonos and draw calligraphy in sand all day long for him. If he were a cop, and we ran a food counter, we would break into his apartment and generally improve it in a non-creepy way to help him get over his cheating flight-attendant girlfriend. We would betray our ideals and a taller, hunkier revolutionary, just to have kinky sex with him and look at him longingly over mah-jong tiles.

I love it! I couldn't have put that better myself. Staring at Asia's finest actor puts me in such a state of delirious bliss that I sometimes forget what I'm watching. Seoul Raiders ceased being a popcorn action flick and in my head the movie basically became an abstract gay sex comedy. Oh, like your mind hasn't drifted watching movies. Don't judge!


And as for that ancient Lost Boys: The Tribe contest. The vampiric winners won't mind that I waited so long to post their names. The undead have all the time in the world.

Lost Boys: The Tribe DVD winners
Suzi in Kentucky. I asked what her favorite thing about the original Lost Boys (1987) was and she said Jami Gertz. "She was so pretty and gypsy-like" she shares. Yes! I had the hugest Gertz infatuation myself though Less Than Zero was the peak of my Gertz love.
Kristy in California. Her favorite thing about the 80s classic this DVD is coattailing? A near tie:

The impeccable use of Echo and the Bunnymen doesn't quite beat out the equally amazing casting of Keifer freaking Sutherland and Edward Hermann. I have an unnatural love for Edward Hermann.

To each their own!

3 Lost Boys: The Tribe Soundtrack winners
Tim in Minnesota, Martin in Tennessee and DK in Austin who shares this memoir:

The original Lost Boys came out my senior year in high school. Jason Patric bore an unlikely resemblance to my (barely) ex-boyfriend, and I fell instantly in love. Couple this with my burning flame of tender teen desire for Kiefer Sutherland, and the movie was really just one big, naive love/sex fantasy for me.

I spent at least a year trying to dress and look like Jami Gertz as Star. To this day, I have a friend who, on occasion will say "what's your name?" and we'll both respond "Staaaaar!" just like Jami did in the movie.

Oh my god! I'm not the only one.
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Contest: Take Tony Leung Home

If this were a literal co-habitation sort of contest I would enter daily and/or perform illegal acts to ensure that I myself would win. Alas... 'tis but a DVD. But Tony Leung Chiu Wai was made for the silver screen so taking a DVD home is the next best thing. Right? Right.

Seoul Raiders is a comic action film starring Tony as a tough Chinese detective/thief/spy (I guess he multi-tasks) and the über gorgeous Shu Qi (Three Times, The Transporter) as a cat burglar. It just came out on DVD and I have a copy to give away to a lucky reader. It's a popcorn flick but the stars are easy on the eyes (it's their 4th film together). To enter please send an e-mail with LEUNG as the subject. It should contain the following three pieces of info.

1. Your name
2. Your shipping address (kept private)
3. And one reason why you love Tony Leung Chiu Wai (which I might quote whether or not you win)
   

It's that easy. You have until Sunday night to send that entry. The lucky winner will be announced Monday.


And, no, I have no idea what's going on in this film still either. Perhaps Richie Ren is turning green with envy over Leung's inarguable awesomeness? It happens.

恭喜恭喜 (Congratulations!)

UPDATED ~ Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, (Hero, Red Cliff, Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love and a million other fine films) married Carina Lau (2046, Days of Being Wild) his longtime girlfriend yesterday in Bhutan. Here they are!



Below is the initial "they're getting married" post from Sunday...

Nathaniel here. Back for a moment from my break because I couldn't NOT mention this. My thanks to loyal TFE reader Tony for the heads up on this news.

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, also known as "One of the Best Living Actors and World Great True Movie Stars" --or at least he would have those titles if the cinema were a meritocracy -- is marrying his longtime love/sometime co-star Carina Lau (2046, Days of Being Wild) tomorrow, Monday July 21st in Bhutan.


Here they are dressed in traditional Bhutanese garb (apparently provided by the royal family) in their first official wedding pic. Reports have it that Wong Kar Wai himself (Scorsese to Leung's DeNiro or von Sternberg to Leung's Dietrich if you need reference points) is going to film and edit the ceremonies for his muse.

That sound you hear is the confused crack of millions of movie fanatic hearts breaking, overlayed with their saner selves whispering congratulations to the dreamboat. (It's complicated when movie stars we ...erm... love are no longer available as it were)

In popular imagination Tony is usually paired off with Maggie Cheung who he romantically co-starred with in the masterpiece In the Mood for Love (2001, pictured left) as well as the box office smash Hero (they were the doomed lovers Broken Sword and Flying Snow) and a handful of other films. They were sometimes said to be coupled offscreen as well. Either way it was screen chemistry for the ages: Beatty/Christie level screen chemistry.

Maggie Cheung has unfortunately retired from acting (I weep) but Leung & Lau's relationship continues. They've been a couple since the late 80s when they were both in their 20s (they're 45 and 42 now). One assumed she was totally OK with that whole 'paired with Maggie' thing but for new rumors that Cheung was not invited to the wedding. Like many internationally famous couples, Leung & Lau are old pros at weathering the storm of controversies and gossip. In 2007 there were reports linking Lau to billionaire Terry Gou as well as that entire Tang Wei, Lust Caution 'were they really doing it?' controversy (um, I think yes. Carina says no)


So... 恭喜恭喜, Gong He Gong He, Gong Xi Gong Xi, Congratulations! to this gorgeous and talented longtime couple. For further reading on the wedding check out International Herald Tribune or The Star Online.

And because it's fun to gawk at movie stars, one more round of Leung & Lau goodness through the years....