Till the Links Roll By

Antagony & Ecstasy - churns up a summer appropriate top ten list: best performances in comic-based films. Impeccable choices really (especially the top tier) and fine write ups (especially the two on Superman).
MNPP wants this Fright Night remake (another vampire movie?) immediately thanks to the wonderful-on-paper cast
Erik Lundegaard - is making a thorough, interesting trek through past Robin Hood films. Something I wanted to do but never found time for. Argh.
Sunset Gun "How Little We Know" a fine piece on the cinema of Wong Kar Wai, Days of Being Wild specifically


/Film has a lengthy word for word interview with Justin Theroux. Sadly it's only about Iron Man 2. I hope he acts again. David Lynch where are you???
By Ken Levine "The Truth about Lady Gaga". This article makes me want to watch Man in the Moon again. Remember that one? The one that was supposed to net Jim Carrey an Oscar nomination?
Deviant Art has a pretty amazing Pulp Fiction graphic, displaying the film chronologically. Something the film never displays don'cha know
popbytes Cynthia Nixon covers The Advocate
Just Jared Winona Ryder and Channing Tatum to play lovers in Ron Howard's Cheaters. Hmmm, strangely I like the idea, well, except for the Ron Howard part
A Socialite's Life John Barrowman as Alladin? Fun pics but why no more Torchwood? *sniffle*
Boing Boing Here's an interesting one for you small screen enthusiasts. This is a list from a tv executive explaining 12 reasons why certain shows get picked up by networks.

my favorite goodbyes to Lena Horne
Guardian David Thomson refuses to talk about Lena for 671 words
The Sheila Variations wonderful personalized tribute to Lena here
Time Magazine Richard Corliss kicks off their tribute with a 'shoulda been' obituary
Variety Ted Johnson has the Obama family's statement
The Auteurs Daily collects the online tributes and obits

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.

"You notice things if you pay attention."

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JA from MNPP here. Yesterday Nat finished his delightful run-down of his favorite films of the previous decade, and his write-up of his #6 film,Wong Kar-Wai's masterpiece In the Mood For Love, reminded me how desperate I've been to watch the film again now that I've upgraded to a bigger HD'ier TV.

So last night I did. I wrote up some extended thoughts on the film over at my blog, but here's something else the experience brought up in my head: the process of re-watching films in these new technological formats.

Ever since getting the new TV for Christmas I've scarcely watched any new films (keeping my Faves of '09 list at bay, unfortunately), instead preferring to barrel through old favorites that I've appreciated especially for their visual splendors. This is a good thing to be sure - my appetite for film is one of forward momentum, always trying to see as many new films as I can, so I don't look back nearly often enough. It's been a treat.

Living here in New York I get to see screenings sometimes of old films that I've only ever seen on a small screen before and you notice so many things you'd missed before. Seeing Rosemary's Baby, my favorite film of all time, in a proper theater was a revelation - I'd seen that movie a million times but there were so many small details suddenly vying for my attention (the one that pops to mind are the posters hanging in Rosemary and Guy's apartment for "Luther" and "Nobody Loves an Albatross," the two plays Guy had starred in that Rosemary name-checks a couple of times in the film).

And this new HD experience has felt akin to that. The image is so crisp, and so big! I don't think I'm ever going to leave my house again, is what I'm saying. This is where I close the door, turn my Netflix account up as far as it goes, and forget the world outdoors.

Anyone else been spending their days marveling at this wondrous point in home theater technology unto which we have arrived? This extends beyond great cinema - I spent half an hour hypnotized by a PBS special on hummingbirds the night before last - I thought the hummingbirds were gonna hit me in the face. It was awesome!
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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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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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In Praise of Maggie Cheung

A great beauty and greater actress, last year Maggie Cheung stunned and saddened film-goers the world over when, at age 43, she announced her retirement from the screen. A recipient of numerous awards for memorable roles, she's opted to focus on other creative endeavors, painting and music among them.



Having appeared in over 70 movies, the need for a rest is understandable. As for her countless fans, well, we'll have to make do with a vast back-catalog of indelible performances. The Actress, Ashes of Time, Chinese Box, Irma Vep, Clean, Hero, 2046, and, of course, In the Mood for Love are just a few of her films to find a following in the USA. If you haven't seen any of these gems, you have your work cut out for you. Get to it! Beauty and intensity will be your reward.


(Humbly posted by Thombeau of FABULON. Come play with us!)

Now Playing (In Only Five Words)

...from least screens to most. Just 'cuz. And because I'm in a Dogme 95 sort of mood, I've imposed a limitation on myself to describe these films in 5 words each, based on their trailers.

Choose Connor Pimply. Political. Smarmy. Tortured. Gay?
Fall of Hyperion Meteors! Cheap. Has-beens. Cable. Gay!
Good Dick Well, duh. Quirky. Independent. Ritter-ific.
Ice Blues: A Donald Strachey Mystery Again? Why? Shoestring. Gay-faced Hunk.
Nights and Weekends Soundtrack Free. Navels Observed. Heteronormative.
Saving Marriage Religious Bigots Vs. Determined Homosexuals.
Lola Montes (this is a reissue of the 1955 classic) Eye Candy! Costumes. Opulence. Bliss.
Happy-Go-Lucky Vera Drake's cheerfulness sans miserabilism?
Breakfast with Scot Gay. Gayer. Gayest. REALLY GAY.

Two Tony Leungs: Chiu-Wai and Ka Fai in the all-star cast
of Wong Kar Wai's Ashes of Time

Ashes of Time Redux Colorful contemplation. Both Tony Leungs!
RockNRolla Violence. Bare Chested Scenery Chewing.
Talento de Barrio Guns. Rap. Too Many Edits.
Billy: The Early Years of Billy Graham Vanilla. Beige. Bill Maher Puking.
Sex Drive 2,635th version of this movie
The Duchess (it's been out for 3 weeks but... expanding by a 1000 screens) Wigs. Candles. Adultery. Clenched Jaw.
City of Ember Golden Compass Complicated? Murray Miscast?
Quarantine Paranoid. Derivative "Found Footage"? Sweaty.
Body of Lies Betrayal. Ugly Haired Machismo. Syriana-esque.
The Express (adding 2000 screens) Glossy Inspirational / Interchangeable Sports Bio.

Keira Knightley in the J-Horror remake The Wig That Ate Devonshire

Which will you be seeing this weekend?
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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....