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Movie Lineup
Three: Extremes
(Pan-Asia, 2005)
THREE...EXTREMES
brings together
an Asian scream
team of
filmmakers,
featuring a trio
of short works
by Hong Kong's
Fruit Chan
(DURIAN DURIAN),
Korea's Chanwook
Park (OLDBOY),
and Japan's
Takashi Miike
(AUDITION). The
trilogy opens
with Chan's
disgustingly
entertaining
DUMPLINGS, which
he has also
turned into a
full-length
film. DUMPLINGS
stars Miriam
Yeung Chin-Wah
as Ching, a
former TV star
who is afraid of
facing middle
age. She visits
Mei (Bai Ling),
whose secret
recipe for
dumplings helps
women look and
feel younger.
But when Ching
discovers what's
actually in the
pot-stickers,
she has some
deep
soul-searching
to do. In Park's
brutally violent
CUT, Lee
Byung-hun stars
as a movie
director who has
everything going
for him--a
beautiful wife,
hit films, a
fabulous house,
and an
upstanding
reputation. But
an extra (Gang
Hye-jung)
decides to spoil
the fun by
placing the
director in a
no-win situation
that could end
in murder.
Finally, Miike
closes the
frightfest with
BOX, a brilliant
psychological
thriller in
which a
reclusive
novelist (Kyoko
Hasegawa) is
haunted by her
dead twin sister
and a dark
family secret.
Although Miike
is highly
regarded for his
comic
ultraviolence,
he turns off the
blood quotient
in this smartly
paced, very
creepy tale.
Saving Face
(USA, 2005)
Saving Face
is the charming
story of a young
woman's
complicated life
and her pursuit
of love amid the
chaos. Wil
(Michelle
Krusiec) is a
28-year-old
overworked
medical resident
living in
Manhattan with
no social life.
Her widowed
mother, Ma (Joan
Chen), cannot
understand why
her desirable
daughter spends
all her time at
work. Ma,
meanwhile,
appears to be a
traditional
Chinese-American
woman still
under the thumb
of her
ultra-strict
father. That Wil
and her mother
are both
products of the
very insular,
traditional
(and,
yes…gossipy)
Chinese-American
community in
Flushing, Queens
makes the usual
family ties even
tighter.
At a social
function in the
old
neighborhood,
one in which her
mother insists
Wil attend in
search of a
husband, Wil
spots a
beautiful young
woman named
Vivian (Lynn
Chen), who
returns her
gaze. Shortly
after, Wil and
Vivian's paths
cross again in
the city. It
turns out
Vivian's father
is Wil's boss at
the hospital. A
dancer taking
time off to
teach children,
Vivian is
instantly
smitten with Wil
and wants to
help her relax
and enjoy life a
little more. Wil
is equally
smitten and soon
is stealing
whatever moments
she can away
from the
hospital to meet
Vivian for dates
all over the
city…except
Queens. Wil
shares the
excitement of
her new
relationship
with her friends
but, for all her
closeness with
her mother, Wil
has never come
out. Thankfully,
Manhattan and
Flushing, Queens
couldn't be
further
apart…that is
until Wil
returns home one
night to find
her Ma on her
doorstep.
Like Wil, Ma has
been living a
secret love life
and is now
pregnant and
unwed, which is
not acceptable
in this tight
knit community.
Refusing to name
the father, Ma
has been kicked
out and will
have to live
with Wil. Used
to an
independence
that comes with
living outside
of the
community, Wil
now has to cope
with introducing
Vivian into her
Ma's world.
Anyone who's
ever experienced
the flush of
love and the
desire to keep
it your own,
without having
to analyze or
explain it, for
as long as
possible, will
enjoy this
multi-generational
story of family,
love, lust,
romance, gossip
and secrets
within secrets.
A true love
letter to New
York City,
SAVING FACE is
told with a
great deal of
warmth and
humor, as
everyone tries
to sort out
their emotions
and fulfill
their
obligations…to
themselves and
to each other,
while all along
acknowledging
their
not-so-secret
lives and trying
to "save face."
Howl's Moving
Castle
(Japan, 2005)
Academy
Award®-winning
director Hayao
Miyazaki
("Spirited
Away") takes
moviegoers on an
amazing new
animated
adventure that
celebrates the
power of love to
transform and
the resiliency
of the human
spirit in the
face of
adversity.
Brimming with a
blend of
imagination,
humor, action,
and romance,
"Howl's Moving
Castle" recently
played to great
acclaim at the
2004 Venice
Film
Festival, and
has become one
of the biggest
blockbusters of
all time in
Japan – earning
more than $193
million at the
box office and
still counting.
A distinguished
cast of actors,
under the
direction of
Pixar's Pete
Docter
("Monsters,
Inc."), lend
their vocal
talents to this
English-language
version of the
film. Sophie
(voiced by Emily
Mortimer), an
average teenage
girl working in
a hat shop,
finds her life
thrown into
turmoil when she
is literally
swept off her
feet by a
handsome-but-mysterious
wizard named
Howl (voiced by
Christian Bale),
and is
subsequently
turned into a
90-year old
woman
(voiced by
screen legend
and two-time
Oscar® nominee
Jean Simmons) by
the vain and
conniving Wicked
Witch of the
Waste (voiced by
screen legend
and Oscar®
nominee Lauren
Bacall).
Embarking on an
incredible
odyssey to lift
the curse, she
finds refuge in
Howl's magical
moving castle
where she
becomes
acquainted with
Markl, Howl's
apprentice, and
a hot-headed
fire demon named
Calcifer (voiced
by Billy
Crystal).
Sophie's love
and support
comes to have a
major impact on
Howl, who flies
in the face of
orders from the
palace to become
a pawn of war
and instead
risks his life
to help bring
peace to the
kingdom.
Extraordinary
characters,
inventive
imagery, and
stunning
artistry make
this latest
masterpiece from
the visionary
Miyazaki an
unforgettable
filmgoing
experience.
The Banquet
(China,
2006)
Director Feng
Xiaogang's The
Banquet, which
premiered at the
prestigious
Venice film
festival and
screened at many
other major
festivals,
became Hong
Kong's
submission to
the Oscars this
year. This epic
features
multiple
award-winning
actor Ge You,
Feng's long-time
collaborator, as
a cunning
emperor. The
internationally
popular Zhang
Ziyi returns to
Chinese cinema
to portray a
queen who
experiences
intense inner
struggle. Hong
Kong handsome
prince Daniel Wu
and best actress
winner Zhou Xun
from Perhaps
Love also excel
in delivering
their roles.
Inspired by the
Shakespearean
play Hamlet, The
Banquet unfolds
a story about
power struggle
in the royal
court, which
eventually
climaxes at a
night banquet.
The film
promises a
thrilling visual
experience with
its carefully
designed
details. Tan Dun
and Timmy Yip,
both Oscar
winners for
Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon,
team up again in
this project,
offering
wonderful art
direction and
captivating
music
respectively.
Action
choreographer
Yuen Woo Ping
designs the
dazzling
fighting scenes
in The Banquet
to enrich the
film's aesthetic
dimension, which
deserves as much
applause as its
fascinating
story.
Zhang Ziyi stars
as the young
Empress Wan, who
used to be in
love with Prince
Wu Luan (Daniel
Wu) but is now
his step-mother.
The late
emperor's
brother Li (Ge
You) comes to
throne and sees
Wu Luan, now
living away from
the palace
indulging
himself in arts,
a great threat
to his power. He
sends assassins
to kill Wu Luan
but the mission
fails. The young
prince returns
to the palace
and meets
Empress Wan, who
is newly married
to Li, and a
young girl Qing
(Zhou Xun) who
falls for him.
Emperor Li
decides to host
a banquet, but
everyone has a
hidden agenda
when they
attend.
All About
Love (Hong
Kong, 2005)
For the first
time Andy Lau
plays two
leading roles in
one single film,
in which he will
tell an
extraordinary
love story about
heart transplant
with Charlene
Choi and Charlie
Young. Andy Lau
plays a husband
who only learns
the importance
of expressing
his tremendous
love for his
wife when it is
too late. With
such an
underlying
message, All
About Love
distinguishes
itself from mere
melodramatic
tearjerkers by
leaving a
profound
aftertaste.
Guest-starring
Anthony Wong
Chau Sang as a
heart surgeon
and veterans Hui
Siu-Hung and
Gigi Wong as
Charlene Choi's
parents, All
About Love has
made over HK$ 19
million to
become one of
the top-grossing
movies in Hong
Kong!
All About Love
is the first
film invested by
and starring
Andy Lau after
he set up the
company Focus
Film. He plays a
workaholic
medical
practitioner Dr.
Ko who neglects
his wife
(Charlene Choi)
in spite of his
love for her.
After she dies
in a car
accident, he
switches his job
to that of an
ambulanceman and
sticks to a
routine
schedule, as a
special means to
remember his
deceased wife.
In an operation,
Ko saves a woman
Sam (Charlie
Young) who
happened to have
a heart
transplant - and
he soon
discovers that
she actually
bears his wife's
heart!
Co-incidentally,
Sam's husband
Derek, who has
also deserted
her, looks
identical to Ko.
So Ko decides to
take up Derek's
place to
accompany his
wife's heart for
he has not been
with her enough
when she was
alive.
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