The conclusion of a four part series by Cláudio Alves
In the cinema of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, the 21st century started with a neon dream. The camera follows Shu Qi's Vicky as she runs through a Taipei tunnel, lights flickering above. Everything happens in slow-motion, flickers turn into waves and the actress's movement makes a strange unnatural dance. She looks back at us, hair flying in a cloud of black tendrils, her eyes asking us to follow her down the tunnel, like Alice down the rabbit hole. It's a hypnotic sight, made more seductive by the music of Lim Giong, house beats and techno dronings that transform the screen into a pulsing heart.
2001's Millennium Mambo fulfills the formalistic promise of Daughter of the Nile, transcending Goodbye South, Goodbye's tethering to material truth. Like its protagonist, the film looks back at its director's history while moving forward to an unknown future.
In the cinema of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, the 21st century started with a neon dream. The camera follows Shu Qi's Vicky as she runs through a Taipei tunnel, lights flickering above. Everything happens in slow-motion, flickers turn into waves and the actress's movement makes a strange unnatural dance. She looks back at us, hair flying in a cloud of black tendrils, her eyes asking us to follow her down the tunnel, like Alice down the rabbit hole. It's a hypnotic sight, made more seductive by the music of Lim Giong, house beats and techno dronings that transform the screen into a pulsing heart.
2001's Millennium Mambo fulfills the formalistic promise of Daughter of the Nile, transcending Goodbye South, Goodbye's tethering to material truth. Like its protagonist, the film looks back at its director's history while moving forward to an unknown future.
- 4/12/2022
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Shot shortly after Pai Ching-jui returned from Italy, where he studied film and got acquainted with neo-realism,”A Morning in Taipei” delivers exactly what its title suggests, through a number of sequences that highlight a plethora of aspects of life in Taipei, accompanied by music scored by Lim Giong, singer, musician and film composer.
A Morning in Taipei is screening at Electric Shadows Asian Film Festival
As Pai Ching-jui’s approach is that of the tour guide, the short begins from very early in the morning, as the city gradually begins to wake up. The sequences begin from outside the city, where a group of women are carrying baskets on a stick placed in their shoulders, probably containing fruits and vegetables. Then the camera gets into the city as the dawn breaks and traffic begins to pick in the filled with fog streets. The billboards in the street, the bright...
A Morning in Taipei is screening at Electric Shadows Asian Film Festival
As Pai Ching-jui’s approach is that of the tour guide, the short begins from very early in the morning, as the city gradually begins to wake up. The sequences begin from outside the city, where a group of women are carrying baskets on a stick placed in their shoulders, probably containing fruits and vegetables. Then the camera gets into the city as the dawn breaks and traffic begins to pick in the filled with fog streets. The billboards in the street, the bright...
- 4/18/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Opening Via Virtual Cinema On April 2, 2021 And On VOD & Digital Platforms “Taut, topical and terrifying. Wu is a tour de force in the title role…Florian Zinke’s slow-moving camerawork and Lim Giong’s haunting soundtrack help build the suspense that makes seeing Nina Wu a gripping experience.” — Clarence Tsui, South China Morning Post …
The post Inspired by Actual Events, Nina Wu, a Sumptuous, Stylized #MeToo Thriller, Opens Wide via Virtual Cinema, VOD & Digital Platforms on 4/2 appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
The post Inspired by Actual Events, Nina Wu, a Sumptuous, Stylized #MeToo Thriller, Opens Wide via Virtual Cinema, VOD & Digital Platforms on 4/2 appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
- 4/9/2021
- by Adrian Halen
- Horror News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Wonder Woman 1984. Warner Bros announced the surprising decision this week to have its entire 2021 theatrical slate—which includes Dune, Wonder Woman 1984, and even Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho—on the streaming service HBO Max for each film's first month of release, in addition to a concurrent theatrical release. In other seismic shifts in cinema history, Kodak has sadly discontinued its color internegative stock, a decision that will no doubt have long-term consequences. As John Klacsmann points out on Twitter, this is "the most used stock when preserving 16mm experimental film." Recommended VIEWINGCo-organized with the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (Tfai) and Taiwan Cinema Toolkit, Anthology Film Archives is presenting a must-see, free series of Taiwanese b-movies, a realm of cinema containing "the down-and-dirty genre films that proliferated in the late 1970s and...
- 12/9/2020
- MUBI
The world we currently orbit is a strange and confined one. This world has introduced us to a new type of solitude as unfamiliar feelings surface that are unique to a chaotic world amidst a global pandemic. During this time, reflection has happened upon us all to varying degrees. As we move into winter with no prospect of clarity, we seek out ways to stay positive and escape the distress of uncertainty. A constant source of solace during this time has been the (re)discovery of cinema. Through cinema the exploration of other worlds is possible: small pockets of alternate realities to escape the reality of a winter stuck inside the house, missing loved ones and the joys of full bodied freedom.It came as perfect timing then, that as "melancholy fall" became my particular cinematic mood, Pure Person Press released a new charity compilation Va focused on musician and...
- 12/4/2020
- MUBI
The directing debut of Chinese screenwriter Cao Jinling, the film is premiering at Cairo film festival next week.
Fortissimo Films has picked up worldwide rights, excluding China, to Anima (Moerdaoga), the debut feature of Chinese screenwriter Cao Jinling.
The film, which stars Wang Chuanjun and Qi Xi, is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Cairo International Film Festival on December 8, with the director in attendance.
Filmed on location in the Moerdaoga National Forest in Inner Mongolia, the film is set in the 1980s when China had just launched its programme of economic opening and development.
The coming-of-age story follows a young man,...
Fortissimo Films has picked up worldwide rights, excluding China, to Anima (Moerdaoga), the debut feature of Chinese screenwriter Cao Jinling.
The film, which stars Wang Chuanjun and Qi Xi, is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Cairo International Film Festival on December 8, with the director in attendance.
Filmed on location in the Moerdaoga National Forest in Inner Mongolia, the film is set in the 1980s when China had just launched its programme of economic opening and development.
The coming-of-age story follows a young man,...
- 12/2/2020
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
First Song From Lim Giong + Alex Zhang Hungtai Out Now
Celebrated Taiwanese musician, DJ, composer and actor Lim Giong asks — what does it mean to be a pure person?
The question was originally posed in 2001 when Giong composed the score for Hou Hsiao Hsien’s film Millenium Mambo. In the iconic opening scene, Giong’s “A Pure Person” begins to play as actress Shu Qi glides through a tunnel.
19 years later, Giong is joined by five contemporary Taiwanese-based and diaspora musicians to reflect on the question. Through new melodic and philosophical interpretations of “A Pure Person,” the compilation contains the past, present and future of Taiwan.
Today, Alex Zhang Hungtai unveils his version. Formerly known as Dirty Beaches, Hungtai currently works as a composer for film soundtracks, along with acting in independent films.
A Pure Person features contributions from jazz pianist YuYing Hsu, Jieh, electronic duo Non-Confined Space and Taiwanese...
Celebrated Taiwanese musician, DJ, composer and actor Lim Giong asks — what does it mean to be a pure person?
The question was originally posed in 2001 when Giong composed the score for Hou Hsiao Hsien’s film Millenium Mambo. In the iconic opening scene, Giong’s “A Pure Person” begins to play as actress Shu Qi glides through a tunnel.
19 years later, Giong is joined by five contemporary Taiwanese-based and diaspora musicians to reflect on the question. Through new melodic and philosophical interpretations of “A Pure Person,” the compilation contains the past, present and future of Taiwan.
Today, Alex Zhang Hungtai unveils his version. Formerly known as Dirty Beaches, Hungtai currently works as a composer for film soundtracks, along with acting in independent films.
A Pure Person features contributions from jazz pianist YuYing Hsu, Jieh, electronic duo Non-Confined Space and Taiwanese...
- 10/6/2020
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDisney has announced that Barry Jenkins will helm the live-action The Lion King sequel, which reportedly includes "Mufasa's origin story."Speaking of sequels, Chinese authorities have approved the production of a project written by Wong Kar-wai, curiously titled Chungking Express 2020. The synopsis states that at least a portion of the film will take place in 2036, where "young Xiao Qian and May are unwilling to be held back by genetic partnerings, and insist on finding their own ‘destiny’.”Festival season persists: The Cannes Film Festival will be hosting a three-day "Special Cannes" event in October that will feature the screening of four Official Selections, in-competition short films, and the Cinéfondation’s school films. This year's San Sebastian Film Festival concluded with the sweep of Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature Beginning, which received four of seven jury prizes.
- 9/30/2020
- MUBI
Psychological thriller “Nina Wu” by Taiwan-based Burmese writer and director Midi Z, was premiered in the “Un Certain Regard” section of Cannes Film Festival. Midi Z has proven before to be a fine and meticulous storyteller, enriching his narration with nuances, planting small significant details. This personal style well fits “Nina Wu” and its Hitchkockian development.
Nina Wu (Ke-Xi Wu) left Taichung 8 years ago following, like many girls, her dream of an acting career in the big city of Taipei. Despite her efforts, in all those years Nina has collected only a handful of minor roles as extra in indie movies or commercials and she’s resorted to moonlighting as a cam-girl. One day, the long-awaited audition arrives; it’s for a Cold War era spy-noir movie, “Romance of the Spies” and Nina’s agent warns her that she must be prepared to perform a full frontal nudity and explicit sex scenes.
Nina Wu (Ke-Xi Wu) left Taichung 8 years ago following, like many girls, her dream of an acting career in the big city of Taipei. Despite her efforts, in all those years Nina has collected only a handful of minor roles as extra in indie movies or commercials and she’s resorted to moonlighting as a cam-girl. One day, the long-awaited audition arrives; it’s for a Cold War era spy-noir movie, “Romance of the Spies” and Nina’s agent warns her that she must be prepared to perform a full frontal nudity and explicit sex scenes.
- 3/28/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
A record number of virtual reality productions from Taiwan will be featured at this year’s 76th Venice Film Festival, raising the hopes of the lackluster film industry in Taiwan, which has been quietly transforming itself into a next-generation content production hub through technological advancement.
While Taiwan’s tech giant Htc, which has been developing not only high-quality headsets under its Htc Vive unit and commissioning original Vr content production under Htc Vive Originals shingle, plays a major role in driving the trend, the growth of tech start-ups specializing in extended reality (Xr) — which includes Vr, augmented reality (Ar) and mixed reality (Mr) — are also eyeing on the potential in entertainment content.
Taiwan tops Asia in this year’s Venice Virtual Reality competition section, with seven entries. Three — “O,” “Only the Mountain Remains” and “The Making of” — are the fruits of the 5×1 initiative, a partnership focusing on Vr films between...
While Taiwan’s tech giant Htc, which has been developing not only high-quality headsets under its Htc Vive unit and commissioning original Vr content production under Htc Vive Originals shingle, plays a major role in driving the trend, the growth of tech start-ups specializing in extended reality (Xr) — which includes Vr, augmented reality (Ar) and mixed reality (Mr) — are also eyeing on the potential in entertainment content.
Taiwan tops Asia in this year’s Venice Virtual Reality competition section, with seven entries. Three — “O,” “Only the Mountain Remains” and “The Making of” — are the fruits of the 5×1 initiative, a partnership focusing on Vr films between...
- 8/29/2019
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
It’s always an odd feeling when you’re completely out of step with your colleagues about a film. It’s rare that I’m one of the only ones not to like something everyone else loves, but here we are. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Ash Is Purest White in the least, I just couldn’t quite understand what the fuss was all about. There’s some gorgeous cinematography (from Dp Eric Gautier), a terrific lead performance, and some genuinely moving moments. There’s also some very odd choices, poor pacing, a bloated running time, and a sense that there’s a few too many right turns. It’s an interesting film, just not quite one I’d recommend to you. The movie is a crime drama at times, a romance at times, and apparently a comedy at others. Labeled a tragicomedy set in part...
- 3/16/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
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