Commencing tomorrow, Columbia TriStar Films and the Empire Cinema are bringing to the Highlands an outstanding collection of five new and exciting films from Asia. Including films from acclaimed directors Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Takeshi Kitano and Ang Lee, this prize winning collection features historical epics, provincial tales, and simple stories of community, family ties, loyalty, treachery and deception; all told with integrity, and the great beauty and brilliance we have come to expect from such gifted film makers constantly honoured with awards and prizes for contributions to world cinema. ‘Silk Screen’ offers something for everyone: romance, adventure, martial arts, social comment, magnificent costumes, and scenery that will take your breath away. As Australia moves towards its historical destiny as part of the Asia -Pacific region, understanding our neighbours and their diverse cultures should be one of our top priorities. Cinema provides a perfect medium to check out the neighbours, and see how the other half lives, and lived. Pick up a program from the Empire and mark the diary. These films, shown in selected screenings, are simply too good to miss.
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Fans of Zhang Yimou will be delighted that his newest film, ‘The Road Home’ opens the festival tomorrow. A simple tale, engaging and anchored in reality, (as is the recent ‘Not One Less’,) this film addresses its audience with real feelings and emotions.
Returning home to his village in North China for his father’s funeral, city businessman Luo, caught up in preparations for the ceremony, reflects on his parents’ famous courtship. His mother, a simple village girl, falls in love with a school teacher and will stop at nothing to win his attention. Set in a rural background during a turbulent period in China’s modern history, this film is a tribute to love and family. Those who can recall Hou Yong’s cinematography in ‘Not One Less’ will know what to expect.
‘The Road Home’ was awarded the Grand Prix Silver Bear Award at the 2000 Berlin Film festival.
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‘Shower’ opens February 15, again with selected screenings. A lighter theme with a broad comedy base, this is a film about family and community values. ‘Shower’ examines the current state of Chinese culture where cherished traditions are being abandoned in favour of the needs of an emerging modern world. After receiving a postcard from his brother, young, wealthy businessman Da Ming believes his father has died.
He returns to his working class neighbourhood in Beijing and to the public bathhouse operated by his father and mentally challenged brother. Not only is dad not dead, Ming realises that while he has moved himself successfully up the social scale, not much has changed on the home front. He discovers that his father’s bathhouse has become a community centre for neighbourhood men who loyally return to discuss, free from social restrictions, their various problems. Da Ming cannot any longer relate to all this.
He is in now the fast lane, and with a show of contempt, quickly makes plans to return to his high paying job. Nature intervenes in the form of a heavy thunderstorm, and in a rare display of selflessness, Ming spends most of the night helping his father to patch leaks in the roof. A fresh approach to communication and understanding takes place between father and son, and during following crises Ming finally learns to reevaluate his relationship with his family and neighbourhood.
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‘The Emperor and the Assassin’, an epic tale of ambition, love, treachery, and revenge taken from China’s ancient history, opens March 1st. Directed by Chen Kaige, this is one of the biggest and costliest films ever made in China and will sweep you off your feet with its sheer scale and attention to historical detail. Set in the third century B.C. it is the story of an ambitious King, Ying Zheng, who is obsessed with unifying China and becoming its first emperor. To achieve his aim, he embarks on an unparalleled reign of murder, brutality, and terror. Wanting to assist him by any means to achieve his aim is his lover from childhood, Lady Zhao. She devises an intricate fake assassination plot against him which, when uncovered, will provide him with the perfect and legitimate excuse to invade and subject the neighbouring kingdom - a large obstacle to unification. Plots backfire, treachery unfolds, and a bloody incursion into Lady Zhao’s homeland results in her turning against Ying and his ambitions Although she still has a strong affection for him, he has to die. Enter a real and highly respected assassin who has been recruited from retirement. As often happens when high passions are aroused, logic flies out the door as romance flies in. Lady Zhao and her hired killer become lovers. The aftermath of this confused intrigue provides a failed plot and a dead assassin. The King, Ying Zheng, goes on to forge his great empire and become the first emperor of China without Zhao the love of his life beside him. The director, speaking about his characters suggests that like us, they faced difficult choices: power versus freedom, war versus peace and love versus hate. In the drive for power and success, for love, we are able to destroy or corrupt, to change, and eventually lose the things that enrich and nurture our lives. Historical epics will never be the same again.
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A road movie with a Japanese twist, ‘Kikujiro’ opens with selected screenings March 15th. Fans of Japan’s most innovative director, Takeshi Kitano, will remember his big hit of 1988, ‘Hana-Bi’, a cops and robbers tale with lots of clever twists and plenty of violence on the side. Takeshi was getting concerned about being stereotyped by this violent, gangster image and decided to lighten up. ‘Kikujiro’ is a simple comedy of errors. Nine year old Maseo is not enjoying living alone with his grandmother. Soccer has been suspended and his mates are all away at the beach. What to do? Discovering a photo of a mother he has never met, Maseo decides it’s time for a reunion.Without much money or a clear sense of direction, he needs a helping hand. A friend’s husband, Kikujiro, is recruited to accompany the boy on his quest. Kikujiro is a bit of a local lay about. He is brash, loudmouthed and a con artist, and doesn’t even relate well to children. At the races, the boy’s meagre money supply is the first thing to go resulting in this unlikely pair then having to depend on the charity of others, as they hitch their way along. Meeting up with all sorts of off beat individuals along the way, they enjoy and share some wonderful adventures as Kikujiro also experiences some profound character changes. Ultimately both he and the boy end up at a destination neither of them could have imagined. Mildly sentimental, beautifully filmed, Kikujiro was one of the best loved films at Cannes 1999.
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The final film in the ‘Silk Screen’ festival, Ang Lee’s ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ will screen for a two week season towards the end of March.
A screening date and a more comprehensive review will appear during that month. “Crouching Tiger’ has been packing them in at Sydney City screenings, and the word is out that this is one not to miss. Following the lives of two 19th century Chinese women, this film offers romance, adventure, humour, and martial arts, all in an epic scale.
A thrilling visual experience, ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, will be a fitting finale to this wonderful festival of films from Asia; an unusual and rare treat for Highlands film enthusiasts. Don’t miss!
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