When I spoke with Jessica Kingdon, Nathan Truesdell, and Kira Simon-Kennedy on November 5, 2021, their documentary, ASCENSION, was several months away from being nominated for an Oscar™. It’s a richly deserved honor. Filmed in over 50 locations, they have crafted an engrossing and lyrical snapshot of modern China’s contrasts and contradictions as it moves… Read More »
MULAN
There are several volumes of sophisticated feminist theory at work in the live-action version of MULAN, but, trust me, they are wholly in the service of a first-rate action-adventure film that puts characters ahead of spectacle. Director Niki Caro has created a film that is intense, compelling, and entirely entertaining, while Liu Yifei as the… Read More »
ABOMINABLE
ABOMINABLE is a sweet, if unremarkable, movie. With a plot that offers little in the way of novelty and characters who are as familiar to fans of contemporary animated films aimed at kiddies as Harlequin was to fans of the commedia dell’arte, it does boast some fine animation and a mythical creature that is undeniably… Read More »
HOOLIGAN SPARROW — Nanfu Wang Interview
There is a difference between understanding that covering a human rights protest in China will be problematic, and actually experiencing the surveillance and intimidation that goes with that territory. That’s one of the first things I talked about with Nanfu Wang, whose documentary, HOOLIGAN SPARROW, has been short-listed for this year’s Oscar ™. It was… Read More »
Xu Hoafeng Presents THE FINAL MASTER
Xu Haofeng wanted to revitalize the martial arts genre, and by bringing knives into the action he has certainly done that. He’s also thrown in a love story as sharp and as steely as any of those weapons. Both approaches are refreshing, and both were topics of conversation when I spoke with the filmmaker about… Read More »
THE TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN (Zhì qu weihu shan)
THE TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN has blood, guts, and sentiment. Based on actual events, and on the novel by Bo Qu, it’s a sweeping epic of a war film set in northwest China just after World War II has ended, when the government has collapse into corruption, bandits are terrorizing the villages, and the People’s… Read More »
KUNG FU PANDA 3
One of the things that makes Po, the eponymous hero of the animated Kung Fu Panda franchise, so endearing is that he doesn’t take his skills in stride. As voiced once again by the excitable gravel that is Jack Black’s speaking instrument, Po takes a childlike delight in being able to defy gravity and dispatch… Read More »
TOGETHER (HAN NI ZAI YIKI)
What does music mean? Its an interesting question and one posed with grace and not a little irony by Chen Kaige in TOGETHER. Using the backdrop of the uneasy cultural shifts in contemporary China and the ever mysterious dynamics of the father-son relationship, he has brought forth film that is deeply affecting and rapturously beautiful.… Read More »
Chen Kaige is TOGETHER
Having lived through the political and cultural turbulence of China’s recent past, it’s hardly surprising that Chen Kaige’s films reflect his preoccupation with the changes his homeland has, is, and will continue to experience. While is other films, such as FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, have dealt with history, his latest, TOGETHER, looks as the present using… Read More »
Edward Norton Remakes THE PAINTED VEIL
Edward Norton doesn’t seem to have just coped with the added headaches that come with being a producer as well as an actor in THE PAINTED VEIL, he seems to have thrived with the challenge of dealing with them. Norton spent years trying to bring M. Somerset Maugham’s novel to the screen for a second time, including the… Read More »