News

Editor’s Note: This article is presented in partnership with FilmStruck. Developed and managed by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in collaboration with the Criterion Collection, FilmStruck features the largest streaming library of contemporary and classic arthouse, indie, foreign and cult films as well as extensive bonus content, filmmaker interviews and rare footage. Learn more here.

Masahiro Shinoda has never cracked the top tier of Japanese auteurs and he’s never enjoyed the fame of Akira Kurosawa, the critical reverence of Yasujiro Ozu, or the historical significance of Kenji Mizoguchi, but time has revealed the filmmaker to be one of the most vital directors of the 20th century. From the frenetic pop energy of the Japanese New Wave to the more meditative, historically focused features that became de rigueur towards the turn of the millennium, the versatile Shinoda was a mainstay in his country’s national cinema from his wild debut...

The Asian Film Awards Academy will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to the venerable Japanese actress Kiki Kirin and to the veteran Hong Kong action choreographer-director Yuen Wo-ping at the Afa Ceremony on March 17th. This award recognizes film professionals who inspire excellence in others, and in their lifetime have made fundamental achievements and lasting impact of outstanding artistic, cultural and commercial significance in Asian Cinema.

Dr. Wilfred Wong, Chairman of the Afa Academy, said: “Master Yuen has brought Chinese martial arts to new heights through his constant innovation and creativity in action films that he has made over a decades-long career in Hong Kong, China and internationally. Ms. Kiki is an actress who is adored by many. Her mesmerizing and charismatic persona has inspired some of the most respected Japanese master filmmakers of our time. The works they have made that are loved by Japanese and international audiences would...

• I picked up on something of David Fincher in The Social Network I hadn't noticed before—his appreciation for script's which split his protagonists into dopplegangers. In this film, the character of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is cast not just as Jesse Eisenberg (in a strong, concrete-like performance of moving singularity) as Zuckerberg, but as Andrew Garfield's sweet best friend, Justin Timberlake's opportunistic nerd-playboy, Rooney Mara's irritated ex-girlfriend, and more. The film's structure is likewise split across recollections from two different depositions, and is further underlined by having a set of twins be major characters (actually one actor duplicated via special effects!), the references to the two-men crew team, etc. Thinking back on how Benjamin Button was split across the characters he encounters across different time periods, each reflecting versions of himself and his thinking, Zodiac's obsession being shared between the three major characters and the anonymous killer,...