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Ann Hui’s eclectic films are united by a consideration of the relationship between public and private worlds, of how the weight of history can be brought to bear on even the most intimate personal developments. The director’s beautiful 2002 drama July Rhapsody, now receiving its first stateside theatrical run courtesy of Cheng Cheng Films, both follows this thread and pulls it in a uniquely tender and thoughtful direction. Unlike much of her previous work, the histories excavated by the film are strictly personal, but they contribute to a far more wide-ranging treatise on the resonance of artistic expression across time and generations.

Another thread through Hui’s work is its kinship with Chinese literature, from the filmmaker’s three adaptations of Eileen Chang novels to last year’s Elegies, a documentary on Hong Kong poetry. That affinity is deeply felt in July Rhapsody, which follows a meek, middle-aged Chinese...

I was lucky to see the new restoration of July Rhapsody, an oft-forgotten 2002 drama that represents a murderer’s row of Hong Kong cinema: directed by Ann Hui (Boat People), scripted by Ivy Ho (Comrades: Almost a Love Story), and starring Jacky Cheung and, in her final performance, Anita Mui. There’s little reason for the film to toil in obscurity, making essential Cheng Cheng Films’ theatrical release this summer––July 19 at Film Forum, July 26 at LA’s Laemmle Theaters, and expanding elsewhere. Ahead of this, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the restoration’s trailer.

Here’s the synopsis: “Brimming with unspeakable serene beauty, July Rhapsody by Hong Kong director Ann Hui (A Simple Life) and scriptwriter Ivy Ho (Comrades Almost a Love Story) is a profound and soothing tale about how one paddles through life’s chaos as many seemingly eternal inspiration sources of times, like the Yangtze river,...

Cinephiles will have plenty to celebrate this April with the next slate of additions to the Criterion Channel. The boutique distributor, which recently announced its June 2024 Blu-ray releases, has unveiled its new streaming lineup highlighted by an eclectic mix of classic films and modern arthouse hits.

Students of Hollywood history will be treated to the “Peak Noir: 1950” collection, which features 17 noir films from the landmark film year from directors including Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Huston.

New Hollywood maverick William Friedkin will also be celebrated when five of his most beloved movies, including “Sorcerer” and “The Exorcist,” come to the channel in April.

Criterion will offer the streaming premiere of Wim Wenders’ 3D art documentary “Anselm,” which will be accompanied by the “Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing” collection, which sees the director curating a selection of films from around the world that have influenced his careers.

Contemporary cinema is also well represented,...

April’s an uncommonly strong auteurist month for the Criterion Channel, who will highlight a number of directors––many of whom aren’t often grouped together. Just after we screened House of Tolerance at the Roxy Cinema, Criterion are showing it and Nocturama for a two-film Bertrand Bonello retrospective, starting just four days before The Beast opens. Larger and rarer (but just as French) is the complete Jean Eustache series Janus toured last year. Meanwhile, five William Friedkin films and work from Makoto Shinkai, Lizzie Borden, and Rosine Mbakam are given a highlight.

One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...

Upping The Ante

France’s Canal+ Group said that it has increased its stake in multi-territory Asian streaming platform Viu to 30%.

“This additional investment underlines the confidence that Canal+ has in Viu and its teams. It also highlights the determination of Canal+ to make Asia its next growth vector, through its strategic partnership with Pccw, and through an acceleration of growth at Viu, a premium streaming service present in Asia, the Middle East and South Asfrica,” the French group said in a statement. Additionally, it said that its investment in Viu now amounted to some $300 million and that it retains an option to increase its stake to 50%.

In June last year, Canal+ announced that it was to pay $200 million for an initial 26.1% stake in Viu and that it would make a total staggered investment of $300 million.

In results published on Friday, Pccw said: “Viu saw 27% growth in revenue in2023 […] propelled...

Hong Kong cinema is associated with action films which most often bring to mind male protagonists. Most undeservedly so since, thanks to the characteristics of Hong Kong martial arts films, women have been successfully surmounting their male counterparts with training, agility, and wits in them for many decades. The masters, such as King Hu and Tsui Hark, were well-aware of it. They were among the ones who discovered outstanding artists whose roles were ahead of their times and set out new directions for the development of popular cinema.

Hong Kong is not just about action cinema, but also brilliant comedies and dramas, and sharp tales with social overtones, in which fascinating, complex female characters are also present. The Hong Kong Heroines section brings back strong heroines and the great roles of stars, including Cheng Pei-pei, Sylvia Chang, Cherry Ngan, and Maggie Cheung. The section presents Hong Kong cinema from the...

By Kun-Yu Lai

“Comrades: Almost a Love Story” is director Peter Chen’s best work, and is not just a simple love story. It also talks about the imagination of self identities in this diverse society.

In 1985, Hong Kong’s development is booming. Lots of immigrants come to the city to find a better chance of making a living. The main character, Li Xiao-jun (Leon Lai), who was born in China, also moves to the city. He wants to make enough money to marry his girlfriend, Fang Xaioting, in his hometown. While he struggles in living in the big city, he encounters another girl, Li Qiao (Maggie Cheung), who is also from China, with similar background.

They become best friends because they are the only ones who support each other in this foreign metropolis. The close friendship turns into an ambiguous love, without them even noticing. When...

China on Thursday announced selection of Hong Kong director Peter Chan’s sports drama “Leap” as its contender for the Academy Awards’ best international feature film competition this year.

The film tells the fact-based story of the Chinese women’s national volleyball team and their travails over the course of decades, from their world championship win in 1981 to their triumph at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Gong Li stars in the biographical drama as the legendary coach Lang Ping, who at nearly 60 remains the team’s current head coach, opposite Huang Bo.

Notably, it was produced by Hong Kong’s Jojo Hui, who also produced the youth drama “Better Days,” which was announced as Hong Kong’s Oscar contender last Friday — giving her a rare double chance at the nominee short list.

“Leap” won the mainland’s government-backed Golden Rooster Award for best feature film last weekend weekend, signaling the ruling Communist...

Female-led volleyball drama “Leap” hit China with an $8.2 million opening day Friday, narrowly topping the premiere-day box office haul of Disney’s “Mulan” earlier this month, according to industry tracker Maoyan.

Both films star China-born Singaporean actress Gong Li, who plays a powerful witch character in “Mulan” and the hard-driving, real-life head coach of the Chinese women’s national volleyball team Lang Ping in “Leap.” In contrast, “Mulan” brought in $8.1 million in its opening Friday performance. Warner Bros.’ “Tenet” made $8.9 million in its Sept. 4 debut. War epic “The Eight Hundred,” on the other hand, raked in $21 million in its Aug. 21 bow.

“Leap’s” debut coincided with the first weekend that cinemas were allowed to sell 75% of available tickets rather than 50%.

Directed by Hong Kong helmer Peter Ho-Sun Chan, “Leap” also opened in the U.S. on Friday. It is set for a limited release across 80 theaters in Boston, Chicago, Denver,...

Peter Chan’s Comrades: Almost A Love Story (1996) Screening at Webster University Thursday September 5th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The Film starts at 7pm. There will be a post-film discussion by Dr. Yongzhen (Joy) Shu Curtin, adjunct lecturer on Chinese cinema and culture studies at Washington University. The film is sponsored by the Confucius Institute at Webster University . A Facebook invite can be found Here

Cantopop star-turned-actor Leon Lai (Fallen Angels) stars as a cute but helpless bumpkin from Mainland China trying to get accustomed to his new life in Hong Kong in Comrades: Almost a Love Story. As the title suggests, Lai’s Li Xiao-jun quickly falls in with the helpful and acclimated Li Qiao, who is remarkably good at the hustle of day-to-day life in Hong Kong. Featuring a supporting turn by the legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle and a strong sense of place in...

The story of filmmaking in New York City is incomplete without consideration of the foreign-language films that are regularly made here. Such films—off the top of my head, I’m thinking of at least a dozen Bollywood spectaculars and Tamil dramas, and many Chinatown pictures, including Hong Kong films like Stanley Kwan’s Full Moon in New York (1989), Peter Chan’s Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996) and gangster movies like Tongs: A Chinatown Story (1986), as well as Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet (1993), made in Mandarin-speaking Flushing with Taiwanese funding—can offer an insider’s view of the many ethnic enclaves in our polyglot city, or an outsider’s view of the place we call home. Sunrise/Sunset is an American film, the debut effort of an American filmmaker, Jong Ougie Pak. Yet the movie, which is almost entirely in Korean, feels of a piece with movies that gaze...

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has signed with We Pictures, the production and distribution company founded by Hong Kong-born director and producer Peter Chan Ho-sun. It aims to boost the company’s footprint both in China and abroad.

Within China, CAA China will help We Pictures to develop new business partnerships and find new sources of investment and financing, as well as improve its branding and promotion, it said in a statement last Friday. Abroad, it will assist with international distribution and “mobilize the resources of the global film industry to connect We Pictures with more top-notch international content.”

Chan, who also has a production deal with Huanxi Media, is a two-time winner of the best director Golden Horse Award, first in 2006 for “Perhaps Love,” the first musical to be shot in China in decades, and again in 2008 later for the battle-filled historical drama “The Warlords,” starring Andy Lau and Jet Li.

Following the announcement that came earlier this week, launching yet another hugely impressive line-up at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, the respective line-up has now been announced for what is in some ways its European counterpart, the 2013 Venice Film Festival.

The announcement shows that the two will continue to have a number of films overlapping, including Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (the Opening Night Film in Venice), Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and more. But it also brings with its news of where a number of films will be making their debut, including Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem; the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises; James Franco’s Child of God; Lee Sang-il’s Yurusarezaru Mono, the Japanese remake of Unforgiven; and Steven Knight’s Locke, led by Tom Hardy, and shot in one take.

In Competition

Es-Stouh – Merzak Alloucache (Algeria, France, 94’) L’Intrepido – Gianni Amelio (Italy,...

Italian actress Claudia Cardinale to be guest host for the section at the 70th Venice International Film Festival where William Friedkin will receive a lifetime achievement honour.

Claudia Cardinale, best known for roles in Once Upon a Time in the West and Fellini’s 8 ½, is to be the guest host of Venezia Classici, the section devoted to restored films and to documentaries about cinema of the 70th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7.

The section, introduced last year, features a selection of classic film restorations completed over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions or production companies around the world.

Cardinale will attend the screening of Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa, Luchino Visconti’s 1965 film in which she starred that won the Golden Lion at the 30th Viff and has been restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

It is is one of the four classics restored this year that has been conserved at the Historic Archives of the...

A very happy birthday to the incomparable and elusive Maggie Cheung who turns 46 today. We haven't seen her mysterious mojo onscreen in about six years -- since Clean and 2046 hit and she announced that unfortunate retirement -- but she did do a cameo earlier this year in the Chinese film Hot Summer Days (pictured left), an all star ensemble romance about a heatwave.

Here in this ancient clip from the Golden Horse Awards, you can see Maggie winning one of her four Golden Horse Best Actress awards for Comrades a Love Story (1996) aka Tian Mi Mi... good flick - rent it. And who is presenting this award but Sigourney Weaver herself! It's an Ang Lee connection since Sigweavie was doing The Ice Storm round about that time. They switch to English about a minute into the clip.

Leslie Cheung (Rip) is also in the clip. *sniffle*

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