TONYLEUNG.INFO
THIS IS AN ARCHIVAL DISCUSSION BOARD (2003-2012)
 
THIS IS AN ARCHIVAL DISCUSSION BOARD (2003-2012)
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEW BOARD
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEW BOARD

Asian films raise Cannes temperatures 5.23.04

 
   www.tonyleung.info Forum Index -> Tony Leung Articles
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
news



Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 1772
Location: U.S.

PostPosted: Sun May 23, 2004 9:17 am    Post subject: Asian films raise Cannes temperatures 5.23.04

Sunday, May 23, 2004 .
Feature: Cannes Film Festival

http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/featureitems/s1114057.htm

Asian films raise Cannes temperatures
Michael Moore's controversial film Fahrenheit 9/11 may have won the Palme d'Or but Asian cinema is the real Cannes winner.

Asian cinema may have missed the jackpot, the Palme d'Or, but was still a winner of the 2004 Cannes film festival, taking home honours and basking consistently in the limelight during the 12-day bonanza.

When it came down to the wire, politics nudged art off centre-stage, giving Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 top prize over the film all the critics were talking about - 2046 by cult Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai.

But Asians walked home with Best Actress, Best Actor, the runner-up Grand Prize and a shared special award for Thailand's first-ever bid at the Palme.

With Quentin Kill Bill Tarantino, the US director entranced by Asian film, heading this year's Cannes jury, it was hardly a surprise that movies from the East stole centre-stage from movies from the West at the Riviera festival.

Films by established auteur darlings, such as US team Joel and Ethan Coen or Serbia's Emir Kusturica, went home empty-handed.

Brazil's Walter Salles, another hot tip for his road-movie on Ernesto 'Che Guevara, failed to win a mention.

But then, neither commercially-driven Hollywood nor artsy Europe appear to be producing as much novel and varied cinematic work as Asia nowadays.


International acclaim
After almost missing its deadline for screening at Cannes, 2046 took Cannes by storm.

It was the most-liked movie by a worldwide panel of critics listed in the film industry magazine Screen International.


The same panel was cool about Thailand's debut Cannes film, Tropical Malady by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, though the jury, along with a few French critics, were over the moon over the two-part avant-garde tale featuring gay romance and a walk through the night jungle on the tracks of a mythical tiger.

"My film is so personal I'm not sure how well it will travel," Apichatpong said.

"But I hope this will encourage other Thai filmmakers."


Actors downstage
On the acting front too, performers from Asia hogged the screen.

Maggie Cheung gave an emotionally-strong performance as a junkie pop-star mother in Clean directed by her French ex-husband and was rewarded with a Best Actress prize.

"He is the director who understands me the most," she said. "Because you know we were very close."

The 39-year-old Chinese actress, who has starred in several films by Wong Kar-wai, notably in the 2000 movie In The Mood For Love, made a name in the West in 1992 in New China WomanM.

She recently starred in Hero, Zhang Yimou's mega-martial arts production starring Jet Li.

Also in the limelight at Cannes was China's Zhang Ziyi, the former Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star listed as one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful women in 2002.

She was breath-taking both as a blind warrior in the out-of-competition House of Flying Daggers and as one of the four women in 2046.

The much talked-about Flying Daggers is Chinese auteur Zhang Yimou's second foray into the popular epic martial arts after Hero of 2002.

Also at Cannes and also liked was Johnnie To's action movie Breaking News.

Asian film, which is grabbing an ever-growing share of Cannes, this year accounted for six of the 18 films competing to win the coveted Palme d'Or trophy.


North Asia boom
Japan and South Korea each had two movies in competition for the prize, and each scored prizes, bolstering hopes for their buoyant local industries.

South Korea is one of the few countries outside the United States where domestic productions outnumber foreign films in box-office takings.

Old Boy by director Park Chan-wook, the Cannes runner-up that won the Grand Prize, has been one of the country's biggest hits.

The ultra-savage flick - which includes the main character slicing his tongue off and eating a live octopus - is about a man who is incarcerated and tortured in a hotel room but does not know why.

It kept critics on the edge of their seats with its twisted narrative and graphic violence.

Tarantino especially was reported to have loved it.

Japanese films too dazzled.

A quiet human drama about four small children deserted by their mother and left to fend for themselves - Nobody Knows by Hirokazu Koreeda - was listed as one of the favourites at the end of the fest and its teenage star Yagira Yuuya was named Best Actor.

"It was the fruit of a whole year of work with these children," Koreeda said on accepting the award on behalf of the boy.

Virtually invisible on the screens this year was Bollywood, but India turned out in force to sell its increasingly popular movies and growing festival scene.

-- AFP
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
   www.tonyleung.info Forum Index -> Tony Leung Articles All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group