Christopher Doyle Movies
A hard-drinking Australian seems an unlikely figure to be one of the most important and influential cinematographers in Asian cinema, but that is exactly what Christopher Doyle is. His richly atmospheric, improvisational style has worked its way into the lexicon of both music videos and mainstream Hollywood fare. Moreover, his photo-collage artwork and his bizarre, often drunken public antics have made him a sort of cult celebrity in much of Asia.Born in 1952 in Sydney, Doyle fled the banality of the suburbs to spend much of his early life on the road. At various points in his life he was a well digger in India, a Norwegian merchant marine, a cow herder on an Israeli kibbutz, and a doctor of Chinese medicine in Thailand. In the late '70s, Doyle was rechristened Du Kefeng by his professor at the University of Hong Kong, and his life has not been the same since. Soon afterward, he moved to Taiwan and fell in with the Taipei art crowd, including such future members of the cultural elite as Hou Hsiao Hsien and Stan Lai. In 1978, he was one of the founding members of the Lanling Theatre Workshop, the first modern theater company in Taiwan; he also created a landmark television series, Travelling Images. Yet Doyle's first breakthrough occurred in 1981, when Edward Yang asked him to shoot his feature debut That Day on the Beach over the angry protests of the studio's 23 salaried cameramen. Fearful that Taiwan's relatively modest film industry might stunt his career, he again hit the road and got a gig shooting Claire Devers' Noir et Blanc (1986) in France, only to discover that his heart still belonged to Asia. That same year, he returned to Hong Kong and shot Shu Kei's second feature, Soul, a pastiche of John Cassavete's Gloria (1980) starring noted Taiwanese directors Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Ke Yizhong. Though the reviews for the film itself were mixed, people noticed Doyle's unique camera work and he soon found regular work in the Hong Kong film industry.
Doyle's true artistic and commercial breakthrough occurred with his first collaboration with auteur Wong Kar-Wai in Days of Being Wild (1991). Doyle's loose, ambient style seemed to match perfectly with Wong's melancholy, largely improvised script; the two quickly formed a lasting professional relationship that would prove to be extremely beneficial to both of them. Wong films such as Ashes of Time soon became synonymous with Doyle's ethereal look, while Wong's loose and woolly directorial approach allowed Doyle to experiment and perfect his trademark style. Though he worked with such noted Hong Kong directors as Sylvia Chang in Mary From Beijing (1992) and Stanley Kwan in his Red Rose White Rose (1994), he gained international attention with his groundbreaking cinematography in Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express (1994). Featuring a lush, saturated color palette and dazzling camera work, Doyle's atmospheric look made the film crackle with a rare vitality. After shooting Chungking Express' quasi-sequel Fallen Angel, Doyle adopted a more restrained look for fifth-generation filmmaker Chen Kaige in Temptress Moon (1996). After teaming up with Wong Kar-Wai again for Happy Together (1997), featuring sumptuous black and white cinematography that seems to swoon with melancholy, Doyle began to get gigs on the other side of the Pacific. His cinematography was one of the few bright spots in Gus Van Sant's Psycho (1998), and he also shot Barry Levinson's return to Baltimore, Liberty Heights (1999). During that same time, he made his directing debut with Away With Words (1999). Co-scripted by film critic Tony Rayns and starring Japanese indie star Tadanobu Asano, the film received divergent reviews when it was screened at Cannes. Some attacked it for being self-indulgent while others hailed it as extraordinary. Doyle kicked off the new decade in high style earning international acclaim for his work on Wong-Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love. He then changed gears by shooting the low budget Jon Favroau feature Made. He continued to act as cinematographer on a series of internationally well-received films such as Hero, Rabbit Proof Fence, Eros, The Quiet American, and Three…Extremes. He collaborated again with Won-Kar Wai on 2046, and although the film itself failed to match the acclaim of In the Mood for Love, critics universally marveled over Doyle's cinematography. In 2006 he joined forces with M. Night Shyamalan on his 2006 effort Lady in the Water. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Two estranged friends reunite and end up reminiscing, dreaming, and sharing their deepest secrets in this Taiwanese drama. One of the friends is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour. The other is a divorcee who has just started a new business. The two haven't seen each other for over 13 years. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Chang, Terry Hu, (more)
- 1986
A white accountant finds himself irresistibly drawn into a sadomasochistic relationship with his black masseur in this distinguished film debut from French filmmaker Claire Devers. The story contains little dialog and is filmed in black and white. The accountant is a quiet married man who has been hired to work on the books of a local health club. He is not interested in extramarital sex, only his work. Later his boss suggest he try a massage at the club. A cautious man, the accountant is at first bashful as the enormous masseur begins working on his tense muscles. Soon he finds himself hooked on these evening sessions that become increasingly violent (but not sexual) as time passes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Frappat, Jacques Martial, (more)
- 1986
A wife becomes a widow when her policeman husband commits suicide by jumping off the roof of his building at work. Shocked at his death, she is further surprised to discover he had a mistress and a four-year-old son in Taiwan. After an attempt on the widow's life, the mistress is murdered, leaving the young boy in the care of the late man's wife. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanie Ip, Elaine Jin, (more)
- 1987
Hong Kong director Patrick Tam's Cantonese-language saga My Heart is That Eternal Rose explores the social dynamics and tumultuous life-changes that unfold between two young men who are fast friends - Cheung (Tony Leung) and Rick (Kenny Bee) - and the sexy young woman caught between them, Lap (Joey Wang). Rick and Lap became romantically involved years prior, when Rick worked at a bar owned by Lap's triad-connected gangster father. In time, for political reasons, it became necessary for Lap to put herself on the table as the mistress of Godfather Shen, and Lap inevitably drifted away from Rick while immersing herself in Shen's world. Lap then fell in love with someone else: Cheung, who worked as her driver. Six years pass, during which Rick establishes himself as a hired killer and temporarily loses touch with Lap. The lovers re-encounter one another, and fall back into love, prompting Lap to decide that she wants to leave Godfather Shen; Shen, however, won't let her - which sparks a bloody, tumultuous confrontation between the trio of friends-cum-lovers and Shen's minions. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joey Wong, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, (more)
Following up on his debut As Tears Go By, master filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directs this dark, brooding tale about identity and unrequited love. Set in 1960, the film center of the young, boyishly handsome Yuddy (Leslie Cheung), who learns from the drunken ex-prostitute who raised him that she is not his real mother. Hoping to hold onto him, she refuses to divulge the name of his real birth mother. The revelation shakes Yuddy to his very core, unleashing a cascade of conflicting emotions. Two women have the bad luck to fall for Yuddy. One is a quiet lass who works at a sport arena named Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung), while the other is a glitzy showgirl named Mimi (Carina Lau). Perhaps due to his unresolved Oedipal issues, he passively lets the two compete for him, unable or unwilling to make a choice. As Lizhen slowly confides her frustration to a cop named Tide (Andy Lau), he falls for her. The same is true for Yuddy's friend Zeb (Jacky Cheung), who falls for Mimi. Later, Yuddy learns of his birth mother's whereabouts and heads out to the Philippines. This film won a armful of trophies at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Director, Best Actor for Leslie Cheung, and Best Picture. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, (more)
- 1992
Sylvia Chang Ai-chia directs this affable romantic comedy about anxieties over Hong Kong's impending handover to Mainland China and the cultural differences between the two countries. Ma-lei (Gong Li), who was born in Hong Kong but raised in Beijing, is having a dickens of a time trying to convince immigrations officials that her birthplace should get her a visa to live and work in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, her well-to-do workaholic boyfriend Peter (Wilson Lam Chun-yip) is worried that his stodgy father will not approve of Ma Lei. While this is unfolding, bumptious toilet paper salesman Wong Kwok-wai (Kenny Bee) is suffering through a divorce for deciding to leave England, where he's lived for quite a while, and return to Hong Kong to open a factory. When Wong and Ma-lei meet, romantic sparks soon start to fly. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1992
It is 1949, in Singapore, and two acting troupes are rehearsing their forthcoming performances on the same stage. In this comic tour-de-force, scenes from one show are rehearsed and then scenes from another, and the two entirely different plays become intermingled in a hilarious fashion. The first play is a tragic melodrama about two star-crossed lovers. The second is based on an old Chinese classic comedy, called "The Peach Blossom Land," about a cuckolded husband who is magically transported to a beautiful otherworldly paradise, populated exclusively by men who look like his wife's lover, and women who look like his wife. Further compounding the confusion, a crazy woman wanders into the theater looking for someone no one there knows, whom she calls Liu Zi-ji, who may or may not exist and may or may not be missing. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1994
In this sensitive Asian melodrama chronicles the two major loves in the life of a man who cannot change. The story is divided into two parts; each part focused upon one woman. The story begins in Shanghai during the early 1930's and follows the loves of Chen-pao. His early love life abroad is chronicled in the opening scenes. The real story begins as Chen-pao returns to Shanghai and stay at their friend Wang's apartment. Chen-pao meets Wang's moody, selfish wife Chiao-jui. The two begin a passionate affair. Chen-pao nicknames her "Red Rose." Chen-pao, who always likes to be in control, is tormented by his love affair. Red Rose rejoices in it. Soon she asks Wang for a divorce. This sends Chen-pao over the edge. He vows to start anew. Time passes. In the second half, Chen-pao is a businessman who woos and marries Yen-li, his "White Rose." She is from a peasant background and very young. She endeavors to be the perfect wife. More time passes. It is 1943 and Chen-pao is back to his old ways. This drives Yen-li to a breakdown. After she recovers, she too has an affair. Chen-pao encounters Red Rose on the street as the movie ends. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Master Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai directed this lyrical, dream-like martial arts epic. A famously troubled shoot, the film took two years and 40 million dollars to produce (a shocking sum for a national cinema populated with low-budget quickies) and features a virtual who's-who of the Hong Kong film world. Conceived as a prequel to the popular martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Hero by Jin Yong, the movie is less a straightforward action thriller than a visually striking meditation on memory and love. It nominally centers on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), who ekes out a lonely existence as an itinerant hired sword. Getting on in years and tormented by memories of a lost love, he also works an agent for other mercenary assassins from his remote desert abode. Ouyang's old friend and fellow swordsman, Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung Kar-fai, who starred in the The Lover) drowns his lovelorn misery in a magical wine that makes him forget. Later, a mysterious young man named Murong Yang (Brigitte Lin) hires Ouyang to kill his sister's unfaithful suitor, Huang Yaoshi. The following day, that spurned sister, Murong Yin (Lin again), hires Ouyang to protect her dearly beloved. Meanwhile, Hong Qi (pop star Jackie Cheung) finds some redemption for a life of killing by accepting a poor girl's offer to avenge her brother's death -- a task that Ouyang brusquely shunned. In another subplot, a master swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is slowly going blind. He agrees to defend a village from horse thieves so that he can afford to go home and see his wife before his eyesight fails completely. This film is one of the most celebrated examples of 1990s Hong Kong cinema: it won multiple awards in its native Hong Kong, along with a Golden Osella for Best Cinematography at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, (more)
A Hong Kong fast food restaurant acts as the link between two unusual stories of police officers in love in this eccentric, stylish comedy-drama. Director Wong Kar-Wai plays freely with traditional narrative structure, dividing his film into two loosely connected segments. The first centers on a depressed cop struggling to come to terms with a recent break-up. His sad isolation is transformed when he encounters a beautiful, mysterious femme fatale, whose involvement with the criminal underworld proves troublesome for both. The second story explores the odd relationship between a female restaurant worker and another recently jilted police officer. The strange woman decides to regularly clean and redecorate the man's apartment in his absence, allowing the two to form a close intimacy without meeting face to face. Both stories present a beautifully atmospheric look at modern urban life and romance, with its combination of isolation and casual, unexpected meetings. Chungking Express came to the attention of American audiences thanks to the efforts of director Quentin Tarantino, whose own brand of fractured storytelling and urban cool owes a debt to Wong Kar-Wai. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, (more)
- 1994
The ancient Asian martial art of vaulting is showcased in this Taiwanese film that intermixes elements of drama, fantasy, and romance. Ahda is training to be a vaulter. He dreams of attaining the heights and spiritual enlightenment of the mythical figures he idolizes. But Ahda must come to earth to help his father who has gotten on the wrong side of jade trading racketeers. Their leader, Miss Sung is deeply involved with the secret of the Red Lotus. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ying Zhaode, Chen Wenming, (more)
- 1995
Two young women find themselves unable to deal with the realities of their contemporary existence and so retreat into the colorful world of a classical Chinese opera from the Ming Dynasty, The Peony Pavilion to find solace in this Taiwanese drama. The film chronicles each woman's story separately. The first story centers on a teen-age virgin in her senior year of high school. Du is a hard worker who is inexorably being forced into the arms of a classmate. Meanwhile her sexuality begins to blossom. Unfortunately, she is not allowed to express this and so begins to fantasize that she is the heroine in the popular opera. In the story the girl is the sheltered daughter of an official who frequently wanders a beautiful garden dreaming of making love to a handsome scholar. Soon Du is totally obsessed with the heroine. She convinces herself that if she kills herself she will finally be able to meet the scholar in the afterlife and so hurls herself from a rooftop. In the second tale, pop singer Liu attempts to cope with her disintegrating career. She also deals with her producer-lover who is quickly drawing away from her. Liu also begins to daydream about the opera. She relates to the scholar and like the girl before her, soon finds herself obsessively becoming the character. Nothing and no one can stop her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Wong Kar-wai's Fallen Angels is a sequel of sorts to the director's 1994 U.S. breakthrough Chungking Express. Expanding on the latter's style, themes, and mood, Fallen Angels is set in the surreal milieu of urban, nighttime Hong Kong. As with the filmmaker's other features, plot takes a back seat to mood. The wisp of a narrative intercuts two story lines. The first follows a hitman (Leon Lai) who finds that the assassin's life has slowly lost its allure. Complicating his life is his beautiful contact (Michele Reis, a former Miss Hong Kong winner) who pines after him with fetishistic ardor, although the two have never met in their nearly three-year partnership. In another part of the city, He (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a mute, boyish ex-convict, makes a living by sneaking into and running businesses after hours. Still living with his father who runs the Chungking Mansions hotel, the restless Ho falls for Cherry (Charlie Yeung), a woman getting over her breakup with the offscreen Johnny. The movie follows these episodic romances almost half-heartedly as with Wong's other films, and digressionary moments attract much of the camera's distracted gaze. This visually stylish and unabashedly effusive work is considered by some critics to be the quintessential Wong film. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, (more)
- 1996
This entry in the British Film Institute-sponsored international centenary celebration of cinema -- in which noted directors presented a film exemplifying their country or region's cinema and its origins -- represents China, or rather one aspect of the country's large body of work as seen through the eyes of Hong Kong filmmaker Stanley Kwan. Kwan uses the film as not only a means to examine the role of homosexuality and transgender issues in the films of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but also to look at the evolving roles of family and cultural attitudes in Chinese society. Kwan begins the film on a personal note by recounting a number of early and innocent encounters with men that led to his fascination and love of them. As a film-buff Kwan was fascinated by the almost exclusively male world of Hong Kong action cinema and by the almost homoerotic (in his opinion) bonds formed by the heroes. To further his theories, Kwan also cites the widespread use of swords, knives and other phallic symbols in the story. From there Kwan moves to films in which women portray men and men portray women (as in Farewell My Concubine), ending the film on a more personal note. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Chen Kaige, the director of the international smash Farewell My Concubine, reunited that film's stars, Gong Li and Leslie Cheung, for this complexly layered, visually spectacular historical epic. Opening in 1911, shortly before the collapse of the Imperial government, Temptress Moon follows the wealthy and powerful Pang Family, whose patriarch is hopelessly addicted to opium, which he calls "the source of all inspiration." Zhengda (Zhou Yemang), Old Master Pang's oldest son, has married a woman named Xiuyi (He Saifei), and her younger brother Zhongliang is brought to live with the Pangs, where he earns his keep as a servant. Zhengda shares his father's dependence on opium, and Zhongliang's responsibilities include minding their pipes; Zhengda also forces Zhongliang to kiss Xiuyi in a shadowy incident that suggests an incestuous relationship. In time, Zhongliang grows to adulthood (now played by Leslie Cheung) and flees the Pang estate; he travels to Shanghai, where he becomes a gigolo, seducing women and stealing their valuables. After Old Master Pang dies and Zhengda's addiction to drugs renders him brain damaged, his sister Ruyi (Gong Li), who had been Zhongliang's playmate in childhood, is proclaimed the head of the household. Knowing of his connection to the Pang Family and long-ago friendship with Ruyi, Zhongliang is ordered by his bosses in the Shanghai underworld to return to the Pang estate, where he is to seduce her, gain control of the family's fortune, and then steal it from her. Like Farewell My Concubine, Temptress Moon proved to be controversial in its native China, due to its frank but unsensational depiction of sex and drug use. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Gong Li, (more)
Hong Kong emigrant Wayne Wang directed and co-wrote (with Paul Theroux, Jean-Claude Carriere and Larry Gross) this story set in "the Pearl of the Orient" as the British government prepared to hand over the city to China in 1997. John (Jeremy Irons) is an English journalist who has lived in the city for some time; while in some ways he still feels like an outsider, he's come to think of Hong Kong as a home and has close friends there. John is also in love with Vivian (Gong Li), a one-time prostitute who now runs a bar owned by her fiancé, Chang (Michael Hui). John is struggling with the realization that he can never have Vivian as his own, when he learns that he has leukemia; the British are to give the reigns of power back to the Chinese in six months, but John's doctors tell him he isn't likely to live long enough to see it happen. He quits his job and begins wandering the streets, recording his observations of the city on videotape when he meets Jean (Maggie Cheung), a young woman who makes her way selling whatever she can scavenge, and who hides a secret behind the scarves that obscure her face. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, (more)
- 1997
Destiny brings two people together, but they aren't sure if they're meant to be friends or lovers in this romantic comedy-drama. In 1986, Xiaojun (Leon Lai) arrives in Hong Kong from mainland China, full of dreams about life in the big city and determined to make enough money to send for his fiancée and marry her. Xiaojun knows no one in Hong Kong except his aunt, but with her help, he finds a room in a cheap hotel and picks up a job peddling a delivery bicycle for a butcher. On his day off, Xiaojun decides to get lunch at a McDonalds, which he's heard about but never seen. Xiaojun is waited on by Chiao (Maggie Cheung), a pretty girl who has also moved to Hong Kong from the mainland to seek her fortune. Chiao is taken with Xiaojun, but thinks he's too much the country bumpkin, especially since he can't speak Cantonese or English. Chiao arranges for Xiaojun to get lessons in English and teaches him about life in Hong Kong and how to get rich quick; she also ropes him into helping with her latest business scheme, using his delivery bike to sell flowers. Xiaojun and Chiao become best friends -- indeed, each is the only real friend the other has in Hong Kong -- and one night, on New Year's Eve, the two find themselves alone together and end up making love. The next morning, both Xiaojun and Chiao are certain they've made a mistake; Xiaojun goes on to marry his sweetheart from home, while Chiao opens a flower shop and becomes involved with a kind man who has ties to organized crime. As the years pass, however, Xiaojun becomes convinced that his mistake wasn't sleeping with Chiao, but letting her go, and eventually he decides he must find her and win her heart. Comrades: Almost a Love Story was a runaway success in Hong Kong, where the film won nine trophies at the 1997 Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1997
In this anthology film, Hong-Kong actress Sandra Ng portrays five different characters in four segments: a hooker who stalks her own therapist; a mute immigrant wife who must continually pacify her brutish husband; a timid invalid whose twin sister is a businesswoman and cross-dresser; and a mundane housewife who uses a TV game-show as a forum to dwell on her personal life. Shown at the 1998 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directs the strange, intimate drama Cheun Gwong Tsa Sit (Happy Together). Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle employed multiple film speeds and different color film stock during the shooting. Ho (Leslie Cheung) and Lai (Tony Leung) are lovers from Hong Kong who have run away to live in Buenas Aires, Argentina. However, Ho is immature and unwilling to settle down, which makes Lai depressed. When they break up, Lai works as a doorman in a tango bar in order to save money and go home. The restless Ho becomes a prostitute. After Ho is beaten and injured in an attack, Lai takes him to his apartment to recover. Ho tries to rekindle the romance, but Lai isn't interested. He leaves the tango bar and works in a kitchen, where he meets the young Chang (Chang Chen) from Taiwan. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, (more)
Room 407 in a Seoul "love hotel" is rented by the night or by the hour. Four sequences take place inside Room 407: a young man awaits his girlfriend so they can celebrate her birthday; a college student plans to complete a video necessary for his filmmaking class, but his female lead is delayed by a TV news crew; and the young woman from the first sequence drunkenly returns to make love with a different man. In the concluding segment, a man phones a former girlfriend and invites her to room 407 -- an encounter that leads to some unpleasant memories. Shown at 1997 film festivals (Vancouver, Sundance). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Mi-Yun, Jin Hee-Kyung, (more)
Independent film director Gus Van Sant attempts a first in American film history: a shot-by-shot remake of the classic 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. With a few minor, modern-day changes (including filming it in color), his version is essentially the same film with a different cast and the same Bernard Hermann music. Psycho was and still is the story of Marion Crane (previously played by Janet Leigh and now by Anne Heche), an adulterous woman who steals a stack of money from her boss and hits the road hoping for financial freedom. Pulling over in an old motel for the night, she meets the creepy owner of the Bates Motel, Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn doing his best Anthony Perkins), who lives with his jealous nagging mother. Most people know the film Psycho for what happens next -- the shower scene, where Marion is brutally stabbed in the most over-analyzed scene in movie history. The money, the car, and Marion's remains are quickly sunk in a nearby swamp. As a detective (William H. Macy) and Marion's sister Lila (Julianne Moore) come looking for her, they begin to uncover the dark mysterious secret lurking in Norman Bates' life. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, (more)
- 1998
- NR
Photographer Chris Doyle, who along with his own still work, has served as a cinematographer for Wong Kar-wai, Chen Kaige, and Edward Yang, makes his directorial debut with Away With Words, a very loosely plotted story that concerns what Doyle has called the two most important things in his life -- women and beer. Asano (Tadanobu Asano) hops off a ship in Hong Kong and makes his way to The Dive Bar, owned by a gay alcoholic named Kevin (Kevin Sherlock). Asano starts knocking back brews with Kevin and two of his friends, Susie (Mavis Xu) and Georgina (Georgina Dobson), and each begins to drift into flashbacks about their childhoods and previous experiences. Away With Words had its world premiere at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened in the Un Certain Regard category, provoking a wildly mixed reaction from critics and audiences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tadanobu Asano, Kevin Sherlock, (more)
Writer/director Barry Levinson returns to his home town of Baltimore, where he previously set three nostalgic features (Diner, Tin Men, and Avalon) for this story of two brothers growing up in the tumultuous days of 1954, as rock 'n' roll, the atom bomb, and the civil rights movement changed the way teenagers looked at the world. One of the brothers has fallen in love with a beautiful girl who, to the chagrin of his family, is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Protestant, while the other has an even bigger shock for his folks: his new girlfriend is black. Joe Mantegna and Bebe Neuwirth play the parents, with Adrien Brody, Vincent Guastaferro, Orlando Jones, David Krumholz, and Kiersten Warren also topping the cast. Tom Waits wrote several original songs for the film, while Andrea Morricone (daughter of Ennio Morricone) wrote the score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrien Brody, Ben Foster, (more)
- 2000
Stand-up comedian Eric Kot directs and stars in this drama about love and artistic originality. Produced by auteur Wong Kar-wai, the film shares both a similar sumptuous look, thanks to Christopher Doyle's brilliant cinematography, and a familiar bifurcated narrative as that of the Hong Kong master. The first half concerns Kot who, after getting the green light from Wong, is trying to direct a film called First Love in which a love-smitten garbage collector (Asian heartthrob and Wong veteran Takeshi Kaneshiro) follows around cute young kleptomaniacal somnambulist (Lee Wai-wai). Realizing that he is too influenced by Wong, he quits that production and starts another film called After Love, in which a spurned girlfriend (Karen Mok) stalks her ex-boyfriend. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Takeshi Kaneshiro, Eric Kot, (more)
