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
Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai moves back and forth in time as he reexamines and amplifies the themes from his film In the Mood for Love in this offbeat romantic drama. Opening in the year 2046, in which a man named Tak (Takuya Kimura) attempts to persuades wjw 1967 (Faye Wong) to travel back in time with him, the film soon shifts to the year 1966, in which Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a struggling author, asks the woman he loves, Su Lizhen (Gong Li) to sail with him from Singapore to Hong Kong on Christmas Eve. She declines, and over the next three years, we return to Chow Mo-wan on December 24 as he finds himself with another woman each year -- lighthearted Lulu (Carina Lau) in 1967, eccentric hotel heiress Wang Jingwen (Faye Wong) in 1968, and Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi), a high-class prostitute, in 1969. In time, Chow Mo-wan and Wang Jingwen become reacquainted, and a love affair blooms, but the fates are not on their side. 2046 had its world premiere at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. A re-edited version featuring an additional 4 minutes of footage, but minus sequences by martial arts coordinator Tung Wai) premiered in late 2004. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Gong Li, (more)
- 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
- 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
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)
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 Jacky 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.
In the years following Ashes of Time's initial theatrical release, the original negatives were lost and multiple versions of the film began to crop up all across the globe. As a result, director Wong Kar-wai longed to compile these various versions into a restored, remastered, and definitive final cut. With Ashes of Time Redux, the director restructures the film according to seasons, effectively clarifying the central narratives, and digitally colorizes the film to render cinematographer Christopher Doyle's masterful imagery all the more lavish and intoxicatingly gorgeous. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In the years following Ashes of Time's initial theatrical release, the original negatives were lost and multiple versions of the film began to crop up all across the globe. As a result, director Wong Kar-wai longed to compile these various versions into a restored, remastered, and definitive final cut. With Ashes of Time Redux, the director restructures the film according to seasons, effectively clarifying the central narratives, and digitally colorizes the film to render cinematographer Christopher Doyle's masterful imagery all the more lavish and intoxicatingly gorgeous. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, (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)
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)
- 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)
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)
- 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
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)
- 2008
- NR
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A self-destructive housewife takes what may be her final step into the abyss in this independent psychological drama. Nancy Stockwell (Maria Bello) is a woman edging into her forties who has fallen into a deep and prolonged state of depression, finding her only solace in self-inflicted pain. Nancy has grown weary of her relationship with her husband, Albert (Rufus Sewell), and one day he comes home from work to find a note in which Nancy says she's decided to visit an old friend for a few days. When Nancy doesn't call after several days, Albert begins to worry that something is wrong, and he soon learns that Nancy hasn't told him the truth. Nancy has struck up an on-line relationship with Louis Farley (Jason Patric), who has a passion for violent sex, and she has decided to meet with him in person, but she has more in mind than just a fling -- she believes that Louis is the man who can end her misery by killing her. Also featuring Amy Brenneman as Nancy's analyst, Downloading Nancy was the first English-language feature from Swedish filmmaker Johan Renck. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Bello, Jason Patric, (more)
- 2004
What first began as a short-form study in terror now expands to a full-fledged, feature-length fright fest as director Fruit Chan explores the high price that people are willing to pay for youth and beauty. Originally one third of the horror anthology Three...Extremes, Dumplings tells the tale of a traditional Chinese dish infused with a disturbing, but rejuvenating twist. Mrs. Lee is a retired television star whose once-glamorous visage is slowly succumbing to the degenerative effects of time. Her career has ended and her husband is beginning to wander astray. Upon learning that a mysterious chef known as Aunt Mei (Bai Ling) has a secret recipe for dumplings that is rumored to turn back the clock and restore one's youthful appearance, the desperate former starlet contacts the cook in order to arrange a tasting. But these aren't your typical dumplings. In order to achieve the powerful effects that her clients demand, Aunt Mei has substituted the traditional pork for the meat of aborted fetuses. Impatient that the unique form of rejuvenation isn't working as fast as she had hoped, Mrs. Lee soon begins seeking out an even more potent recipe. Though the new and improved recipe does indeed give Mrs. Lee the results she has been longing for, an unexpected complication soon leads to some decidedly unusual side effects, and it's not long before Mrs. Lee's curious husband appears in the kitchen of the alluring Aunt Mei looking for answers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Yeung, Bai Ling, (more)
Three of the world's most gifted filmmakers offer their own unique perspectives on love and lust in this omnibus film. The initial episode, "The Hand," was directed by Wong Kar-Wai, and tells the story of Zhang (Chang Chen), a young, virginal dressmaker's assistant who finds it difficult to control his desire when he is sent to the home of Hua (Gong Li), a beautiful and refined prostitute, for a fitting. Steven Soderbergh directed the film's second story, "Equilibrium," in which Nick Penrose (Robert Downey Jr.) spends a session with his analyst (Alan Arkin) discussing a recurring dream of a beautiful naked woman in his apartment, but he keeps wandering off on tangents about alarm clocks and hair loss. Finally, Italian virtuoso Michelangelo Antonioni brings his short story The Dangerous Thread of Things to the screen, a story of a jaded couple, Christopher (Christopher Buchholz) and Chloë (Regina Nemni), whose relationship comes to a crossroads when both husband and wife become infatuated with the same woman, Linda (Luisa Ranieri). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gong Li, Chang Chen, (more)
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)
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)
Hero is two-time Academy Award nominee Zhang Yimou's directorial attempt at exploring the concept of a Chinese hero. During the peak of their Warring States period, China was divided into seven kingdoms all fighting for supremacy. Most determined to dominate China was the kingdom of Qin, whose king (Chen Daoming) was wholly obsessed with becoming the first emperor of China. Though he was an assassination target for many, none of his would-be killers inspired as much fear as the legendary assassins Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung), and Sky (Donnie Yen). In hopes of thwarting his death, the king has promised endless wealth and power to anyone who defeats his would-be murderers. No results come until ten years later, when a man called Nameless (Jet Li) brings the weapons of the three assassins to the Qin king's palace. Nameless claims to be an expert swordsman who had defeated Sky and destroyed the famed duo of Flying Snow and Broken Sword by using their love for one another against them. Once Nameless comes face to face with the king, however, it looks as if the situation is more complicated than he had thought. Also featured in Hero is actress Zhang Ziyi (The Road Home, Crouching Tiger, Hiden Dragon) as Broken Sword's devoted servant, Moon. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, (more)
For his first film since the 1997 Hong Kong handover, auteur filmmaker Wong Kar-wai directs this moody period drama about unrequited love that, like his earlier work, swoons with romantic melancholy. Set in a Shanghaiese enclave in Hong Kong in 1962, the film centers on two young couples who rent adjacent rooms in a cramped and crowded tenement. Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) works as a secretary in an export company while her husband's job at a Japanese multinational keeps him away on extended business trips. Across the hall, Chow (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) works as a newspaper editor and is married to a woman who is also frequently out of town. Neither respective spouse is ever shown in full, instead they are shot from the back or obscured by walls and furniture. Li-zhen and Chow soon strike up a cordial -- if tenative -- friendship. Chow begins to suspect that his wife's long absences are not entirely business related when he stops in unannounced at her office to discover that she is not there. Later, a colleague tells him that he saw his wife with another man. The icing on the cake comes when Chow notices that Li-zhen's handbag is identical to his wife's while Li-zhen discovers that Chow is wearing a tie that she gave her husband; it doesn't take long for them to realize that their spouses are sleeping together. Drawn together by shame and anger, Chow and Li-zhen reveal nothing of their discoveries to their partners. While working through their guilt by imagining how their adulterous spouses first hooked up and rehearsing interrogations, the pair slowly fall in love in spite of their determination to uphold their end of their marital vows. In the Mood for Love, which was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, barely made it to the fest's final slot; Wong Kar-wai was reportedly shooting scenes in Cambodia a week prior to the festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, (more)
As Infernal Affairs opens, Ming (Andy Lau of Full-time Killer) is being initiated into the criminal underworld by triad boss Sam (Eric Tsang of The Accidental Spy), who ends his speech to his young charges by wishing them success in the police department. Ming enters the police academy, where he excels, but sees his classmate, Yan (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai of In the Mood for Love), expelled for "breaking the rules." It turns out that Yan wasn't actually drummed out of the force, but recruited by Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong of Hard-Boiled) as an undercover operative. Just as Ming is achieving success in the police department while secretly working for Sam, Ming is gaining Sam's trust as a triad member, while reporting to Wong. Ten years later, both men, still undercover, have grown confused about their true identities, while their bosses, Sam and Wong, wage a battle of wits against each other. Each boss learns that the other has a mole working for him, and unwittingly entrusts the mole himself to ferret out the culprit. Ming and Yan scramble to expose one another's identity in an effort to save their own skins. Infernal Affairs was co-directed by Andrew Lau (who worked as a cinematographer on several of Wong Kar-Wai's films) and Alan Mak. Renowned cinematographer Christopher Doyle served as "Visual Consultant." The film was shown at New Directors/New Films in 2003. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Andy Lau, (more)
- 2005
A hit man takes a vacation and finds both danger and faulty workmanship follow him wherever he goes in this offbeat comedy from Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Kyoji (Asano Tadanobu) is a hired killer based in Macau who works for Japanese crime boss Wiwat (Toon Hiranyasup). Kyoji poses as a chef to maintain his cover, and he gets to put both skills to use when Wiwat asks him to kill his wife Seiko (Tomono Kuga) with a poisoned meal, not a difficult thing to arrange since Kyoji has been having an affair with her for several months. After dispatching Seiko, Wiwat thinks Kyoji could use a little R&R, and sends him on a cruise to Phuket. However, Kyoji discovers he's been given a cut-rate stateroom in which anything that can go wrong does on a regular basis. However, this turns out to be the least of his troubled when he discovers he's being trailed by two mysterious figures -- an attractive single mother who may or may not be flirting with him (Gang Hye Jung) and a large man in a Hawaiian shirt (Mitsuishi Ken) whose motives are difficult to ascertain. Invisible Waves received its North American premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tadanobu Asano, Gang Hye-jeong, (more)
M. Night Shyamalan writes and directs this self-proclaimed, grown-up "bedtime story" about an apartment building superintendent named Cleveland (Paul Giamatti) who discovers a magical sea-nymph named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) who's been transported to this world and is living in the building's own swimming pool. As this bizarre revelation sinks in, Cleveland becomes enraptured by her other-worldly charm. As he shelters her in his apartment, other inhabitants of the building begin falling into place as representations of characters from an Eastern myth in which these mermaids, or "narfs," co-exist unhappily with more beastly and violent characters. In human reality, the forces of darkness that threaten the heroes of a fairy tale prove to be much more terrifying, and the victory of good over evil is by no means guaranteed. Jeffery Wright, Jared Harris and Mary Beth Hurt co-star, as well as Shyamalan himself, playing the visionary writer Vick. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, (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)
A story of two very different people coming together in the wake of personal tragedies, Last Life in the Universe stars Tadanobu Asano as Kenji, a quiet, bespectacled Japanese librarian living in Bangkok. Obsessed with suicide, he meticulously stages ways to kill himself, only to be interrupted every time. One night, his more raucous brother shows up for an unexpected visit, accompanied by a yakuza gangster. A gunfight breaks out, leaving both visitors dead. Kenji ventures out into the night and happens upon Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak), a feisty bargirl whose sister has just died in an accident following a fight over their shared boyfriend. Kenji accompanies Noi to her sprawling, dilapidated house in the country, where a relationship develops despite their language barrier and clashing personalities, until another twist of fate threatens to tear them apart. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tadanobu Asano, Sinitta Boonyasak, (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)
- 2003
Jiang Wen, Zhao Wei, and Fang Lijun headline this romantic urban love story about a female professor who believes she can read her romantic future in a simple cup of tea. Wu is a successful college professor who could take her pick of handsome suitors, yet she cautiously abides by Lang Lang's advice to "Predict your love with a cup of tea." Smooth operator Chen thinks Wu's method of choosing a romantic partner is hopelessly absurd, but does her really know everything about women as he so arrogantly claims? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
