Films & Schedules - Asian

“The Rape of Nanking” by Japanese soldiers remains one of China's darkest historical chapters. This luminous black-and-white film uses several small stories to illustrate the bigger picture: man's incredible inhumanity to man.

The atrocities committed by the Japanese army during its occupation of Nanking in December 1937—more than 300,000 were massacred, sexual assault was pandemic, and the city was virtually decimated—remain some of the most harrowing chapters of war in the 20th century. Lu Chuan’s vivid recreation of the “Rape of Nanking” tells the story of a small group of Westerners and Chinese engaged in anguished negotiations with the Japanese to limit the suffering of the civilian population. A series of key vignettes—a young Chinese soldier leads a doomed resistance group; a confused and anguished Japanese private is overwhelmed by the insanity; John Rabe, a German businessman, establishes a safety zone in an attempt to protect the lives of countless Chinese; and the harried secretary of a Nazi official betrays his charges to try and save his family—told with Lu’s burning, black-and-white images, bespeak man’s amazing inhumanity to man.

Filmography: Missing Gun (01), Kekexili Mountain Patrol (04).

135 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Asian, History.

The life and career of opera star Mei Lenfeng is the subject of Chen Kaige's opulent period drama which traces Mei from childhood through his career-threatening refusal to perform during the occupation.

Chen Kaige’s opulent period drama tells the story of Mei Lanfang (1894–1961), a Peking opera singer of such virtuosity that his fame spread worldwide and his admirers included Charlie Chaplin and Sergei Eisenstein, who filmed him. Descended from an acting family, Mei was so popular he soon became a rival to veteran actor Swallow 13, and the two faced off in a musical “duel” from which Mei emerged the victor. His fame spread and in the late 1920s he even performed on Broadway. But when disaster struck with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Mei’s refusal to sing in public under the occupation proved career threatening. Neatly conveying the fragile social position of opera performers of the early part of the last century, when they were regarded as little better than prostitutes, Chen offers an engaging portrait of Mei’s amazing talent.

Selected Filmography: King of the Children (87), Farewell My Concubine (93), Temptress Moon (96), The Promise (05).

Sponsored by Hotel deLuxe.

147 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Asian, History.

Set in the 1930s Manchurian desert, three Korean men—a bounty hunter, a gang leader, and a train robber—meet aboard a train and engage in a chase across Manchuria to take possession of a mysterious map.

“One might call director Kim Ji-woon’s stunning homage to Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone a kimchi Western. The film boasts masterful high-speed action like you’ve never seen before: think Stagecoach meets high-wire Jackie Chan meets The Road Warrior. Tongue firmly in cheek, this action-comedy is set on the Japanese-occupied Manchurian steppe in the 1930s as a bizarre trio of Korean exiles—The Good (a sharp-shooting bounty hunter in a duster), The Bad (a wickedly handsome knife-throwing gang leader) and The Weird (a two-fisted gun-slinging thief)—get their hands on a treasure map and then set off in hot pursuit of buried Qing dynasty loot. Kim’s exhilarating, escalating mayhem pits our three antiheroes against fast-moving trains, horses, trucks, motorcycles, Jeeps, explosions, Japanese and Chinese soldiers, and Russian bandits. And, after all that, their final, existential showdown does not disappoint.”—AFI Fest.

Selected Filmography: A Tale of Two Sisters (03), Bittersweet Life (05).

130 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Asian.

Hong Sang-soo's latest wry, comic bulletin from the sex-war centers on a middle-aged man who encounters two married women—and has two very different experiences.

Celebrated art film director Ku Kyung-Nam, invited to a small Korean film festival, runs into old colleague Bu. Invited to dinner, Ku gets drunk, carries on with Bu’s wife, and enrages his friend. A couple of weeks later, Ku meets one of his ex-students, now a famous artist who is surprisingly married to a woman Ku once dated and rejected—a small fact unrevealed to his former student. Ku’s two very different encounters with two very different married women provide a wry, wincing examination of sexual confusion as the oblivious Ku propels himself from one embarrassing situation to another. In true Woody Allen fashion, Sang-soo’s alter-ego offers a comedic take on the pretensions of the world of indy film and filmmakers while deconstructing the paradoxes, ironies, and existential angst of male vanity and insecurity.

Selected Filmography: The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (96), Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (00), Woman Is the Future of Man (04), Woman on the Beach (06).

Sponsored by Oregon Korea Foundation.

126 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Asian, Comedy.

Mother is the story of an over protective mothers’ undying love and devotion for her mentally handicapped son.

“Convinced that her son has been wrongly accused of murder, a widow throws herself body and soul into proving his innocence. After his madcap allegorical monster movie The Host, Bong Joon-ho returns with an even more startling genre film. Mother begins as a cartoonish, almost slapstick comedy about a village idiot and his insanely doting, long-widowed parent. Midway through, the movie takes a serious turn as the 27-year-old child is railroaded into prison for the murder of a local school girl; then, in its last third, Mother unexpectedly spirals into a chilling psychological drama, as its unstoppable, devoted maternal protector appoints herself the case’s chief investigator and mutates into a cosmic force of nature, giving perhaps the performance of the year.”—New York Film Festival.

Filmography: Barking Dogs Never Bite (01), Memories of Murder (03), The Host (06).

This year’s South Korean submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Sponsored by Oregon Korea Foundation.

129 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Asian.

Set during the Qing Dynasty, The Warlords tells the story of the rise of General Pang, whose ascent is aided by two bandits who become his blood brothers. Almost inevitably, power breeds greed and hubris, and the brotherhood collapses in a spiral of resentment and betrayal.

“With a cast of thousands, spectacular battle scenes, Shakespearean-style rumination on the corrupting influence of power, and a story of love and loyalty played with dramatic intensity and martial arts fury, The Warlords reigns as the Asian super-production for the new millennium. All revolves around the tragic fate of General Pang (Jet Li), whose noble intention to bring peace and stability to late 19th-century Qing Dynasty China turns into vaunted ambition for personal power and glory. Pang is joined by two bandits who become his sworn blood brothers. Zhao (Andy Lau) and Jiang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) help Pang rise to power, carrying out impossible campaigns for the Qing court, defeating Taiping rebels, and conquering cities. Along the way, Pang becomes attracted to Zhao’s wife (Xu Jinglei), and massacres prisoners whom Zhao had promised to protect. Soon, the brotherhood collapses in a spiral of betrayal and death.”—San Francisco Film Festival.

Filmography: He’s a Woman She’s a Man (94), Comrades: Almost a Love Story (96), Perhaps Love (06).

126 Minutes    

Interests: Asian.

This coming-of-age story follows a young Eurasian woman in Taipei as she transitions from high-school athlete to aspiring actress.

“Cheng Yu-Chieh has made a vibrantly alive coming-of-age story, combining contemporary energy with a French New Wave vibe. Young Eurasian high schooler Yang Yang is played by Taiwan’s most popular young indie movie muse Sandrine Pinna, whose half-Taiwanese, half-French looks are integrated into the film’s heart. Yang Yang’s best friend, her half sister Xiao-ru, is a rival both on the track and in their love lives. When Xiao-ru’s boyfriend falls for Yang Yang, jealousies explode in an act of shocking betrayal, changing Yang Yang’s life forever. A friendly manager Ming-ren takes her under his wing and her career as a model/actress takes off, thanks to her mixed ancestry and his tender care and training. Visually and thematically, Yang Yang precisely articulates, via sex, scandal, and heartbreak, that shaky, unstable, exhilarating moment between adolescence and adulthood.”—Vancouver Film Festival.

Filmography: Do Over (06).

112 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, French Language, Asian.