At MoMA: THE LAST COMMUNIST
At CAC: A GOOD LAWYER'S WIFE
At The Avalon: ISABELLA
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Asian
CineVision is proud to kick off the fall/winter line-up of the Asian Cinevisions monthly film series at the Museum of Modern Art, with films from Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Special discount for ACV members! Show valid membership card and pay only $6 for admission to the screenings.
THE LAST COMMUNIST
Directed by Amir Muhammad
Malaysia | 2005 | 90 min | Color | In Malay, Tamil, Mandarin with English subtitles
Director Amir Muhammad opted for the unconventional in making this documentary about Chin Peng, a man who played an active role in the Malaysian Communist Party when he was young and led the resistance against the Japanese and British later in life. It so happens that Chin Peng himself is not even in the film. While he is spending his last years in exile, Muhammad is traversing Malaysia in search of the places where the Communist leader used to live or be in hiding. Short texts inform us about his feats, but the real question is whether the memory of him is still alive. Initially, the people Muhammad interviews prefer to discuss their own activities. Still, the bright pink lotus cakes at the market appear to tell a story about a resistance hero, and someone leads us into an underground tunnel to show us the graffiti that the guerrillas used to kill time painting. As a surprising bonus, Muhammad, who also makes fiction and experimental work, inserts snazzy fragments from musicals now and then, an ironic homage to the British propaganda films from those days. Gradually, past and present approach one another in a cross section of Malaysia. But tongues are wagging in neighbouring Thailand, where a large number of banished communists still live. -- International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2005
Visit the official website here. Read the New York Times article on the controversy here (you have to subsribe to Times Select to access it).
WHEN: Friday, December 8, 8.30PM; Saturday, December 9, 4PM
WHERE: Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street.
NY, NY 10019
T: 212-708-9400
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A GOOD LAWYER'S WIFE
Directed by Im Sang-Soo
Cast: Moon So-Ri, Kim In-mun, Hwang Jeong-Min, Yun Yeo-Jong
South Korea | 2003 | 104 min | Color | In Korean with English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Hyun-Ock Im, teacher, writer, and curator, as well as Consultant & Chief Editor for the Pusan Film Festival
Intense, erotic, and emotionally searing, this brilliantly acted study of infidelity and family crisis confirms Im Sang-soo (The President’s Last Bang) as a major filmmaking talent. An unsparing examination of a marriage in crisis, Im’s film is sexually bold and emotionally vivid, driven by brave performances and an improvisational energy. Ho-jeong (Moon So-ri) is the beautiful wife of busy lawyer Young-jak (Hwang Jung-min). Their marriage is functional but unsatisfying, and the two have turned to other partners for sexual satisfaction—Young-jak cavorts with a young model, which leads Ho-jeong to seduce the teenaged boy next door. Dealing with their own infidelities—as well as problems plaguing Young-jak’s parents—the married couple suddenly finds their duplicitous world shattered by a family tragedy, and they must decide where their relationship stands. Beautifully shot in widescreen by cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung, A Good Lawyer’s Wife is a courageous study of marital turmoil that is ultimately cathartic and healing in its masterful observations on love. – Travis Crawford
When: Wednesday, Dec 13, 7.30pm (One night only!)
Where: Cinema Arts Centre
425 Park Avenue
Long Island, NY
Tel: 631-423-7611
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ISABELLA
Director: Pang Ho-cheung
Screenplay by: Pang Ho-cheung, Kearen Pang, Derek Tsang, Jimmy Wan
Music by: Peter Kam
Hong Kong | 2006 | Color | 109min | 35mm | In Cantonese with English subtitles
Cast: Chapman To, Isabella Leong, J.J. Jia, Derek Tsang
Macau. 1999. The days of being wild are over for the Portuguese colony. With the Chinese soon marching in, bad cop Shing feels even more heat as he faces charges for collaborating with the triad in smuggling cigarettes. A consummate playboy, he's in no mood for love... Until one creeps into his door. Problem is, she's not even 18, and she might well be his daughter! Pang Ho-cheung is catapulted into the major league internationally with this film, his most artistically daring work yet, with a star-making turn from Isabella Leong. Pang's signature wit in dialogue is coupled with new stylistic flourishes such as playful eliptics, an ambience of hot sweatiness and amusing cameos, especially from the riotous Anthony Wong. The recurring motifs of food and broken Carlsberg bottles add immeasurable depth to this aching reverie for the past that nevertheless holds out for a better future. - Hong Kong International Film Festival 2006
(Winner of 2006 Silver Berlin Bear for Best Film Music. Official selection: Berlin Film Festival 2006; Hong Kong International Film Festival 2006)
Go to the official website here.
When: Wednesday, Dec 13, 8pm (One night only!)
Where: The Avalon Theatre
5612 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20015
Tel: 202.966.6000
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