andrew lau Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Quick hits on three titles of interest: As I wrote last November, Meeting Resistance "is not the end-all, be-all of Iraq War documentaries, nor does it pretend to be. Filmmakers Steve Connors and Molly Bingham stay tightly focused on their subjects -- members of the resistance movement in Iraq -- and get them to open up about their motivations. In doing so, they provide an invaluable window into a world that remains unknown to most foreigners." The DVD from First Run Features includes an audio commentary, filmmaker Q&A, biographies, and a photo gallery.

Olivier Meyrou's documentary Beyond Hatred examines the aftermath of the brutal murder of a young gay man by a gang of skinheads. Ed Gonzalez in Slant Magazine felt it "arrives at essential truths about suffering and loss through abstract means." The DVD from First Run Features appears to be a bare-bones edition; no extras are listed at the official site.

I'm waiting for my rental copy of The Flock to arrive in the mail, but I don't have high hopes for this psychological drama, even though it stars Richard Gere and Claire Danes. Hong Kong director Andrew Lau can be hit (Internal Affairs) or miss (Confession of Pain), and the long delay between production (late 2004) and release doesn't bode well. The DVD from The Weinstein Co. has no extras, according to this review by Brian Orndorf at DVD Talk, who felt the movie looked too much like a bad TV show.

The Storm Riders was a riotously silly martial arts fantasy that divided audiences when it was released in 1998 -- either you got with the groove and rocked out to the comic book style writ large or you fled in terror from its extravagant empty exercise in style over substance. Initially I recoiled from its excesses, but a second viewing (only partially influenced by a moderate intake of a certain alcoholic beverage) was much more enjoyable. To get a better idea of the craziness, check out Kozo's review at LoveHKFilm.com.

Directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs), The Storm Riders was a huge hit and a much-needed shot in the arm for the beleaguered post-Handover Hong Kong film industry. Given the industry's proclivity for churning out sequels in rapid succession, it's rather surprising that a direct sequel was not immediately forthcoming, but soon the wait will be over. Screen Daily is reporting that Universe Entertainment has hired Danny and Oxide Pang (The Eye, The Messengers) to helm a sequel.

The original film was based on a comic book series and featured an all-star lineup headlined by Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng. Three months ago, Grady Hendrix of Kaiju Shakedown reported that one of the Pang Brothers was interested in buying the rights to the comic book; his version would be unrelated to Andrew Lau's film but with Chen and Kwok returning as the heroes, Wind and Cloud (cool character names, by the way). Lau reportedly had his own plans for a direct sequel which have not yet come to fruition.

The comic book series has enjoyed a near 20-year run, so there are plenty of stories to go around. An animated feature based on the series and entitled Storm Rider Clash of the Evils is due out next year. We'll have to wait for details to see what live-action story the Pang Brothers will be telling.

The American Film Market (AFM) got underway in Santa Monica, California yesterday with a small flurry of activity. As our own Eric D. Snider explained last month, AFM "is designed to be a place for film makers and film buyers to come together. Movies are sold, and deals are made for production of new films, too." I've attended AFM a couple of times in the past and I'd describe it as a madhouse of controlled chaos, with hotel suites converted into trade show booths and reams of printed material (posters, flyers and postcards) vying for attention.

Even though it's called the American Film Market and many domestic deals are made, the emphasis is really on international territories. For example, here are three deals making news on ScreenDaily.com, the online arm of UK trade publication Screen International: (1) The Weinstein Co. "closes major AFM pre-sales on Richard Kelly's The Box," with deals covering the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea; (2) Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs) "to produce trilogy based on Chinese classic" Water Margin, "with directing duties split between Lau and Johnnie To [Election]"; (3) "Korean distributor Showbox has acquired Andrei Konchalovsky's Nutcracker: The True Story."

But AFM wouldn't be AFM if it didn't offer, shall we say, more mainstream movies alongside the foreign and arthouse flicks. What can one make of indie comedy Heavy Petting, whose plot is described in the online AFM catalogue thusly: "When Charlie meets Daphne he never expects he'll have to battle past her dog to woo her. When Charlie begins to fall in love with the dog, he scrambles to keep the relationship going." Wait a minute: he falls in love with the dog?! The film stars Malin Akerman (The Heartbreak Kid). Is Heavy Petting a hidden gem? Or headed straight to video? (Watch the trailer at the official site and decide for yourself.) Look for more coverage from Cinematical on the wild, wacky and completely essential AFM in the next few days.

Programming a film series or festival inevitably requires a degree of compromise, depending as it does on the oft-indecipherable whims of distributors, producers and sales agents. In recognition of the challenges and frustrations involved, I prefer to give programmers the benefit of the doubt. Yet I can't help but wonder what the Film Society of Lincoln Center had in mind with "10 Years and Running: Recent Hong Kong Cinema," a retrospective series that begins tonight in New York City.

Ostensibly, the program is intended "to mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" with a "series of cinematic highlights." That sounds good, but the program lacks any balance. If the aim was to provide the very best of Hong Kong cinema since 1997, then why include Initial D and Confession of Pain, two moderately enjoyable yet ultimately inconsequential films by the directing team of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak (their much better collaboration Infernal Affairs is also screening). If the goal was to provide historical perspective on the decade, why ignore completely the wave of proto-Hollywood thrillers (Downtown Torpedoes, 2000 A.D.) that flooded theaters in the late 1990's, or the plethora of romantic comedies that followed in the wake of Needing You in 2000, or recent attempts -- by directors other than Johnny To -- to reawaken the action film (Flash Point, Invisible Target)? If the goal was to highlight popular hits, where are the films of Stephen Chow (The King of Comedy, Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle)?

Instead, the showcase is limited to the tried and true: Lau and Mak (three films), Wong Kar Wai (two films) and Johnny To (three and 1/3, counting his contribution to Triangle) fill eight of the 13 slots. That's not to denigrate the quality of the selections nor to discourage anyone from attending, but it looks like a lost opportunity to showcase less-heralded gems of recent Hong Kong cinema. All that being said, if I lived in New York I'd park myself in the theater for the entire series, which runs through October 25; I've seen most of them, but not on the big screen.

Mention the Weinsteins to any fan of Asian cinema during the past dozen years and you'd be likely to hear a lot of profanity. While running Miramax, Harvey Weinstein constantly professed his great love for films from the region, but had the bad habit of buying films and then burying them. (Two examples: the Japanese Pulse and the Thai Tears of the Black Tiger, both of which languished for years before being liberated by Magnolia Pictures.) Or he would have them dubbed and edited for the Western market (Shaolin Soccer) and then delay the release. The financial success of Zhang Yimou's Hero (in a shortened version and delayed, though it was in its original language) may have changed things. Since then, the Brothers W have launched the Dragon Dynasty DVD line, which has given respectful and relatively lavish treatment to Asian action films. Now Variety reports that the Weinsteins plan to make three English-language Hong Kong films of their own.

In collaboration with Andrew Lau (pictured; co-director of the brilliant Infernal Affairs, the basis for Martin Scorsese's remake The Departed) and Tony Krantz (producer of TV show 24), The Weinstein Co. "will seek to redefine the traditional chopsocky movie." How? The films will be "driven more by plot and character than typical action fare" and will eschew wire work (a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) in favor of "more full-contact fighting" featuring "a new generation of action stars." Good luck with that, fellas. The Hong Kong film industry has been trying to develop new action stars for years without much success. Whatever the genre, Andrew Lau's previous Hong Kong films have striven to be populist entertainment, and he is truly an insider there, so it should be interesting to see what comes of all this. At minimum, the films will get released on DVD, and there's a possibility of theatrical release.

The Oscar wins for The Departed stand to benefit not only the DVD sales/rental of that movie, but perhaps also American interest in the movie on which it was based: the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. What, you didn't know that the Best Picture Oscar winner was a remake? Infernal Affairs was a box-office success in Hong Kong and was followed up by both a sequel and a prequel, which has caused a lot of speculation about potential sequels for The Departed.

However, the two directors of Infernal Affairs differ in their opinions about the success of the American remake. Andrew Lau sounds pleased with the awards for The Departed, especially since director Martin Scorsese mentioned Lau in his speech after winning Best Director. Lau calls Scorsese "my hero" and hopes to meet him during a trip to the U.S. next month to discuss potential Hollywood projects. Admittedly, if Lau is thinking of working in Hollywood, having his name associated even indirectly with this year's Best Picture winner can only help.

On the other hand, Infernal Affairs co-director and co-writer Alan Mak was not so lavish in his praise. According to a South China Morning Post article, he issued a press release after the Oscars saying he was honored by his connection to the award. However, in an interview for the same article, he complained about The Departed, calling it disappointing. On the one hand, Mak said The Departed was too close to its original source, and jokes that "in that case, I'm of course happy, because it is like Infernal Affairs winning an Oscar." On the other hand, he didn't like the changes The Departed made from the original ending. It sounds like Scorsese and writer William Monahan weren't going to please Mak no matter what they did. Too bad, because Monahan is working on another remake based on a Mak film, Confessions of Pain.

[via IndieWIRE and Butterboom]