tsai ming liang Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: I Don't Want to Sleep Alone
Filed under: Foreign Language », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie »
In an era when most movie cameras seem to be moving more, jerking and jumping around, obscuring what they're supposed to be capturing, Tsai Ming-liang's camera grows ever more still, gazing boldly and steadily at a scene for so long that we get to know its every corner. In his 2004 masterpiece Goodbye Dragon Inn, I detected one, maybe two, moving shots. But in his latest film, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, it doesn't even budge that much.
Tsai has never been one for telling linear, easily explained stories, but at least some of his earlier films had recognizable elements. In The River (1994), Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng) takes a job in a movie playing a corpse floating in the polluted Tanshui River and develops a mysterious and apparently incurable pain in his neck. In The Hole (1998), a virus has turned most of the population into human cockroaches, and a remaining human couple bonds when a hole opens up between their apartments. In What Time Is It There? (2001), a watch salesman dreams about a girl he has only barely met as she travels to Paris (he watches The 400 Blows on video and she meets the real life Jean-Pierre Leaud). And in Goodbye Dragon Inn, several lonely people pass a rainy night in a dilapidated movie theater on the last night of its existence.
Secret Cannes Film No Longer a Secret
Filed under: Foreign Language », Cannes », Shorts »
Earlier this month, I posted about a secret film debuting at the Cannes Film Festival. All that was known at the time was that it would be a compilation of 30 shorts, each about three minutes long and directed by an internationally respected filmmaker, and that it wouldn't be shown to the public. Now, thanks to an official press release, we learn that there are in fact 33 shorts from 35 filmmakers (including two pairs of brothers) and that the film, titled To Each his Own Cinema, will air on French television on May 20 following its premiere at the festival. So now I don't have to wish I could attend Cannes; I have to wish I got Canal +. Also revealed are the names of the 35 participants, all of whom were supposed to be kept secret until the film's unveiling, and a few details about the project. Each director was assigned the task of filming, "their current state of mind as inspired by the motion-picture theater." The only individual specifics mentioned in the press release, which was written by festival head Giles Jacob, are that Wim Wenders shot in the Congo, Tsai Ming Liang shot in Kuala Lumpur and David Cronenberg shot "in the ... toilet!" (probably meaning the bathroom, not the bowl). But anyone familiar with the directors involved can imagine the kind of diversity that will be seen in the film.
See the names of the 35 collaborators after the jump.
Leading Paris Museums Enter the Film Business
Filed under: Foreign Language », Deals », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
Museums haven't been completely separate from film, especially in the art world, where modern art installations often include video imaging. So, it wouldn't be surprising to hear that two leading museums are involving themselves in film. However, I'm not talking about art installations, but full-length films. Both Musee d'Orsay and the Louvre, Paris' leading museums, are joining the cinematic world by underwriting films by internationally-acclaimed directors.For Musee d'Orsay's 20th anniversary, the museum has chosen to work with four filmmakers to create a series that includes different plots, but centers around the museum. The filmmakers in question: American Jim Jarmusch, France's Olivier Assayas, Chilean Raoul Ruiz and Chinese director Hou Hsia-Hsien. Each will star veteran French actress Juliette Binoche and will range from a tribute to the French classic, The Red Balloon, that has the balloon sailing into d'Orsay, to a film about what the building was before -- a train station and hotel.
The Louvre is being a little more secretive for its first foray into film financing. Out of the three upcoming films they plan to co-produce and co-finance, only one has been discussed in any detail -- Faces by Taiwan's Tsai Ming Liang, who was a winner at the Berlin film festival for The River. Jean-Pierre Leaud will star, and the film will take place completely in the museum.
This is, obviously, a great way for museum's to advertise themselves abroad and keep their names on the tips of the world's tongues -- the same motivation that drove Greece to allow Vardalos to be only the second director to shoot at the Acropolis (the last being Coppola for New York Stories). What are your thoughts? Should museums dip their toes in this area?
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