5 scenes I loved in Wong Kar Wai films

A list of 10 Best Scenes in Wong-Kar-Wai films on Taste of Cinema prompted me to think of my own favourite scenes in his films too.

Jia Zhangke's PLATFORM, Fatih Akin's EDGE OF HEAVEN... and Cucurrucucu Paloma

The preparation of a new screenplay is filled with challenges, and tiny little joys.

The past two days, in order to get into the right mood to write a new story, I was watching films that are relevant to what I intend to do.

Two days ago, I finally caught Jia Zhangke's monumental PLATFORM (2000). I was overwhelmed by its ambition and scope, its execution and style reminded me of the earlier works of Theo Angelopoulos (THE TRAVELLING PLAYERS and ALEXANDER THE GREAT came to mind, I think Angelopoulos shifted styles after VOYAGE OF CYTHERA as his stories became more intimate and more focused on one protagonist).

I realized I have never seen that many of Jia Zhangke's works. A few of his short films, and maybe just his later film, THE WORLD (2004). But I still keep this 2010 photo of myself with his muse (now his wife) Zhao Tao because of the Jia Zhangke photobomb.


Now that I look at it, the year 2000 was an amazing year for Chinese cinema. Wong Kar Wai's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, Edward Yang's YI YI, Jia Zhangke's PLATFORM, Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON etc. Regardless of what you think of these films, they have all left a mark in history, influencing filmmakers and the film business in ways beyond description.

On Borges, Eco, Calvino, Marquez... and McDull

I never forgave my secondary school for banning us from bringing novels to school. That is why I constantly speak about it.

Back then, unable to accept such a rule, I occasionally brought a book to school for some reading pleasure. Alas, the school prefects deemed me, a guy who was just sitting at the corner, quietly reading a book, a threat to school safety, thus my books were sometimes confiscated.

I had to write eloquent letters to the prefects just so I could get them back.

That is why, in some of my angry rants over the years, I couldn't stop blaming the local education system for not emphasizing the importance of literature and culture to its students, that we lived merely to score well academically, that our education was more on learning how to deal with exams, instead of preparing us properly to contribute to society. That our country is full of highly-educated folks who don't give a crap about literature.

Many years ago, back in Perth, Justin (who used to contribute to this blog but had since became a published novelist himself) once said this:

"I cannot imagine anyone not picking up a novel in their entire life. What sort of existence is that?"

I shrugged. "A typical Malaysian."

Being in love with literature is just as lonely as being passionate about films. Or maybe a little more so. At least most Joe Blows do go to cinemas for films as some social exercise. Any attempt to have a meaningful or deep discussion about the film will be futile. People will look at me as if I had farted loudly in a funeral.

Because they rarely happen, being able to go into in-depth discussions about films, filmmakers, or literary works, authors, can be a very pleasurable experience. Perhaps that is why I am often on Facebook and Twitter. Or why I often surf film websites and go through the comments section. Just to find and read about discussions that I can never seem to have in real life.

(Perhaps if I were a banker, I wouldn't have to deal with such a dilemma, no?)

Yesterday, Maggie Lee, film critic of Variety, tweeted this link to a book review:

Remembering Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui

During the last few hours, I was wondering why everyone's suddenly posting photos and videos of Leslie Cheung on Facebook. An internet meme I knew nothing about?

And then I remembered that he died on the 1st of April, 9 years ago.

Returning to Dubai International Film Festival with my short film, EXHALATION

I'm actually leaving for Dubai tonight.

My short film EXHALATION is making its world premiere in the Muhr AsiaAfrica Shorts competition section at the Dubai International Film Festival.

The last day of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2010

31st of October.

I headed to Roppongi to wait for the Green Carpet event prior to the closing ceremony. I was at the TIFF Movie Cafe with Prof. Ando.

QUICK RECAP OF PUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2010 part 2

Decided to break my recap up into two parts so it won't be too long.

Back in Tokyo, back to editing KINGYO

I've returned to Tokyo since Sunday night. It's been a hectic few days. I actually had a film shoot in Klang on Saturday and had managed to do another quick short film with the help of Lesly and Han, that film was an experiment with the Nikon D90, which I saw Ming Jin and Lesly used for their short film, THAT DAY WE WOKE UP. To be able to complete another short film, what a joy!

The Curious Incident Of The Vanishing Sunglasses

It's not that I'm imitating Wong Kar Wai or Takashi Miike, but I REALLY like to wear my sunglasses. I only choose not to wear it when I can't wear it, like during classes, or when the sky's too dark, or when I need women to see my soulful eyes... but that's it.

Shocked to see old high school friend in a short film!

A few nights ago, I had a really bizarre dream.

Rome Day 2 (Pt. 2) - PRIDE AND GLORY premiere, Colin Farrell hides from me as I walk down the red carpet

If you're interested, read the following posts (even if you don't want to read, there are tons of beautiful photos) before you read this:

Rome Day 1 (Pt. 1) - Grand hotels, real Italian pizza and Via Veneto!

Rome Day 1 (Pt. 2) - the EASY VIRTUE premiere with Jessica Biel, the bittersweet fun at the International Rome Film Fest

Rome Day 2 (Pt. 1) - Unforgettable sights during the half-day city tour

I think this will be the second last post of my Rome trip. (I'll wrap it up with some final thoughts of the trip and my own experience with BMW Shorties)

I would like to divulge a little secret that not a single soul at the Rome Film Festival knew during the night of the PRIDE AND GLORY (new film starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell) premiere.

Burn after reading... Salman Rushdie's MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN

I got myself this book two years ago in Perth. Not through purchase, but by forcing Justin to swap his MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN with my THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN (by John Fowles). It was a fair trade. He didn't like magical realism, while I do, and he ended up enjoying the latter immensely anyway.

But this isn't exactly a book review, just a quick note on how I felt after finishing Salman Rushdie's MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN yesterday afternoon. It didn't really take me that long to finish the book, really. I picked it up during my two weeks in Malaysia earlier this month, read through chunks of it on certain days in the LRT, then more as I flew back to Tokyo. Because the in-flight entertainment was down throughout half of my journey and I couldn't watch any films on the plane except THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, I spent most of the time reading instead.

Chacun son cinéma (To Each His Own Cinema)

I was originally planning to see SKY CRAWLERS or anything offered at the Shinjuku cinemas after meeting up with Maiko the producer regarding the status of our short film, YUKI (she's going to Kyoto end of this month for a 2-month internship at Toei, so had to see what to do next). But then she mentioned about her watching 'Chacun son cinéma' sometime ago at Shibuya. 'Chacun son cinéma' is an omnibus film commissioned last year to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival.

Gone for 3 nights and the world had changed... Tony Leung and Carina Lau got married??

I finally got back from Nasu after being gone for three nights. I can't believe that while I was hiking at Nasu, teaching (or rather, TRYING TO TEACH) 13-year-old Japanese kids English (pics and posts about that later), the whole world had changed.

My mom greeted me on MSN immediately after she saw me online and gave me a video link (it's in Chinese).

Interview with 'Thoughts On Films'

Earlier this week, I sat down (in front of computer) for an (email) interview with Fikri of 'Thoughts On Films'. Things I spoke about include: filmmaking, videoblogging, my role in Greenlight Pictures and the company's previous productions, the theatrical distribution of local independent films in Malaysia.

The Chinese Program at the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2008

Just as I've mentioned in my previous post, I returned to the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2008, this time for the Chinese Program that my friend, Cara Yuan (she organizes the mobile film festival in China) was curating.

Attending the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2008

I first heard about SHORT SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL from Cara Yuan, organizer of the mobile phone film festival in China (I met her when I was at the Hong Kong International Film Festival back in March). She has came over to Tokyo to curate the Chinese program for the Short Shorts Film Fest, which will be featuring short films by Wong Kar Wai ('THERE'S ONLY ONE SUN', I've seen it on Youtube before) and Fruit Chan. I'm attending that a few hours from now, after I wake up (it's 3:42am while I'm writing this).

But wanting to familiarize myself with the way to the film fest, I decided to attend another one of the programs yesterday afternoon, right after I finish classes. Each program is 110 minutes long and is a compilation of short films for a particular competitive category. The one I went to was a screening of short films for the ASIA and JAPAN Competition, along with one entry for the STOP! Global Warming Competition. Then there's also a special screening of Tadanobu Asano's 224466, a 25-minute long short film he directed and starred in. Since I've just watched Mongol yesterday, it marks the second consecutive day I saw an Asano film.

Japanese Films vs The Rest Of The World

I'm totally drained after going through a two-film marathon, both Japanese films (you can see I am trying hard to improve my Japanese language skills ;)), both two-hour long, the first was HERO, the second was STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES (the 2006 movie, not the old 2001 dorama, STRAWBERRY ON SHORTCAKE), one's a commercial courtdoom drama, another an arthouse film on loneliness and adult relationships, former's entertaining, latter's haunting. I'm now drained, yet not drained enough to not rant.

(I'll be peppering this post with photos of the awesome NAKAMA YUKIE, whom I've liked a lot since I first watched the TRICK series, and also in honour of Gokusen 3 being the top-rated dorama in Tokyo now)

Last night (or two nights ago, since it's past midnight), I read an article on Japan Times called FILM FESTIVALS: HOW JAPAN IS VIEWED FROM AFAR by Alexander Jacoby, and I find myself agreeing with the opening paragraphs:

My Thoughts On The 27th Hong Kong Film Awards

Though I didn't get to catch the live telecast of the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards, I was eagerly following the results on Yahoo! Hong Kong. So here are some brief thoughts on the results. (list from Lovehkfilm.com)

Joe Wright's ATONEMENT

I didn't know what to expect from ATONEMENT. The film had received mostly glowing reviews and is one of the favourites to get a Best Picture nomination in next year's Oscars, but I had been worried that it would be another one of those stuffy and boring period romances filled with sheer pretentiousness and self-importance that would leave me wondering what all the fuss was about.