New Asian Voices II
July: New Asian Voices II, FLMTQ Releases 320-325
During the month of July Filmatique presents New Asian Voices II, a panorama of acclaimed works from various nations in East Asia.
Jia Zhangke's stunning A Touch of Sin delves into realms of precarity and violence in present-day China, while Johnny Ma's Old Stone follows the travails of a cab driver in a small Chinese city after he makes the fateful decision to help a hit and run victim. Sabu's Miss Zombie satirizes bourgeois Japanese society in its futuristic vision of mail-order domestic servants; Chan Wook Park's Lady Vengeance rounds out his vengeance trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy) with a thriller told from a female perspective. Fellow South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo's In Another Country centers around Isabelle Huppert in a seaside town, as she depicts three different characters all named Anne. Lee Chang-dong's Poetry observes the transcendent potential of poetry on a woman in her twilight years.
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A Touch of Sin, Jia Zhangke (2013)
A Touch of Sin, Jia Zhangke / China-Japan-France, 2013
A local boss runs a small village in China's northern Shanxi province. He's gotten rich selling collective property, and while most of the villagers look the other way, Dahai, a solitary coal miner, has decided he's had enough. On the shores of the Yangtze River, when a man returns home, his family doesn’t seem pleased to see him. In the city, a sauna receptionist carries out an affair with a married man while suffering abuse from one of her clients; a young factory worker goes from one discouraging job to the next, before sliding into a spiral of debt and despair.
A stunning examination of power and corruption inside the world's fastest growing economy, A Touch of Sin urgently portrays the lives of four ordinary citizens driven to the brink of violence by the conditions of capitalism. Jia Zhangke's seventh narrative feature premiered at Toronto, Rotterdam, Mar del Plata, and Cannes, where it won Best Screenplay. A Touch of Sin is a New York Times Critic's Pick.
Miss Zombie, Sabu (2013)
Miss Zombie, Sabu / Japan, 2013
A futuristic Japan. Sara arrives at the Teramoto household where she will work as a domestic servant. Mysteriously scarred, she also comes with a set of instructions: do not feed her meat, and dispatch her with a pistol if necessary. While the Teramoto’s neighbors fear their mail-order zombie, the family learns to trust and accept her.
Shot in luminous black-and-white cinematography and with flashes of both violence and humor, Miss Zombie is a clever satire of bourgeois Japanese society. Cult-director Sabu's film premiered at Sitges; Fantasporto, where it won Best Film; and Dhaka, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay.
Lady Vengeance, Chan Wook Park (2005)
Lady Vengeance, Chan Wook Park / South Korea, 2005
Geum-ja has been imprisoned for thirteen years for a crime she didn't commit. While she has gained the respect and loyalty of her fellow cellmates, nothing has distracted her from plotting revenge on Mr. Baek, a schoolteacher of Park Won-mo, the child she has been convicted of killing. Upon her release, Geum-ja reunites with her daughter while setting in motion an elaborate plan of retribution.
Completing the vengeance trilogy that includes Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy, Lady Vengeance foregrounds the female perspective in a riveting South Korean thriller. Chan Wook Park's sixth film premiered at Cinemanila, where it won Best Actress; Bangkok, where it won Best Director; and Venice, where it won the CinemAvvenire' Award for Best Film in Competition.
In Another Country, Hong Sang-soo (2012)
In Another Country, Hong Sang-soo / South Korea, 2012
A sleepy seaside village in South Korea. Following an argument with her mother, aspiring screenwriter Wonju concocts three scenarios revolving around a Frenchwoman named Anne. In the first, Anne is a French director visiting a friend, a fellow Korean filmmaker, and his pregnant wife. In the second, Anne has absconded from her wealthy Korean husband in Seoul to rendezvous with her lover. Lastly, Anne visits Mohang with a professor friend after her husband has left her for another woman.
Starring Isabelle Huppert as three different characters, In Another Country is a breezy, humorous tale of love, lust, and misunderstanding. The first English-language film from prolific South Korean director Hong Sang-soo premiered at Cannes, Toronto, Thessaloniki and Warsaw.
Old Stone, Johnny Ma (2016)
Old Stone, Johnny Ma / China-Canada, 2016
Lao Shi works as a cab driver in a small Chinese city. While on the job one day a drunken passenger causes him to swerve, forcing a collision with a motorcyclist. As the injured man lies bleeding on the street, Lao Shi must decide between helping him and fleeing. Aware of the consequences of the former, Lao Shi loads the man in his cab and drives to the hospital. Soon, however, Lao Shi is on the hook for the injured man’s medical bills, sending him into a cycle of debt and despair.
Blending elements of social realism with noir aesthetics, Old Stone confirms the adage that no good deed goes unpunished in contemporary China. Johnny Ma's directorial debut premiered at Hong Kong, Jeonju, Berlin, and Stockholm, where it won Best Screenplay and Best Director.
Poetry, Lee Chang-dong (2010)