They say that when times are bad (like now), arts and cinematic works shine even more brightly, and if the explosion of creativity at this year's Cannes Film Festival is anything to go by, this adage proves to be most true. This year's line-up is widely regarded as one of the the best in the last decade. Five acclaimed Asian directors: Ang Lee, Park Chan-Wook, Tsai Ming-Liang, Johnnie To and Lou Ye are in competition for the Palme d'Or and this year each of them have come up with works that are refreshingly different and exciting. In the Un Certain Regard lineup, there are Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll and Bong Joon-ho's Mother.
Here are some of the trailers for these films that I managed to find on YouTube.
Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock
Park Chan-Wook's Thirst is about a priest who turns into a vampire...
Johnnie To's Vengeance
I can't find the trailer for Tsai Ming Liang's Face but managed to find this behind-the-scenes vid of the film. Face, about a Taiwanese director making a film based on the tale of Salome is set in the Louvre Musuem and stars French stars like Laetitia Casta and Fanny Ardant.
The Host's director Bong Joon-Ho's Mother about a mother who desperately searches for the killer that framed her son for the crime.
Can't find the trailer or much information about controversial Chinese director Lou Ye's Spring Fever but according to this article, the movie is about "romantic entanglements between three friends".
A behind-the-scenes look at Air Doll can also be found here. Air Doll, based on the manga of the same name stars Korean actress Bae Doo-na as an inflatable doll and Japanese actor Arata as a video shop clerk.
Which film will emerge as a winner at Cannes? Well, guess we will only know at the Closing Award Ceremony on 24 May 2009.
Update: After an exciting one and a half weeks, the 2009 Cannes Film Festival has finally come to a close. Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon took home the prestigious Palme d'Or award. Two films by East Asian directors also won awards, Spring Fever by Lou Ye won the Award For Best Screenplay and Park Chan Wook's vampire drama Thirst won the Jury Prize. Congratulations to all the winners! The full award list is here.
Tags: Cannes Film Festival, Cannes lineup, East Asian directors, upcoming films.
Asian Directors Shine At Cannes
John Woo's Next Project After Red Cliff - 1949
John Woo's mega production Red Cliff is set to be released in July this year in Asia and a spate of new trailers for the movie have just been released (one of them below). High profile appearences by John Woo and the the cast of the movie including Tony Leung (Zhao Yun), Lin Chiling (Xiao Qiao), Chang Chen (Sun Quan), Hu Jun (Zhao Yun), Vicky Zhao (Sun Shang Xiang) and Zhang Feng Yi (Cao Cao) at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival have generated much buzz for the film.
And while we are still anticipating the arrival of Red Cliff, John Woo has already announced his next project at Cannes - 1949, a US$40 million epic romance set during the tumultous WWII era which will star Chang Chen and Korean actress Song Hye-kyo (left picture). As Song will play a Shanghai lady in the film, she will be taking Chinese language lessons in preparation for her role. This film will start shooting in December this year and is set for release in December 2009.
John Woo is one busy man ;-)
Picture from http://news.yule.com.cn/html/200805/9954.html
Source: http://www.movieweb.com/news/76/28776.php, http://news.yule.com.cn/html/200805/9954.html
Tags: Red Cliff, 1949, John Woo, upcoming movies, Chinese movies, Chinese film, Tony Leung, Chiling Lin, Chang Chen, Song Hye Kyo.
South Korean Actress Wins Cannes Best Actress Award
Congratulations to Jeon Do-yeon for winning the Best Actress award at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her role in the film Secret Sunshine by director Lee Chang-dong. In the film, Jeon Do-yeon plays a woman struggling to maintain her sanity after the death of her husband and son. She is only the second Asian actress to win this prestigious award after Maggie Cheung won it in 2004 for her role in director Olivier Assayas's Clean.
Here is the trailer for Secret Sunshine that I found on YouTube. Just from the trailer I can tell that Jeon gave a fantastically heart-rending performance in this film and richly deserved her Best Actress win.
Tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Chang-dong, Secret Sunshine, Cannes, Best Actress, Cannes Film Festival, Korean film, Korean movie.
