| CHINA |
BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE
SEAMSTRESS
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Sijie Dai |
Based on the best-selling French novel written
by the director, Balzac is a visually lush vision of life
in a remote Sichuan mountain village in the early 1970s. In
the lingering grip of the cultural revolution, two university
students wrongly deemed as reactionary intellectuals are sent
to the village as part of their reeducation duty to the state.
Their cruel sentence to haul human waste for fertilizer is
designed to purge them of their classical, western-oriented
education. Always on the lookout for any deviation from Maoist
doctrine, the village chief keeps a stern and watchful eye
on the two students. When the boys discover a hidden cache
of forbidden books, they read exotic stories to the beautiful
granddaughter of the local tailor in order to woo her. The
power of literature unlocks and awakens in each of them the
ability to change their own world in truly revolutionary ways.
“Funny, touching, beguiling… Using a familiar
but effective metaphor for a lost time and a buried past lost
beneath the waters created by a huge dam on the Yangtse.”—The
Guardian, London. (110 mins.) In Mandarin and French. Sponsored
by Powell’s Books.
Selected Filmography: China
My Son (89), The Eleventh Child (98).
SHOWTIMES: 2/20, 9:30pm WH;
2/23, 8:45pm GU and 2/27; 8:45pm B1. |
|
| BLIND SHAFT |
Li Yang |
Winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film
Festival but banned in China, Blind Shaft offers an unforgettable
glimpse of Chinese working-class life and a realistic thriller
full of twists and turns. In the darkness of a remote, illegal
coal mine, loners Jinming and Zhaoyang kill a fellow worker.
Claiming that the victim is a relative and threatening to
alert government authorities, they extort a sizable compensation
from their employer. The plan seems foolproof until they choose
their next victim, Fengming, a 16-year-old who has left school
in order to support his family. Soon, the killers are faced
with a horrible predicament: murdering Fengming is not so
easy; yet saving him is next to impossible. A chilling tale
of Chinese workers trying to get by any way they can, Li’s
secretly shot film is as haunting as it is provocative. Best
Feature Film, Hawaii International Film Festival. (100 mins.)
In Mandarin. Print courtesy of Kino International.
First Feature.
SHOWTIMES: 2/15, 6:30pm and
2/17, 6:15pm B2. |
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|
| HERO |
Zhang Yimou |
At the height of China’s Warring States
period, 2,000 years ago, the country was divided into seven
kingdoms: Qin, Zhao, Han Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi. King Quin,
ruler of Qui, dreams of imposing his power on the whole country
and to become the Emperor. Broken Sword, Flying Snow and Sky,
three warrior-assassins with magic powers are dedicated to
thwart his plans. After 10 years of battle, Quin, despite
offers of great wealth and power to anyone who can defeat
them, is about to concede defeat. Then a mysterious visitor,
Nameless, knocks on the palace doors to tell the king an extraordinary
tale… This stunning epic from the producers of Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a sweeping tale of love, loyalty,
jealousy, intrigue and heroism that features martial arts
superstar Jet Li, and Hong Kong megastars Tony Leung, Chiu-wai
and Maggie Cheung. Having shattered all box-office records
in China and Hong Kong, Zhang Yimou reconfirms his status
as one of the masters of international cinema. “Zhang
Yimou may have dipped his cinematic pen in mere genre, but
in doing so, he has inscribed a masterpiece.”—Richard
Corliss, Time Magazine. (98 mins.) Sponsored by Trilogy.
Filmography: Red Sorghum (87), Ju Dou (90), Raise the Red
Lantern (92), To Live (94), The Road Home (99).
SHOWTIMES: 2/27, 6:45pm
WH and 2/28, 7:30pm GU. |
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