A splashy Bollywood musical for ’60s pop culture fanatics, Jewel Thief updates the old Prince and the Pauper identity switch to a Technicolor universe comprised of the filmmaker’s fondest bits from James Bond, The Pink Panther, and European comic strips, peppered with the usual spirited musical numbers. The result is an irresistible confection, just the kind of thing to throw on at a party to keep the guests’ eyes occupied.Read More »
Tony Au directed this Hong Kong-Japanese co-production lovingly adapted for the screen by Joyce Chan. Tony Leung stars as Ryuichi Okagawa, a Japanese writer who worked as a reporter in China and has been sick ever since his return home. While in China, Okagawa had met a devoutly religious girl named Jin-hua. Okagawa was born with a predisposition to agonizing recurrent migraines, but found happiness with Jin-hua and married her. Unfortunately, he already had a wife in Japan, and this revelation crushed Jin-hua.Read More »
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With M, Hiroki has made a Belle de Jour for the post-postmodern age. A bored housewife, Satoko (Miwon), lives comfortably with her husband Hideyuki and her son Masato. One day she receives an email from a dating site and begins a double life as a prostitute. She soon attracts the attention of a young man named Minoru (Kengo Kora), who works as a paperboy. When Minoru’s friend shows him erotic pictures of non-professional women, he recognizes Satoko and sees in her eyes the same terrified look his mother had when his father beat her. He subsequently takes to trailing Satoko, and when he discovers she is being threatened by a yakuza (Tomorowo Taguchi), he is unable to hold back from stepping in to intervene. A psychotic drama with erotic overtones adapted from a novel by Seishu Hase, M covers Hiroki’s familiar obsession with people who follow their fantasies to the outer limits.Read More »
In Ming Dynasty China, two pairs of siblings are destined for each other. But fate throws countless obstacles in the path of their happiness. One pair is high-born: the young Emperor and his sister Wushuang, both confined to the Imperial Palace and very much under the thumb of their mother, the Empress Dowager. The other pair is decidedly lowborn: the wanderer Li Yilong (known as King Bully for the way he terrorized the town of Meilong in his youth) and his sister Phoenix, who still runs a restaurant in Meilong. When both the young Emperor and his sister Wushuang contrive to leave the Palace and head south, they meet the loves of their lives in Meilong.Read More »
Tugumi, who lives in a small seaside town, has been in delicate health from birth. Her parents spoiled her and she is rough and selfish. However, a few people are attracted by her beauty and unique character. In this summer, Tugumi loves Kyoichi Takahashi, who works in the art gallery of the town. One of Tugumi’s old boy friends, the leader of bad boys, attacks Kyoichi and kills Tugumi’s pet dog from jealousy. Tugumi plans revenge.Read More »
Head of Arms Department in the Ministry of Industry and Trade Yukichi Nagayama was caught up in corruption scandal. He puts secret documents onto microfilm and attaches it to the collar of hunting dog Goro…Read More »
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Rangeela (1995) is a Hindi-language movie, a product of the Bollywood film industry. It was directed by Ram Gopal Varma, and starred Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar, and Jackie Shroff.
Rangeela was music director A. R. Rahman’s first Hindi movie with an original score. The film features famous playback singer Asha Bhosle, who made something of a comeback singing Rahman’s extremely popular music.Read More »
In the 1980s, Sang-ho, a student activist in a rural village, witnesses a married couple having sex. He becomes bolder and imitates the husband’s foreplay, leading to a sexual encounter with the wife.Read More »
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A Complex Taiwan Tale Needs a Key
In a series of eloquent, dazzling and demanding films, the director Hou Hsiao-hsien has depicted the history of Taiwan through individuals with deeply moving life stories. The island itself — a Japanese colony before World War II, then controlled by the Nationalist Chinese with violent repression during the cold-war years — has come to seem his most treasured character. “City of Sadness,” shown at the New York Film festival in 1989, tells Taiwan’s story as a family saga. The poetic “Puppetmaster,” shown at the festival two years ago, layers Taiwan’s history with the biography of an aged puppet maker.Read More »