Dear Slate, yes there are chocolate bars in China
Lot o' Hotpot: Three Travellers
Interview: Kerry Ann Lee, culture shock = inspiration
Garbage burning protests: The online life of dissent
Coming soon to a police checkpoint near you
Wong Kar-wai is celebrating the opening of his shit movie My Blueberry Nights in the US this Friday by selling some merchandise — most notably, $95 t-shirts, $50 posters, and $25 postcards. And if you want to thank him for ripping you off in person, you'll get your chance in New York at a fashion boutique store called Opening Ceremony, where Wong is going to be on Wednesday afternoon. We hope that someone tells him that the US is facing a recession and that the real incomes are not increasing for the average American. $25 for a postcard? You can get four lattes in Manhattan for that price! Sheesh!
We've read a couple of blogs that have mentioned the Hong Kong International Film Festival, but here is yet another one from a blog dedicated to Asian Cinema. There are several movies mentioned in this post that we're really looking forward to seeing, especially Old Fish, which was mentioned in several other blogs of HKIFF participants as well.
From Screen Daily we learned that Summer Palace director Lou Ye's new film, Bitch, was one of the films selected for the fourth Cannes Atelier. This year's Atelier features 15 projects from 14 countries and aims to help directors get financing so that they can bring their projects to completion.
Last but not least, some cinematic dessert from YouTube: the top 10 Jackie Chan stunts. Not to be missed.
Cross-posted at China Film Journal.
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"His shit movie ..."
Ouch, man. I know it's not up to the high standards he set in movies like Happy Together, but it's not exactly Meet The Spartans either.
it might not be the best thing ever, but the "shit" comment is the most inappropriate display of blind cynicism yet on this site. shame on you.
"but the "shit" comment is the most inappropriate display of blind cynicism yet on this site."
You don't read Shanghaiist much then do you?
I think Peijin is a genuine fan of Wong Karwai who feels a bit let down.
I still think MBN was above average in the general world of drama films. The opening scenes in the cafe have all his hallmarks and interesting editing/dialogue. It does come across as self-conciously made in WKW-vision though.
Once they hit the road it runs into all kinds of problems - the same problem Peijin covered in his original review.
I think Peijin is absolutely entitled to call this a shit movie for several reasons: the dialogue, casting, script, naive portrayal of the 'American experience' and misguided use of slow shutter speed for about 80% of the movie (I never want to eat pie ever again after watching Norah Jones eat it in slow-mo). The most important reason though is that it's a really shitty movie. I like Wong Kar Wai movies as much as the next guy, but a bad movie is a bad movie no matter who makes it.
Derek, I basically agree with you and Peijin but interestingly enough - you just paraphrased what most Hong Kongers say about WKWs HK movies. Especially around the time of Chungking Express.
As for calling it a 'shit movie' .. .of course he can. But I think that there are loads of movies that are 'shitter' than MBN so where do you go from there?
Are we going to see reviews of movies like the 'Twins Effect' saying ... having watched the film objectively I can report that it is a steaming pile of f*cking t*rd?
Well, it would make me laugh.
I'm with you Andy, calling movies turds makes me laugh about 90% of the time. I should probably grow up a little. I guess I just think that if you take the time to write a review, like Peijin, you should be able to say whatever you want about that movie. He says it's a shit movie and he explained it. It might not be the most polite way to say it, but dogging on him for having an opinion that some people disagree with kind of undermines the purpose of having a review in the first place.
And, if what you say is true about what most of the Hong Kong residents think about Wong's movies, then I definitely shouldn't be making an overblown movie about HK as an American that has only a cursory understanding of the place. WKW would almost certainly be justified in calling it a 'shit' movie.
But that's just my opinion.
I propose going with "My Dingleberry Nights" and leaving at that. Not as direct or crude as "shit" but gets the point across and is a lot more fun to say. The movie deserves to be dumped on. It's really bad. Some of the worst dialog I've heard in years. Interesting that HK residents feel similarly about some of WKW's HK films!
I for one was quite disappointed. Shallow characters, shallow plot. It looks as if WKW wanted to break new ground by shooting a movie in the US, knew he had to make something different, but didn't quite know how to go about it.
The love story and the road story also don't mix. The whole "she sends letters to him constantly and he never can get in touch with her" thing is a lame way to link the two together.
Then, whoa!, the Russian girlfriend shows up for five minutes, allowing him to close a door in his life that was open for a reason that the viewer can only guess at.
This said, it is passable. It is no worse than a lot of the junk that comes out of Hollywood (such as any romantic comedy that includes Jennifer Aniston).
And for that matter, why does she get a whole lame trip to close her doors on the past and he gets five minutes in a corner with an old fling? I found myself bored with her and more interested in him only because she was all too visible doing all too mundane things.
shit shit shit shit shit.
WKW did the right, humble thing by asking people with better English than his to pen/ad lib some natural speech. Unlucky for him, the people involved were complete retards.
The dialogue should be overdubbed in Chinese and then translated back into English subtitles - which hopefully won't make my ears bleed.