=
×

Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Head To Head
Log In
Register
The Village Pump »
Books!
Log In to post a reply
48 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
Pursued By Trees
Pursued By Trees
1135 posts

Re: Books!
Jan 28, 2020, 22:56
Apologies to everyone else for the shameless thread diversion!

On the recommendation of a friend, I started watching the films of Johnnie To. Through these, I got to know and admire the work of quite a few of the leading Hong Kong actors and started tracking down their films (Anthony Wong, Ching Wan Lau, Francis Ng, Louis Koo, Jordan Chan, Nick Cheung, Simon Yam, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Aaron Kwok. etc, etc) ... and other works by some of the directors of these (Wilson Yip, Herman Lau, Andrew Lau, Benny Chan, Fruit Chan, Alan Mak, Ka-Fai Wai, etc, etc). The discovery of a modern commercial cinema that I can enjoy to the same extent that I'm turned off by most modern USA film output has been hugely refreshing.

Wong Kar Wai, eh? Outstanding stuff, and heartening to see that he's kept true to his vision. It's very probably his being from Hong Kong that's kept him on track, while so many of his 5th generation contemporaries have strayed into much more commercial territory of late (Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou in particular).

Hong Kong Babylon is a lot more readable than Lisa Odham Stokes and Michael Hoovers 'City On Fire', which is relentlessly neo-marxist. Always an interesting perspective, but Hong Kong cinema is largely very careful to remain apolitical so the relevance is maybe a little tenuous in places.

Feel free to drop me a line if you'd like to chat more on this.
In reply to:
Re: Books! (Kwoo)		 Replies:
Re: Books! (Kwoo)
Re: Books! (prefernot)
Topic Outline:
The Village Pump Index