Big trouble in Little China
Directed by John Carpenter it’s what fun movies should be. Part comedy, part action film, with martial arts, sorcery and black magic – this is just an enjoyable movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The plot is basically an ancient magician named Lo Pan (James Hong) kidnaps a girl because she has jade green eyes. If he marries and then kills her he can break the centuries old curse which has trapped him halfway between this world and the next. Jack Burton, played by Kurt Russell, helps Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) along with Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) and Egg Shen (Victor Wong) fight Lo Pan and his evil henchmen. If you want to watch a film that doesn’t have some deep underlying message but instead just offers a good time this is it.
Blade Runner
One of the all time greatest sci-fi films, Blade Runner established a distopian view of the future which many subsequent films pay homage to.It takes place in LA in 2019 is a rainy dark metropolis decaying from neglect. The story is of a Blade Runner, Deckard, who hunts down replicants human like artificial life forms. There are multiple themes running through the film regarding what it means to be human, consciousness, slavery, and it contains one of the best ad-libbed scenes of all time by Roy Batty. Now it has multiple endings depending on which one you watch. There is one that has a dove flying off into a blue sky which is just too schmaltzy for me. I prefer the Final Cut version, which will leave you guessing as to the film’s meaning. It has an all star cast with Harrison Ford, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos and Rutger Hauer.
Infernal Affairs
The original film (from 2002) is Chinese and stars Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Eric Tsang and Anthony Wong. The story is about a deep undercover cop and a mole in the police force trying to catch each other over years in operation. It is a tense thriller and very well acted. And worth watching even if you have to read the subtitles. This film was remade by Martin Scorcese in “the Departed” but personally I prefer the Chinese version. Not only because it’s the original it was also one of the first films I saw with Zuimei.
The Cook, the thief, his wife and her lover
This was one of the first Peter Greenaway film I saw and it had a profound affect on me. Greenaway’s visuals are magnificent and over the top. The story is about a mobster with delusions of class played by Michael Gambon who takes over a restaurant where his wife, played the lovely and talented Helen Mirren has an affair with another patron of the restaurant.
Part of what I love about the film is the painting in the background, which is entitled “Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard” by Frans Hals a Dutch painter. The painting shows a group of rotund wealthy men and they’re turning as if the view has just entered the room and interrupted their banquet. The entire point of the painting is to show their wealth. It’s unlikely they’ve guarded anything in their lives, but are more like the thief in the film, practicing at being cultured.
In university I did a project where we needed to incorporate a piece of art into a public space. I chose this very painting, for similar reasons. And built a model of where I could have it displayed.