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Emperor’s �� Slate Led by �� Creepy Yuen Wo-ping Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa abandons his auteurist chores of late to return By Gavin J. Blair to the classic horror that made him a cult ﬁgure ��

mperor Motion Nishijima, center, is a Pictures slate for former detective with some very troubling neighbors. E 2016 will be led by Hand Over Fist , a new feature directed by kung fu legend Yuen Wo-ping. Hand Over Fist is the tale of a 600-year long feud between ancient rival kung fu masters that draws modern Hong Kong protagonists into the action. Yuen is known around the globe for his ﬁght choreog- raphy on The Matrix trilogy, CONTINUED ON PAGE �

JOHNNIE TO READIES ELECTION � HE GOOD NEWS FOR FANS OF KIYOSHI disappointing ending. As a matter of fact, By Karen Chu Kurosawa’s early psychological J-horror Creepy feels an awful lot like the director’s 1997 irector Johnnie To is Tis that the master is back with all his cult horror piece Cure, with the caveat that readying Election 3 signature tropes intact: the haunted houses and there’s more smoke than fire in the mind-games D for a tentative 2018 scary atmosphere; the hypnotic evil-doer who featured here, and one can see the ending com- production date. forces others to do his unholy bidding; the good ing from a very long way off. The Hong Kong auteur detective going insane over a case that hits too Still, this is prime real estate for midnight told THR that he is almost close to home; his mentally unstable wife; and a CONTINUED ON PAGE �� finishing the script of the third installment of his critically acclaimed Election series. He is considering whether Louis Koo, will reprise his role in the New Macau Film Fest Goes Big third film. The gleaming casino enclave showed its hand on day two of Filmart, revealing an ambitious “The script is rather long bid to become a major hub on the global festival circuit By Patrick Brzeski right now, I haven’t decided irst announced in exploit a moment of uncertainty announced that Hong Kong which section of the script to February at the in the regional film festival scene, industry titans Johnny To and Ann be used,” said To. “If I use the F Berlinale, the inaugural while also riding a boom in the Hui have boarded the festival as later section, Koo might not International Film Festival and greater Chinese movie official ambassadors. The be in it.” Awards Macao (IFFA Macao) business, to become a pre- festival’s programming Election (2005) and its will kick off in the second week eminent industry platform plan is also beginning sequel were both huge local of December this year. The in East Asia. to come into greater hits in Hong Kong. Both films Macanese government has “Greater China needs Mueller focus. For the first edition, have become cult hits, becom- recruited former Venice and a film festival and market Mueller has recruited ten ing something akin to The Rome Film Festival head Marco organized in an internationally Asian genre filmmakers — whom Godfather films thanks to their Mueller to topline the upstart connected and welcoming envi- he says will be “big names” — to operatic look at the innner event. Mueller and his partners ronment — and Macau can fill lend their star power by selecting workings of local organized are betting that with the right that gap,” says Mueller. one film each to screen at the crime figures. positioning, IFFA Macao can On Tuesday, IFFA Macao CONTINUED ON PAGE �

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 1 theREPORT

Macau is often called the ‘Las Vegas of Asia’ thanks to it’s numerous casinos and hotels MACAU

CONTINUED FROM PAGE �

estival. To suit the interests o the local audience — as well as the realities around film import in Mainland China — Mueller says the estival will have a delib- WO�PING erate slant towards genre films CONTINUED FROM PAGE � and popular cinema: “They will be mainstream films, but those Kill Bill and oreign language with interesting differences,” Oscar-winner Crouching Tiger, he explains, adding “it would be Hidden Dragon, as well as pointless to offer a new estival directing this year’s sequel in Greater China unless the films Crouching Tiger, Hidden had some chance o entering the Chinese market.” next year as the biggest box office on the planet — Dragon: Sword of Destiny. He Meanwhile, other would-be regional leaders in the right in the middle o awards season. made his name in Hong Kong East Asian scene are seen to be altering. The Busan “The key point would be to make Macau into the in the late 1970s directing International Film Festival, long artistically preemi- major hub or press junkets or Hollywood awards what would become kung u nent, has been battling brand-damaging political season films,” Mueller says — “especially since classics like Drunken Master intererence since its 2014 edition, when city offi- [the types o mainstream, creative films we want to and Snake in the Eagle’s cials lashed back at organizers or their decision to screen] would be those campaigning or awards.” Shadow. show the activist documentary Diving Bell (aka The “These films can have a premiere in Los Angeles Rounding out the slate, Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol ), which explored or New York, and then they can come to us or inter- Hong Kong actor, singer, the Korean government’s response to the deadly national premiere,” he adds. songwriter, musician, Sewol erry disaster. In mainland China, neither Although IFFA Macao may add industry panels entrepreneur, and martial the Shanghai nor Beijing film estivals have carved and market activities, too, Filmart organizers say artist Nicholas Tse will star in out much global influence. And the much hyped they believe there is plenty o space in the Greater Emperors Cook Up A Storm, Qingdao International Film Festival — which was Chinese film sector or another major event. “The directed by Raymond Yip. expected to debut in 2017 at the $10 billion commer- Asian market now has the attention o consumers Emperor regular Tse will play cial real estate development-cum-movie production around the world,” says Peggie Liu, senior service a Cantonese street cook who acility being built by Dalian Wanda Group — is promotion manager o Filmart organizer HKTDC. competes against a Michelin- currently in jeopardy afer government regulators “The demand or quality entertainment content in starred che. denied it permission to hold an international jury the region is huge.” Meow, directed by Benny competition. IFFA Macao’s new ambassador To, who also Chan ( Shaolin) and starring Mueller and his team are also banking that serves as the vice-chairman o the Hong Kong Louis Koo and Ma Li, will be a Hollywood will be eager to participate in Macau, as International Film Festival, agrees that there is no comedy in which two pet own- the event will provide an invaluable international need or tension between the neighboring events. “I ers find out that their cats are PR opportunity in the ballooning Greater Chinese don’t believe in such a thing as conflict between film actually aliens come to earth market — Mainland box office grew by 48 percent estivals. We all promote film culture multilaterally to domesticate them. last year and is on track to surpass North America — I respect any estival that promotes cinema.”

China’s Huace Partners With Korea’s Kakao in Cartoon Adaptation Deal By Patrick Brzeski orea’s dominant mobile chat app and social media platorm Kakao has partnered with K leading Chinese film and TV company Huace Group to adapt five internet cartoon titles into eature films, TV shows and online dramas in China. Kakao’s first success in bringing its digital cartoons to screen came with the local Korean adap- tations o Moss in 2010, Secretly, Greatly in 2013 and Excl usi ve First Look the TV series Misaeng: Incomplete Life in 2014. Four o the new titles that Huace will adapt include Help! Breakup Ghost, Just One Shot , Girl in the Mirror and Casheoro. The fifh title is expected to be My Boss Dies Once a Day, according to local Call of Heroes sources. Sean Lau, center, leads a group of villagers in a rebellion against a corrupt general during the Qing Dynasty in directorBenny Chan’s period adventure Call of Heroes. The film is repped at Filmart by Universe Films. KakaoTalk, the company’s chat app, is used by 93% o smartphone owners in South Korea.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 2 e n Gaza Biopic Offers Unlikely Musical Uplif Nikkatsu Tests H i d d M Online Market G E Director Hany Abu-Assad turns dismay into delight with his poignant look at a determined wedding singer from a refugee camp who wins Arab Idol By Alex Ritman With Distance he story o how Mohammed Assaf in 2013 won stopped accepting auditions. The story goes that By Gavin J. Blair the second season o Arab Idol , the Middle Assa climbed over walls, but without a pass to apan’s Nikkatsu released TEast version o the global talent show, almost perorm was lef waiting in the hall, singing to the its Filmart market title seems as i it were written with a swooping musical other contestants. From there, it’s a classic eel- JTheir Distance online on biopic in mind. For Hany Abu-Assad, whose previous good trajectory: He was allowed to sing, made it Tuesday, making it available two eatures, Paradise Now and Omar , earned him to the finals in Beirut and was crowned the winner directly to global audiences as thousands o captivated through platorms including ans watched rom TV sets in iTunes, Google Play, YouTube caes and courtyards in Gaza and VIMEO. An app eaturing and the West Bank. stills, music and inormation Since then, Assa has about the film will be available toured relentlessly, been ree to download; users whose named a U.N. Goodwill interest is piqued can then Ambassador and become opt to pay $5.99 to watch the a figure o hope and unity ull film. across the occupied territo- “It’s a new approach to ries and wider region. distribution or a title that is Although Assa was at first also being theatrically released, skeptical about the film, Abu- essentially bypassing buyers Assad persuaded him that and going straight to audiences it was more about “positive around the world,” Taku Kato energy” than simply his own rom Nikkatsu’s international achievements. The singer business department told THR. went on to record two tracks Distance stars Ren, Minhyun that Abu-Assad says will “be and JR rom Korean boy band huge” but stopped short o NU’EST in a romantic entan- playing himsel, a role that glement ensemble drama. went to Gazan newcomer Nikkatsu admits it is unsure Qais Atallah. how the availability o the The Idol ’s shoot saw the film online will affect interest crew actually venture inside “For me, this movie is about how people can create beauty from ugliness,” Abu-Assad says of The Idol. rom buyers. Online view- Gaza, just months afer the ing will be geo-blocked in oreign language Oscar nominations, this tale o Israeli invasion last summer and the first time a film Germany until it screens at the triumph over adversity gave him “goosebumps,” has been made there in 30 years. Nippon Connection estival despite admitting to never having watched such Abu-Assad says the experience lef him in a there in May. programs. state o shock. “You won’t believe the amount o Abu-Assad’s The Idol tells the story o a 22-year- destruction there,” he says. “I just can’t believe that old wedding singer rom a reugee camp in Gaza, humanity is allowing these kinds o crimes.” THR IN HONG KONG Assa journeyed to Cairo with the hope o audition- But rom this came The Idol . And unlike Abu- ing or the show, no small eat given the somewhat Assad’s other eatures, which went deep into the NEWS tight border restrictions around his war-torn world o suicide bombings and enemy inormants Kevin Cassidy [email protected] homeland. Having persuaded Egyptian security to and lef the director eeling disheartened and ques- �� let him through, he then ound that the hotel where tioning his choice o trade, Assa ’s story “was such a Patrick Brzeski the trials were taking place had shut its doors and pleasure” to make. [email protected] �� Karen Chu [email protected] �� ... �� THE �CTRES S Gavin J. Blair [email protected] �� CARINA LAU Where is the best place to from Hong Kong? The veteran actress and unwind with a late drink For me it would have to be REVIEWERS Elizabeth Kerr singer can currently be seen in Hong Kong? Japan. [email protected] in From Vegas to Macau �. At a friend’s home. What are the best places Clarence Tsui [email protected] What is your “only in What do you consider to eat in Hong Kong? Hong Kong” moment? essentials to bring for Italian restaurant Da Piera Chen Enjoying dinner in a wooden events like the Hong Kong Domenico (�� Tung Lo Wan [email protected] boat at Causeway Bay’s Film Awards? Road, Causeway Bay) and ART & PRODUCTION typhoon shelter. Endless Perfume. the contemporary Chinese Peter B. Cury boats offering fresh seafood restaurant Howard’s [email protected] and fruit. Those were the Where’s the best place to Gourmet (��F, CCB Tower, � SALES days. escape to on a short trip Connaught Road Central). Ivy Lam [email protected] ��

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 3 Q&A DIRECTOR

HE PARABLE OF DAVID AND suffering. I think it all stems from Goliath tends to be overused that CEPA policy. Tand misapplied these days, but in the case of the small Despite glowing local reviews, the independent Hong Kong film Chinese press savaged Ten Years, Ten Years and its critics in the and the government banned the live Chinese government the analogy telecast of the ��th Hong Kong Film is most fitting. Awards since the film was up for best Made for less than $80,000 film. What are your thoughts on the with a cast and crew of volun- Chinese response to the film? teers, enthusiastic amateurs and I haven’t really considered film school students, Ten Years that as that’s politics. We had is a collection of five short films four script writers work on Ten that present a Hong Kong of the Years and one of them was from future, asking “what if” ques- Mainland China. She gave us so tions on a number of local issues. many ideas as she had experi- A segment called Extras deals enced a lot of the issues in the with the harassment faced by film but [in] her province in pro-democratic protestors; Season China. She comes from Wuhan of the End touches on the loss of where they have their own dialect identity wrought by the bulldoz- and the government has forced ers of development; Dialect deals them to speak Mandarin, margin- with the creeping dominance alizing their language. of Mandarin over Cantonese; Self-Immolator considers whether Speaking of language, that’s the hard core believers in Hong Kong topic of your segment in Ten Years, independence would adopt the calld Dialect . Could you explain the “The issues in the five short films are things extreme act of self-immolation people are conerned about,” Jevons says. inspiration behind it and what you for their cause; and Local Egg were trying to achieve? tackles censorship. For Ten Years the other four The five directors, Ng directors working on it looked at Ka-leung, Jevons Au, Chow Jevons Au it in a way of “what will happen Kwun-Wai, Fei-Pang Wong and in 10 years,” whereas I looked The young helmer discusses capturing the political zetgeist Kwok Zune never expected the back at the last ten years in Hong in Hong Kong with the controversial omnibus film Ten Years film to make it to theaters and Kong and what has changed and By Abid Rahman Ten Years quietly made its debut touched me specifically. So for at the Hong Kong Asian Film film about Hong Kong issues. For five issues in the five shorts films me language, both written and Festival in November last year. commercial projects, we don’t are things people are concerned spoken, has changed hugely. From there, through rapid word- have a chance to discuss these about, I think that’s why it was Mandarin and simplified Chinese of-mouth, the film began to sell kinds of topics. We wanted to such a huge success. text have become more important out its limited screenings, moving make a film we wanted to make, in Hong Kong. I’m a scriptwriter, to bigger theaters due to demand we really didn’t expect proper Ten Years was a rare local Cantonese that is my job. At the beginning, I and eventually going on to gross screenings at all. film made for a local Hong Kong wrote in Cantonese but as there’s ten times its budget. audience, why aren’t there more more and more Hong Kong-China One of the film’s directors How do you feel about the positive films like that? co-productions, we have to write Jevons Au, who directed the seg- reaction to the film in Hong Kong? There are more and more Hong in Mandarin and that’s not my ment Dialect, spoke to THR about It was a total surprise to us. We Kong-China co-productions mother tongue. It may seem simi- why Ten Years needed to be made went to the Hong Kong Asian due to the Closer Economic lar but it is totally different, and I and why it has struck a chord film festival and we had a single Partnership Arrangement don’t have the same confidence to with the local population. cinema, then more and more cin- (CEPA) policy. It seems like a articulate my feelings or ideas and emas joined in. Then we went to benefit to the Hong Kong film that was a big impact on me as it’s How did Ten Years come to be made? overseas film festivals. We never industry as there’s investment my career. From the very beginning, we just planned any of that, we didn’t and we can make films for a Also education is changing wanted to make a film together. expect this kind of reaction. Ten larger audience, the big China rapidly. As kids we used to learn We are five guys, coming from Years’ success made me feel that market. But, this kind of sys- Cantonese then Mandarin and different universities but we all many people in Hong Kong love tem induces behaviour to make now its Mandarin a lot earlier. wanted to know what the future their city and are interested and “Chinese” productions and I have a friend whose kid is in of Hong Kong will be for our concerned with its future. The so local film is declining and primary school and he can’t generation. We are of a similar speak to his son as the mother age, but it’s five different points of won’t allow the boy to speak view, so there’s more perspective ��K � � Cantonese as learning Mandarin BY THE Total gross for Nomination Number of films to see how Hong Kong will be. We Ten Years from a for the Hong Kong in the Hong Kong is so important. That’s what I’m had a very limited budget, so we NUMBERS �-week run that Film Awards International Film afraid of: how will we talk to the never exceeded � in the best film Fest this year (the wanted to make an independent screens category. other being Trivisa) next generation?

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 4 Meet Ghana’s Kick Ass Movie Posters The Hanart TZ gallery’s Kung Fu in Africa exhibition unveils a rare collection of lively, hand painted ﬁlm art from the ��s and ��s depicting everyone from Bruce Lee to Jean-Claude Van Damme By Patrick Brzeski

ONG KONG’S FILM HER ITAGE IS COMING FULL CIRCLE � BY “This is about returning to Hong Kong images that came from Hong way of West Africa. Kong but were never filtered through Chinese or Western eyes,” says Currently showing at Hanart TZ, one of the city’s finest galler- Wolfe. “There is an independent reality to their being that anyone can Hies dealing in Chinese contemporary art, is “Kung Fu in Africa,” immediately appreciate.” an exhibition of 32 colorful, hand-painted martial arts movie Sadly, the works on view at Hanart TZ already represent a lost form. posters, which were produced by enterprising artists in Ghana during By the late 1990s, import laws were relaxed in Ghana and a “tsunami” the 1980s and 1990s. Painted on huge canvas flour sacks, the images of technology swept into the country, including printing technology, are as delightful as they are unlikely. As the exhibi- cheap TVs and chalk boards, which artists use to tion’s curator Ernie Wolfe puts it: “These works are a make quicker and cheaper temporary signage.

Y R E product of globalization in the best possible way.” “Home viewing and the import of chalk boards L L A G Wolfe, a long-time dealer in African art via his ended this tradition,” says Wolfe. E F L O W namesake gallery in Los Angeles, collected the “What’s important about this show,” he adds, “is I E N R E works over dozens of trips to Ghana during the past that these posters were made during a time when F O Y S E two decades. A personal friendship with Hanart quite literally the best and brightest of Ghana’s art- T R U O founder Johnson Chang — the two went to college ists kept technology at bay and created images that C K R Ghana artists painted elaborate movie O together — lead to the galleries’ collaboration on the were utterly organic in their creation and in their W T posters on canvas ﬂour sacks. Most artists R A current show. never saw the movies ﬁrst. invention.”

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 5 Mandarin Oriental Sanya, China

Making A Quick Getaway After few days of frenetic negotiations you’ll need a few days of rest and relaxation, here’s ﬁve destinations close to Hong Kong that will take your mind oﬀ work in no time By Abid Rahman

OUR DAYS OF INTENSE DEALMAKING AT FILMART CAN TAKE IT OUT OF THE Nezima Beach best o us, so what better way to unwind afer the market than a quick trip some- House, Boracay, where to recharge the batteries. We’ve picked ﬁve very diﬀerent places to suit all Philippines Ftastes where you can lose yoursel or a ew days. And best o all, they are all only a ew short hours on a plane rom Hong Kong.

The Adventure Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines HOWBoth Philippines Air WHERE Six Senses Ninh Van and Hainan Airlines all fly to and Cebu Pacific fly the � Bay, Vietnam Sanya several times daily. hour trip to Boracay’s Caticlan WHY Situated in a sandy bay airport via Manilla several overlooked by mountains, the The Beach times daily. Six Senses Ninh Van Bay resort WHERE Nezima Beach House, is a feast for the eyes but its Boracay, Philippines The Food also a place to explore. Hop on WHY This one is a no-brainer. WHERE Bangkok, Thailand a bicycle and visit the interior Boracay is simply stunning WHY Up until recently, the Thai with its lush paddy fields, gor- with crystal clear waters, capital was better known for magazine and tenth best in the one of the most accessible big geous scenery and delicious sun and white sand aplenty. its rowdy nightlife and glitter- world. Gaggan, the contempo- cities in Asia with excellent air local food. Inspired by Balinese architec- ing array of Buddhist temples rary Indian restaurant is simply links. Several airlines fly the HOWVietnam Airlines flies the ture, Nezima is located right rather than world class dining. a must for anyone who takes �-hour route daily from Hong � hour route to Nha Trang via on the beach so you don’t even Sure, the best Thai food food tourism seriously. Other Kong, including Cathay Pacific, Ho Chi Minh City once daily. have to move too far and it has anywhere is found in Bangkok, gems include Nahm, Issaya Thai and Bangkok Airways. all the other amenities and but now the city boasts the Siamese Club and Eat Me. The Spa facilities you’d expect of a top best restaurant in all of Asia HOWDespite its outwardly The Experience WHERE Mandarin Oriental class resort. according to Restaurant chaotic nature, Bangkok is WHERE Yangon, Myanmar Sanya, China WHY A formerly closed coun- WHY A trip to the Mainland try, Myanmar has begun to might seem counterintuitive open itself to visitors looking after the hustle and bustle of to sample one of the most Hong Kong, but Sanya is an intriguing cultures in Asia. island paradise a million miles Yangon is a wonderful city away from the hectic China to explore steeped as it is in of popular imagination. The history and cultural influence Mandarin Oriental has created from the British, the Chinese, a resort that’s sole focus is the Indian and of course making you feel completely Burmese cultures. Yangon is relaxed. There’s yoga, the also youthful and vibrant too. beach and an award-winning Make sure to check out art spa that uses both traditional space TS� and the incredibly Chinese medicine and more hip Port Autonomy restaurant. modern techniques and HOWAt just over � hours, treatments. Yangon is worth the extra time HOWLess than a �-hour flight Six Senses Ninh flying. Thai Airways flies via Van Bay, Vietnam from Hong Kong, Cathay Bangkok once a day.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 6

EXECUTIVE SUITE

FOUNDER, EASTERNLIGHT FILMS Ying Ye The L.A. and Beijing-based exec on China’s appetite for horror movies, dealing with censors and the future of the quota system By Patrick Brzeski

N 2005, YING YE FOUNDED EASTERNL IGHT Films, the Asian offshoot o influential film sales outfit Arclight Films, established by Iher husband, Gary Hamilton. The timing o the company’s eastward push would prove ortuitous. Initially based in Los Angeles and Sydney, Easternlight grew to acquire one o “I think importing smaller films [in China] is getting the most ormidable Asian film libraries o tougher and tougher,” says any indie label not stationed in the region. Ying, who was photographed by Scott Witter on March � At the same time, Ying’s work in her native at her office in Beverly Hills. China helped the company build the rela- tionships that would make the banner’s first new trend or those that have the scale and ghost story or a slasher. Not too much blood, major production success possible. In 2012, resources to do that. The advantage is that nothing supernatural. Supernatural stories relatively early in China’s recent ascendance the movies you produce in China through a will only be accepted i they are based on as the world’s astest growing major film mar- China-based joint venture will be categorized a classic Chinese story. The horror in Nest ket, Arclight produced horror thriller Bait 3D as Chinese, so the import difficulties are not comes rom a spider. We’re going to do a via its budding genre label Darclight Films. an issue. The challenge is finding the right whole slate o these types o films or China. Crucially, Ying’s contacts in China contrib- local parter, and this takes a lot o time and We have three movies that have already gotten uted a sizable chunk o the film’s financing trust. For co-productions, you need to meet censorship approval. In our pipeline, we have and helped arrange or portions o the picture a lot o criteria to qualiy as a co-production a dozen movies that are very solid. We have to be shot there. Although the movie was with the government: the film needs to have scripts and amous Chinese actors and good officially a Singapore-Australia co-produc- enough Chinese story elements, cast and directors in negotiation. Hopeully, we’ll make tion, Chinese authorities deemed that it had locations, and then you need to get the local two or three this year. Also, we’re going to do enough Chinese cast and story elements to government approval and the central govern- the sequel to Bait. qualiy as a Chinese co-production, granting ment approval and the co-production SARFT it permission to access the theatrical market permit. So there are a lot o processes to go You mean Deep Water , the film that was without going through the country’s notori- through. put on hold after the flight MH�� went missing? ous import quota. The film grossed some $25 Did you have to retool the story? million, an unheard o perormance or an You made the co-production system work very Yes, that’s the one. We’ve actually had so Australian genre film in China at the time. well for Bait �D back in ��. What did you learn many investors chasing us and asking us when The company’s next release, on which Ying from the process? we’re going to make it. These are people who is a producer, will be the monster picture First o all, it was a different genre than the invested in Bait 3D and they’re very eager or Nest , starring Chinese superstar Li Bingbing, market had seen. It was a light horror film. us to move orward with the sequel. But we Kellan Lutz and Kelsey Grammer. Ying, who There’s an appetite or these kinds o mov- had to wait a while, because in that instant, it divides her time between offices in LA, Sydney ies, because there haven’t been many horror was just so… you know. We’re thinking proba- and Beijing — and airplanes — sat down with films made and released in China because o bly next year will be okay. THR to talk about the censorship challenges censorship issues. But so many Chinese young but huge market potential o the horror genre people have ound a way to watch these types A lot of industry players are speculating that at the in China and whether Hollywood can expect o films online and they love them. They hav- ��, when the U.S.-China film trade agreement some o the barriers to the booming Chinese en’t seen them on the big screen yet. That’s expires, that the import quota of �� films might be theatrical market to be lifed anytime soon. what made Bait 3D successul. So with Nest , lifted. Do you think that will happen? we’re coming back with the same director That’s a question that everyone in the Chinese The are various models that international film and the same team and one o China’s biggest industry is discussing, on both the govern- companies have been pursuing to access stars, Li Bingbing. ment and private sector sides. I honestly China. Smaller film companies can sell their titles cannot see that happening — them dropping to Chinese distributors for a one-time flat fee, How do you develop horror films like Nest that the the quota altogether. In some way, they while the studio’s compete fiercely for the �� Chinese censors can tolerate? will open up, but they will keep some other import slots allocated for releases that get to Well, we spoke with the censorship commit- restrictions and control, too. Maybe they will share box office revenue. What are some of tee early on and they read the script and remove the specific number, but there will still the advantages and disadvantages of each model they really love the concept. The censorship be hurdles. You could optimistically begin in the current climate? committee is a little more open-minded now. to prepare or the quota to lif, but ocusing There is a large burden or Chinese distribu- There have been a lot o Hong Kong-Chinese on doing films or the ull Chinese audience tors who want to import films. It’s hard, but co-productions with quite a lot o violence is the key. Making movies that can excite the many are also very motivated. and action. The whole story is set in China, mainstream audience is a requirement that Partnering with Chinese companies is the the lead actress is Chinese. And it’s not a won’t change.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 8 SEE & BE SEEN at the CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTI VA L

CANNES PREVIEW ISSUE 5/4 CLOSE: 4/27 MATERIALS: 4/29

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CREEPY Director Kurosawa CONTINUED FROM PAGE � sets the right tone but the film fails to pay off. madness sidebars, and the tale holds viewers in its grip or much o its 130-minute running time. An ace cast adds almost too much depth, and one can sense the actors shimmying into their genre roles with difficulty. Add in the director’s ollowing, and the Shochiku release should have little trouble raising the tempera- ture o the horror market. Dapper and broodingly cool, police detective Koichi Takakura (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is called in to interview a brash young serial killer at headquarters. He is excited to talk to “the perect psychopath.” But the youth escapes and sows panic in the building, leading to a promising and dynamic opening sequence. A year later the action resumes: Koichi has retired rom the orce and is teaching his specialty, criminal psychology, to college students. He and his wie, Yasuko (Yuko Takeuchi, an early victim in the classic Ring ), are moving into a new house in the suburbs to start a new lie. The only problem is the neighbors. Teruyuki Kagawa), probably the repulsive than scary. having a laugh. The screenplay, which film’s title character, and cer- Koichi’s status as a reliable Ambience also plays a major Kurosawa co-wrote with tainly its best. Though he makes hero is never totally cast in doubt, role, and Akiko Ashizawa’s Chihiro Ikeda, based on Yutaka it abundantly clear he doesn’t as happens to the detective-hero lighting keeps a cloud o gloom Maekawa’s novel, is quite intri- want company, Yasuko insists — in Cure, but there are moments hanging over every shot. The cate and laden with intriguing rather hilariously — on bringing when he loses control. Nishijima, cluttered, claustrophobic houses twists. Not quite satisfied with over her home cooking in an who starred in Kurosawa’s License with their narrow entranceways academic lie, Koichi becomes attempt to overcome his “lack o to Live and played the tortured and low ceilings suggest the curious about an unsolved social skills.” The audience knows cineaste in Amir Naderi’s Cut , characters’ repressed desires, missing-persons case in a nearby better. Not only does Nishino continually hints at a deeper in much the same way their town. Rather surprisingly, his or- have a schoolgirl daughter who dimension to the detective who junky backyards pockmarked mer assistant Nogami (Masahiro proclaims, “He’s not my ather, has thrown in the towel. He seems with abandoned appliances and Higashide) turns up, requesting he’s a total stranger” to Koichi, to be heading or an identity crisis overgrown chain ences remind him to inormally investigate. he also has an invalid wie who is in a Kafaesque scene where he is us o some unresolved issues in A ather, mother and son seen about as oen as Norman hauled into police headquarters. the attic. But the nearest the film mysteriously disappeared rom Bates’ mother. Admittedly, his story about the comes to identiying the source o their house six years ago, leaving All o these ingredients should bad things happening to his wie all this psycho-cinema is Yasuko’s their junior high daughter Saki come together in a mouth-wa- and neighbor is too wild to make involuntary conession o dissat- behind. Like so many characters tering finale, but such is not the sense, but the film chooses not to isaction with her marriage — too in Kurosawa films, Saki has some case; in act, the film becomes go there. little, too late. serious memory problems and more obvious and less psycholog- A saving grace is the tongue-in- has blanked out on what exactly ical as it goes on. Kurosawa is not cheek humor that keeps popping HKIFF Section Closing Film happened. But Koichi is ready to a gore lover, and there is noth- up at unexpected moments. Cast Hidetoshi Nishijima, browbeat her to find out. ing to cringe over when things When Koichi instructs his class Yuko Takeuchi, Teruyuki Kagawa, Meanwhile, back home, haus- heat up. On the other hand, the on the three types o psycho-kill- Haruna Kawaguchi, rau Yasuko patiently tries to last-reel revelations, awkwardly ers — organized, disorganized Masahiro Higashide break the ice with the weirdo next doled out as the victims mul- and mixed characteristics — one Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa door, Mr. Nishino (Tokyo Sonata’s tiply uncontrollably, are more can hear the college-pro director 130 minutes

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 10 Brand is a privileged young German woman who decides to take a road less traveled. The Navel of the Earth Kazushige Togo’s understated comedy unfolds in a futuristic Kyoto where localized foreigners help Japanese understand their own culture ��

OU FOREIGNERS HAVE and Kappa Kunikida) struggling stolen Kyoto rom the to adhere to stringent daily YJapanese!” so says a rituals and having their language character in Kazushige Togo’s corrected (by oreigners, o 2057-set drama in which the course). city is basically taken over by But the main cultural clash �� expatriates. But The Navel of the here takes place between Nin Earth doesn’t take its cue rom, (J.A.T.D. Nishantha), a South say, Blade Runner . Rather, the Asian taxi driver, and Mei (Meibi low-budget indie production is Yamanouchi), a ditzy Japanese Bitterwseet more a eel-good utopian com- tourist. Afer ailing to stop a edy in which cultural differences thie rom nicking Mei’s suit- Sound designer Krishna Ashu Bhati steps are played up merely or gentle case, Nin is orced to take her in. behind the camera for this gritty, yet uneven drama laughs. The pair’s interaction subverts with a stellar turn by newcomer Lisa Brand Shot on digital video in 2008 expectations one might have �� and finally making its interna- about their cultural identities: IRECTORIAL DEBUT OF SOUND DESIGNER AND tional premiere at Filmart this while Nin abides strictly to his composer Krishna Ashu Bhati, Bittersweet is an ambi- year, The Navel of the Earth is host country’s traditions — rom Dtiously crafed drama that makes revealing statements admittedly ar rom a cinematic demeanor to diet — Mei is brash, about affluent capitalist societies and the clash o old and new val- treat. Somehow surprisingly, preers bread to rice, and is ues, but ails to deliver due to sketchy characterization and weak however, the film hasn’t dated unabashed in dismissing Kyoto’s acting — though Lisa Brand is certainly a talent to watch out or. that much, and the many morsels cultural merits. Mina (Brand), a would-be German med school student, decides o wit still play well. While not Somehow, it will be Nin who to move out o her conservative parents’ sumptuous home to live exactly fit or a theatrical release, helps Mei rediscover the beauty with her sister, Mandy, a prostitute. Almost immediately, Mina the title could still work on the o her country and culture, as he meets and alls in love with Tony (Manuel Armando Cortez), a DJ, ancillary markets – especially or shows her around Kyoto’s tourist at a riend’s party. She soon finds out about Tony’s financial prob- in-flight entertainment on planes hotspots. This is perhaps partly lems when debt collectors coerce both o them into repayment. bound or Japan. an excuse or Togo and his DP Failing to get help rom amily and riends, she takes up her sister’s The film’s title stems rom a Rou Makiitsu (who passed away proposition o selling her virginity. belie harbored by a character in 2009) to showcase the city’s The film makes an interesting point about the limited options in the film about Kyoto being cultural and culinary splendor; available to people who opt or a non-mainstream path and young- the “center o the world.” In a the director himsel was giving sters trying to gain independence. Everyone has a ‘dream’ — even way, the ancient Japanese city out Kyoto postcards to people at the gangster has his swingers club — but everyone gets sucked into has become a hub as such, as the Filmart screening. But someone thing or another. Drugs, sex, money, the Internet are their decades-long passport-ree access how the film also transcends this vices and the fillers o their vapid lives. have led to the city becoming a travel-brochure component with Above all this, Mina stands like Venus on a seashell. She has cosmopolitan nirvana. Somehow, a simple narrative brimming with a propensity or spacing out, which doesn’t just happen at her the Japanese-speaking oreigners humor and on-screen relation- parents’ middle-class home, but even when she’s with Tony at her have become the locals, as they ships oozing humanity. sister’s boudoir. This sets her apart rom the other characters who man police stations, own restau- all try but ail to rise above themselves. She becomes disillusioned rants and teach traditional arts. Sales Genki Production and her decision at the very end o the film paints a terribly bleak Against this backdrop, the Cast Meibi Yamanouchi, J.A.T.D. picture o the uture or dropouts rom the mainstream. Brand tacky tourists coming into town Nishantha, Takahi Taniguchi, shines as a 19-year-old who demonstrates equal parts vulnerability are actually Japanese, as shown Kappa Kunikida and confidence. Behind her pensive gullibility lurks a razor-sharp in a running gag o an over-ex- Director Kazushige Togo intelligence that evokes Emma Stone. cited couple (Takashi Taniguchi 74 minutes Tony and his LSD-dropping hippie riends rave about healing and mindulness in 70s garb but none o the talk ever gets above �� clichés. Tony is a potentially interesting character, but sometimes �� leaves you scratching your head. He’s superficial, narcissistic, and seems to like Mina. Yet the superficiality, the narcissism, the ondness or her, none o it convinces. There’s a nagging insincerity about him thanks as much to the writing as the acting, that under- mines even the superficiality. This makes his reactions at pivotal moments in the film, like when in bed with Mina and at the end when the debtors knock, downright baffling. The music and insights into European psyculture will be eye-opening to audiences unamiliar with the scene.

Sales Wide Nishantha, left, and Cast Lisa Brand, Manuel Cortez, Steﬀen C. Jurgens, Milton Welsh, Yamanouchi have little in common. Stefan Lampadius// Director Krishna Ashu Bhati // 95 min

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Youn, center, takes in a young boy after his mother is arrested. who appears to be at once his Autohead girlriend and an escort whom he transports to her clients. Rohit Mittal’s debut But she is not the only source revolves around a film crew o Narayan’s snowballing rus- following a Mumbai cabbie’s trations: a lowly-educated man decent into madness hailing rom a village in the �� Indian-Nepalese borderlands, he NDIAN CINEMA F INALLY is shown — via ootage shot rom catches up with the moc- a pursuing vehicle or a Go-Pro Ikumentary genre with camera installed within his Rohit Mittal’s s debut about a auto-rickshaw — bullied by other film crew’s spiraling shoot o a drivers, chastised by passengers psychotic cabbie’s increasingly and constantly nagged at by deadly deeds. A cross o Rémy his mother who has arrived in Belvaux’s legendary 1992 film Mumbai to check on him. Man Bites Dog and Taxi Driver , A mess o contradictions, Autohead is admittedly late in Narayan will soon turn increas- The Bacchus Lady coming but better than never. ingly homicidal and the This well-designed title actually documentary crew themselves Veteran Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung delivers a powerful reveals a lot about the multitude eventually become willing performance as a sex worker confronting her and o schisms within Indian society accomplices to all this mayhem. her ex-patron’s problems in old age �� today, while also taking a jab at But just like in the 1996 Japanese RETTY U PSTARTS, BEWARE: PLEA SE MAKE WAY FOR the country’s inatuation with film Focus — in which a seemingly the grand dame. Already into the fifh decade o her career, cinema and celebrities. meek interviewee turns the tables Pveteran thespian Youn Yuh-jung shows her younger coun- Autohead ’s protagonist is on the manipulative TV produc- terparts how the job should be done in The Bacchus Lady, a gritty Narayan (Deepak Sambat), a ers tailing him – Autohead sees drama about an elderly sex worker conronting not just the reper- moto-tricycle driver being filmed the crew ending up in a much, cussions o her own spiraling mortality but that o her past and by a three-person crew (led by much worse place than at the present clients. Mittal, playing a director him- beginning. While mild when Reteaming with helmer E J-yong (Untold Scandal, Dasepo sel) as he whizzes around town. compared to the myriad ea- Naughty Girls) — with whom she flourished playing a version o From the outset, Narayan also tures which have been produced hersel in the documentary-drama mash-ups o Actresses (2009) appears to be a bit off-kilter. worldwide about the exploitative and Behind the Camera (2013) — Youn has delivered a nuanced, He muses about how he’s got nature o modern mass media dignified turn worthy o attention and awards aplenty. Youn plays talents nobody cares about, and Autohead is still an audacious So-young, a woman who peddles sexual services to retirees in a that the documentary will make attempt to shine a light on a park in Seoul. The title reers to her way o soliciting business, as “everybody know about me.” He society where the moving image she codes her offer through an invitation o opening a bottle o delights in talking on camera reigns supreme. Bacchus energy drink or interested men. about his sexual skills, while Despite having contacted gonorrhea, she persists in her job so dismissing all women as merely HKIFF Section Indie Power as to pay or her son’s university studies in the U.S., with her using gold-diggers who have orgotten Sales Salker Films what’s lef to pay or her very modest lie in a run-down apartment the “social revolutionary” poten- and Amit Verma Films next to a young disabled figurine maker (Yoon Kye-sang) and a tials o love. Cast Deepak Sambat, transgender nightclub singer (An A-zu). His misogyny stems rom Ronjini Chakroborty, Rohit Mittal So-young’s predicaments begin afer she takes in a boy (Choi his troubled relationship with Director Rohit Mittal Hyun-jun), whose Filipino mother is arrested afer a violent run-in Rupa (Ronjini Chakroborty), 97 minutes with her ex-partner. As she attends to the needs o the child, problems rom her pension-aged acquaintances begin to seep in, Sambat is the Travis Bickle of moto-tricycle drivers. ranging rom the awkward needs o current customers and also observations o the deteriorating health o patrons who once paid or her services. In what is perhaps a nod to her career-defining murderous emme atale roles in the 1960s, Youn again gets to play the angel o death here — but an unwilling one, perhaps, as she is somehow pushed into helping old men end their sorry, conused lives. It’s perhaps air to describe Youn as having outdone her younger sel here with a perormance banking not on histrionics but delicate representations o guilt and despondency. Given the obsession with beauty and youth in South Korean screen entertainment, The Bacchus Lady is an audacious reminder o how lives could be lived once the youthul vigor is gone.

HKIFF Section Gala Premiere Cast Youn Yuh-jung, Chon Moo-song, Yoon Kye-sang, An A-zu, Choi Hyun-jun // Director E J-yong // 110 minutesw

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 12 but rigorously executed drama should please never clear i she’s very absent-minded or per- international estival audiences brought up on haps just extremely guarded or standoffish. Charlie Kauman screenplays while at home This only urther adds to both her beguiling it should solidiy the reputation o opera air o mystery and the sense that she’s a blank and theater director Johannes Schmid, here canvas that people like Walter can project �� directing his third eature film, and striking their own desires on. And this is exactly what leads Odine Johne and Stephan Kampwirth. happens when she suggests he pen a romance Johne, right, asks Kampwirth to write a novel about their relationship. The film opens in media res to suggest novel about their slowly deepening bond. something very dramatic will happen down At first, the story has un contrasting the the line beore flashing back to the first time differences between the duo’s real and fic- Agnes Agnes (Johne) runs into Walter (Kampwirth), tional selves, with Agnes questioning Walter’s as the novel’s nameless narrator has been decision to highlight or omit certain details A rigorous, well-acted adaptation called here. He’s a non-fiction writer research- rom their courtship. Editor Henk Drees’s of Peter Stamm’s bestselling novel of the ing a vague book idea and she’s a young precision cutting, which keeps toggling same name �� physicist. Schmid, who co-wrote the adapta- between the real and fictional worlds, is key SOMEWHAT STUFF Y NON�FICTION tion with Nora Laemmermann, manages to in making sure audiences can always ollow writer in his early orties is ascinated clearly convey that it’s Walter who is immedi- the story. Schmid’s firm handle on the mate- Aby an icy blonde at least a decade his ately attracted to Agnes. Indeed, her ethereal, rial is equally important, even i it gradually junior in the high-minded yet structurally slightly otherworldly qualities — imagine a slips in the film’s second latter reels, which jocular German drama Agnes. Based on the young Mia Farrow and you’re halway there start to eel a bit repetitive and drawn-out bestseller by Swiss-German author Peter — immediately stand out in the otherwise beore closing in on the finale, which under- Stamm, this is the kind o relationship drama entirely unremarkable university library in lines how lie is different rom most stories in in which the stunning emale lead pushes the Dusseldor (changed rom Chicago in the that lie doesn’t have to end unless someone male protagonist to write a romance novel novel) where they first meet. actually dies. about their relationship, allowing him to Agnes is a striking but also somewhat effectively look past the present and into the unusual presence. She ofen looks like she’s Sales Pluto Film Distribution Network past and the uture and rewrite or actually living in her own world rather than the phys- Cast Odine Johne, Stephan Kampwirth, invent parts o their courtship. This low-key ical world shared by everyone else and it is Director Johannes Schmid // 102 minutes

at the end o January the film Sori: got trounced at the box office by Kung Fu Panda 3. Not surprising, considering Sori may look like �� Voice From �� a heartwarming amily, sci-fi The Heart drama on the surace but is, in reality, a sensitive, mostly suc- Journeyman supporting cessul meditation on grie and player Lee Sung-Min ventures reconciling the people we think into a starring role we know with who they really in a touching sci-fi drama are. Though nearly indefinable, �� Sori ’s brand o bittersweet accep- �� IKE THE MUTANT tance o loss — without being an ��

offspring o Short Circuit outright weepie — could receive Lee teams up Land Robot & Frank , Lee a warm reception regionally and with an A.I. to find his missing Ho-Jae’s Sori: Voice from the also find a place on Asia-ocused daughter. Heart is that peculiarly engaging estivals globally. and engagingly peculiar genre Sori starts with a flashback may still be alive. discoveries he makes about the mash-up with a semi-tragic to 1990, with customs worker Beore that however, Sori daughter he was sure he knew undercurrent the Korean indus- Hae-Kwan (Lee Sung-Min, The details a satellite, S19, alling (played by Chae Soo-Bin in try does so well. Chronicling the Attorney) and his wie rantically rom orbit and quickly getting flashback). Lee balances regret odd bond between the grieving looking or their missing, clearly hunted by both (hilariously stiff) and disbelie effortlessly, and ather o a murdered child and stubborn daughter Yoo-Ju. All American NSA types, its creator makes the man’s sadness real the sentient AI-loaded com- ends well with ather and daugh- NASA and their South Korean without tipping into histrionics. munications satellite he finds ter making a pact stating that intelligence and scientific counter- As his partner in quasi-crime, washed up on a beach on their should this happen again, they’d parts: Agent Shin (Lee Hee-Jun) Lee Honey brings a smart, mutual quests to find “her,” meet at their avorite ice cream and engineer Ji-Yun (Lee Honey). no-nonsense attitude to the role, Sori hangs a very conventional shop. In 2013 Yoo-Ju is missing The threads come together when underwritten as it is. Tech specs story on a gooy structure but again, this time tragically pre- the government discovers Hae- are polished across the board. somehow manages to pull it off sumed dead in the disastrous fire Kwan has the tech he’s dubbed thanks to a pair o strong central (by arson) that ripped through Sori, and Ji-Yun empathizes with Sales Lotte Entertainment perormances and a premise so the Daegu subway in 2003. Hae-Kwan’s plight. Director Lee Ho-Jae ridiculous it can be orgiven it Presumed dead by everyone, Sori is at its strongest when Cast Lee Sung-Min, Lee Hee-Jun, trespasses. that is, except her ather, who is it ocuses on Hae-Kwan and Lee Honey, Shim Eun-Kyoung When it was released in Korea unable to give up on the idea she the surprising onion layer style 117 minutes

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 13 REVIEWS

Ta’ang Documentarian Wang Bing examines the lives of refugees living on the war-torn borderlands between Myanmar and China ��

HILE ALL EYES their host cultures, complete with remain set on the waves T-shirts and cellphones. Wo reugees landing But they are outsiders, nev- on European shores, Chinese ertheless, and Wang chronicles documentary-maker Wang Bing’s their slow trek home. Though latest offers a stark reminder there’s not much trekking, actu- that similarly tragic dislocations ally. Much o the film is devoted are happening elsewhere as well. to depicting the reugees being A two-and-a-hal-hour treatise stranded in an alien land with about an ethnic minority moving minimal support and resources. between their war-torn homeland When Wang cuts away rom in Myanmar and the Chinese this first group, he then ollows border towns in which they try yet another band o returnees to seek shelter, Ta’ang is slightly who stopped moving in the mid- protracted but still visually and dle o a muddy road afer hearing Jadidi is a suave detective in Iran in ��. thematically engrossing. explosions and shooting in the Wang — whose previous distance. Again, Wang manages work was mostly ocused on the to reflect the complex social and A Dragon Arrives! marginalized in Chinese society psychological make-up o these Director Mani Haghighi’s noirish ghost story questions or history — has somehow allen reugees: a woman is wearing a Iranian history �� into step with the zeigeist, both in floral hat, jeans and sneakers, terms o its depiction o a reugee while a man walks on, carrying UZZLING YET THOROUGHLY ENTERTAINING, MANI crisis and also the international a quaint yellow umbrella in one Haghighi’s A Dragon Arrives! lands somewhere between a ocus on the uture o a post-dic- hand and a machete in the other. Pmockumentary, a ghost story and a hard-boiled detective tatorship Myanmar. In Ta’ang , Wang’s eye or yarn, with a pinch o Indiana Jones tossed in. Set on the surre- Ta’ang begins with a scene intriguing visual juxtapositions al-looking desert island o Qeshm in the Persian Gul, it playully which is amiliar to many doc- comes alongside intriguing throws a handul o characters into a search or some incredible umentaries about reugees: a raming and lighting: using only truth that supposedly lies buried in a haunted cemetery. uniormed man, presumably a natural light, the fireside scenes It’s 1964 and detective Hafizi (suave newcomer Amir Jadidi) is Chinese reugee camp guard, bring out the weary reugees’ in trouble. He has been drugged and abducted by his own agency, abuses and kicks a tradition- rugged acial contours. Adding and is being interrogated by his implacable boss, Major Jahangiri ally-attired and seemingly to that is a soundtrack capturing (Kamran Saamanesh), about what exactly transpired on the uncommunicative tribeswoman the distinct ambience surround- island o Qeshm. Things are not as they seem, however, because rom the titular ethnic minority. ing the individuals — Emmanuel we are soon told that Babak and Jahangiri are actually coun- But onscreen state violence Soland’s sound-work providing terspies who have infiltrated the agency, a stand-in or SAVAK, and cultural exotica ends here. a texture vital to the viewer’s the Shah’s dread secret police network. They are good guys who Afer this brie scene, officials understanding and empathy o distribute inormation indiscriminately to all the country’s opposi- and soldiers have become nearly people whose lives are shaped tion parties. absent; orced by the Chinese by looming circumstances ar In any case, Hafizi looks extremely hot in a Blues Brothers suit authorities to return home to beyond their control. and hat and an amazing orange Chevy when he turns up to investi- Kokang in Myanmar — the gate the suicide o a political prisoner sent into exile on the island. battleground o Myanmar’s army HKIFF Section Masters Call it a flashback, described by a range o unreliable off-screen and anti-government rebels — the and Auteurs narrators. Accompanied by local gumshoe Charaki (Ali Bagheri), Ta’ang individuals seen onscreen Director Wang Bing he finds the dead man still hanging rom a rope aboard the rusty are thoroughly assimilated to 148 minutes ship he has made his home. Oddly, the ship is nowhere near water but is in the middle o a sandy cemetery, but that’s another story. Refugees from During the night, afer the corpse is buried in the ancient Myanmar attempt to cemetery, an earthquake knocks Hafizi out o bed. Qeshm has assimilate in China. had major quakes beore, but how can they be limited to just one cemetery? O the many questions the film gives rise to, the most difficult one to answer is whether all this has a hidden meaning. Politics? Oil? The rise o Islam? The language o allegory being as veiled as it is in Iran, it’s probably best to just sit back and enjoy the ride in detective Babak Hafizi’s bright-orange Impala.

HKIFF Section Global Vision Cast Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Director-screenwriter-producer Mani Haghighi // 108 minutes

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 14 ��

The Storm Inside

Fois is an Fabrice Camoin makes his feature debut with an alcoholic who adaptation of Marguerite Duras’ �� novel Ten-Thirty on decides to help a murderer. a Summer Night ��

IDDLE�AGE MALAISE AND THE SEARCH FOR SOMETHING other on the hotel roo, she impulsively offers to help sneak him across greater is at heart o The Storm Inside, a quietly affecting psy- the border, and ultimately onto a ship to Morocco. Having ew options, Mchodrama rom debuting filmmaker Fabrice Camoin, adapted Nabil finds himsel going along with her plan. rom Marguerite Duras’s novel, Ten-Thirty on a Summer Night . The From the opening minutes o painterly, otherworldly landscapes Storm Inside reers not only to the event that sets the action in motion and oreboding skies, The Storm Inside suggests the roiling emotions but to the conflicting desires and ears o the central characters as they o its characters and the baffling, reckless choices they make in a search or redemption o sorts rom their own lives. Economical with delicate balancing act that maintains empathy and dispenses with its words as well as its images and loaded with themes ranging rom judgment. Maria’s reckless decisions ofen strain credulity, but then casual racism, collapsing marriage and bourgeois activism, The Storm Camoin, co-writer Ariane Fert and Fois wrestle her back to reality with Inside is likely to find the most exposure on the esitval circuit, in lim- an understated dose o sel-awareness. She reers to hersel as “anaes- ited release in Europe where much o subject matter will be amiliar, thetized” to her own lie, making her requent flashes o lucidity more and in art house markets overseas. painul than inuriating, especially with regards to Judith. Similarly, Sel-destructive alcoholic Maria (Marina Fois, Polisse), her husband Bouajila makes Nabil, who could easily tip over into the abyss o sym- Pierre (Louis-Do De Lencquesaing, Looking for Her ), their daughter bolic archetype (he calls Maria out on her “middle-class alcoholism” Judith (Jeanne Jestin) and amily riend Louise (Valerie Donzelli) and desire to “save” the Arab), shades the remorseul cuckold with have their summer vacation interrupted when a violent thunderstorm equal parts ury, shame and emotional hurt as he toggles between closes the roads between France and Spain and strands them on the running away and turning himsel in. border. Afer checking into an overcrowded hotel or the night, Maria Camoin’s debut is an assured, i occasionally on-the-nose, explora- wanders into a local pub and proceeds to drink away her unhappi- tion o individuals on the verge o imploding. ness. At the same time, a manhunt is on or Nabil (Sami Bouajila, The Crew), an Arab man who just killed his wie and her lover, by both the Sales Reel Suspects // Cast Marina Fois, Sami Bouajila, Valerie Donzelli police and some angry locals. When Maria and Nabil encounter each Director Fabrice Camoin // 84 minutes

tropes rom road movies, paranormal thrillers country, as shopping arcades go up in flames, and documentaries. Meanwhile, characters anti-government protests rock Bangkok and are also allowed to move beyond the cliched shoot-outs erupt in the south between the social binaries tearing the southeast Asian army and separatist insurgents. country apart in recent years, with their jour- Terror finally catches up with them during ney eventually ending at a haven where class, their first night on the road, as Laila stops ethnicity and religion no longer matter. the car to search or a chained, naked woman The Island Funeral begins with its three she insists she had seen sprinting across the protagonists traveling through the conflict-rid- road. While she returns unscathed, having den Thai province o Pattani, where Muslim ound nothing, the Pandora’s box o ear and siblings Laila (Heen Sasithorn) and Zugood sel-loathing is already open. The siblings’ The search for a missing relative drives much of the plot in Island. (Aukrit Pornsumpunsuk) — accompanied by bubbly riend’s lively demeanor disintegrates the latter’s riend (Yossawat Sittiwong) — plan as he blurts out that Laila and Zugood are to visit their hometown and an aunt whom putting him at risk in a land o menacing The Island they haven’t seen since childhood. Penned by Muslims — a comment that reveals his sup- Pimpaka and well-known Thai film critic Kong pressed prejudices, something that suraces Funeral Rithdee— who, like the siblings, is a Muslim again the next day as he and Zugood offer di- living in Bangkok — the screenplay introduces erent takes on the history o a local mosque. Pimpaka Towira’s second feature these pretty young things with a succinct air- The riend, who remains unnamed through- charts three young urbanites’ journey ing o their petty cosmopolitan traits. Through out the film, is only a cipher. Just like in into rural Thailand �� cocky and barbed exchanges, they reveal their Pimpaka’s previous films The Island Funeral HERE A RE NO SIDES FOR US,” SAYS worldview in which maps are archaic, mobile places its emphasis on women struggling in one o The Island Funeral ’s characters, phones are essential and the countryside a and overcoming uncertain and unorgiving Tdiscussing how she will define her- strange land lurking with menace. circumstances. sel on Thailand’s ragmented ideological The acerbic humor shaping their initial con- Just like her ellow Thai New Wave auteurs, spectrum. This could easily have been the versations quickly gives way as the trio grow Pimpaka reworks rather than rejects popular film’s director, Pimpaka Towira, talking. increasingly anxious about their surround- culture, and The Island Funeral is a thoughtul With her first fictional eature in 12 years, ings. The headstrong and sassy Laila, dressed allegory about the importance o being able the Thai indie cinema stalwart delivers an in a sleeveless top and skinny-fit jeans, visibly to make inormed choices out o the social atmospheric, intriguing piece transcending flinches when the two young men taunt her and creative options on offer. conventional aesthetical and political norms. by saying she should “blend in” with the local Tracking three young city-dwellers as they population by wearing a veil. Zugood and his HKIFF Section Young Cinema search or a missing relative in the heavily riend, in turn, all silent as they watch online Cast Heen Sasithorn, Aukrit Pornsumpunsuk, militarized south o Thailand, The Island news clips or listen to radio news bulletins Yossawat Sittiwong Funeral incorporates and reinvents generic about political violence spreading across the Director: Pimpaka Towira // 105 minutes

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 15 � Decades of The Holly�ood Reporter The most glamorous and memorable moments from a storied history

Kurosa wa regular Toshiro Mifune pla yed a MacBeth-like general in ��th centur y Japan.

Kurosawa’s �� Throne of Blood Was Ahead of Its Time S PART OF A SHOWCASE that define the original play Kurosawa films loosely based on would have simply used artificial trio o film interpreta- remained intact in what has Shakespeare plays: The Bad Sleep smoke or the scene, the amously Ations o Macbeth to mark been latterly hailed as one o the Well (1965) was a reimagining o perectionist Kurosawa waited the 400th anniversary finest celluloid renderings o the Hamlet and also starred Miune, or days with his crew high on o Shakespeare’s death, the Hong Bard’s work. However, much o while 1985’s Ran borrowed heavily Mt. Fuji, where the castle set was Kong International Film Festival the praise lavished on Throne of rom King Lear . built, or og to envelop the slopes is screening Akira Kurosawa’s Blood came in recent decades. As in a number o Kurosawa and then lif. Throne of Blood . The 1957 produc- In Japan, Kurosawa was accused films, the elements become Kurosawa’s insistence on real- tion substituted the 16th century at the time o being stuck in almost a protagonist in the story ism was demonstrated even more Sengoku (Warring States) the past or his heavy use o o Throne of Blood . Miune’s dramatically in the climactic era o Japan or 11th century techniques rom Noh, a the- Washizu and General Odagura scene o Washizu’s betrayal. The Scotland, reworked much o the atrical tradition that predates — played by the prolific Takashi volley o arrows that rain down on storyline and made no attempt to Shakespeare by a ew centuries. Shimura, who appeared in 21 the samurai included real shafs translate the original dialogue. Meanwhile, a 1961 New York Kurosawa films — get lost while shot by expert archers. Miune’s Lord Macbeth became samurai Times review dismissed the film riding in thick og back to their rantic arm waves at the arrows General Washizu, played by as “serio-comic” and “a pictorial castle. The og then clears to stuck in the wood around him Kurosawa’s avorite leading man extravagance that provides a reveals the castle, an allegorical also signaled to the archers which Toshiro Miune in a memorably conclusive howl.” reerence to the clarity o vision way he would move next: a saety intense perormance. Titled Kumonosu Jo, literally Washizu acquires afer meet- measure concocted to reduce the The central themes o loyalty, Castle of the Spider’s Web, in ing the witch who oretells his probability o him being skewered

F � GAVIN J. BLAIR I F betrayal, tragedy and superstition Japan, it was one o a trilogy o destiny. Where most directors or real. K H F O Y S E T R U O THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 16 C E A Y N U T S T E - M I O - T H U P - T W I T H

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