Latest news with #WongKar-wai
Korea Herald
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai's first TV series 'Blossoms Shanghai' to air on SBS
Award-winning series to hit Korean TV, streaming services Studio S, the drama production arm of Seoul Broadcasting System, is bringing Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai's first-ever television series 'Blossoms Shanghai' to South Korean audiences. The period drama will premiere Monday on SBS F!L UHD, with streaming availability beginning Tuesday on multiple streaming channels, including Tving, Watcha, Wavve, KT GenieTV, LG U+TV and SK Broadband Btv. 'Blossoms Shanghai' marks Wong's long-awaited series debut. Widely regarded as one of Asia's most influential filmmakers, Wong is known for acclaimed features such as "In the Mood for Love" (2000), "Chungking Express" (1994) and "Happy Together" (1997). Set in 1990s Shanghai, "Blossoms Shanghai" follows Ah Bao (Hu Ge), a young man from modest beginnings who rises to wealth amidst the city's rapid economic transformation. Based on Jin Yucheng's 2012 novel of the same name, which won China's prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize, the project has been years in the making. Wong acquired the rights in 2014 and spent roughly seven years developing the series, with three additional years dedicated to production. 'Blossoms Shanghai' originally premiered in December 2023 on China's television channel CCTV-8 and China's streaming service Tencent Video. The series went on to earn the best creative award at the Asia Contents Awards held alongside the Busan International Film Festival in 2024.
Time Out
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
A beloved Hong Kong film has ranked fourth place in the New York Times' 100 best movies of the 21st century
We all love a good list, and the New York Times has recently dropped a banger. They rounded up over 500 influential directors, actors, and big names from Hollywood and all over the world to vote on the best film released since 2000, and gathered the results to give us a list of the best 100 movies of the 21st century – and a Hong Kong film ranked within the top 10. Out of the many stellar films picked by industry experts, such as City of God, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Favourite, and Y Tu Mamá También, Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love has been ranked as the fourth best movie made within this century. The smouldering movie, filled with silent longing, cigarette smoke, and repressed desire, is undoubtedly the most widely known of Wong's works around the world. It also helps that a moody, charming Tony Leung Chiu-wai and the beautiful Maggie Cheung, clad in a rotation of the best cheongsam dresses to ever be captured on film, are there to grace viewers' screens for an hour and 40 minutes. Director Sofia Coppola was among the names who voted for In the Mood for Love, saying of her choice: 'It really blew my mind that you could make films … as a poetic medium that doesn't have to spell everything out.' Another Hong Kong-related mention to make the list is Ang Lee's martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, starring the inimitable Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh, which ranked at number 16. Notably, the only other animated movie in the top 10 spots is Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, a fantastical adventure that deals with the loss of innocence, bravery, and humans' corruption of nature, all wrapped up in spellbindingly gorgeous visuals and a stellar soundtrack. Topping the New York Times' 100 best movies of the century is Bong Joon-ho's 2019 black comedy thriller Parasite. For those that have yet to see it – and there are probably very few of you out there – the Oscar-winning picture follows a poor Korean family that worms their way into the lives of a wealthy household, in an unsettling but at times wildly funny social satire. See below for the list of top 10 movies, and visit the New York Times for the full list. 10 best movies of the 21st century, according to the New York Times: Parasite by Bong Joon-ho, 2019 Mulholland Drive by David Lynch, 2001 There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007 In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai, 2001 Moonlight by Barry Jenkins, 2016 No Country for Old Men by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2007 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Michel Gondry, 2004 Get Out by Jordan Peele, 2017 Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki, 2002 The Social Network by David Fincher, 2010
The Star
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Interview: Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi hints at future cooperation with Chinese actors, filmmakers
BUDAPEST, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Ildiko Enyedi, the celebrated Hungarian filmmaker and screenwriter known for her 2017 Golden Bear-winning film On Body and Soul, has shared her reflections on Chinese cinema, her encounters with renowned Chinese filmmakers, and her ongoing projects at a film forum in Budapest. "I would love to work with Tony Leung again. It was such a wonderful experience to work with him," Enyedi said in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the "Imazsia Chinese Film Week 2025" forum on Friday. Speaking about her latest film, Silent Friend, which is currently in post-production, Enyedi disclosed that the film, set in a botanical garden, explores themes of communication not only among humans but also between people and plants. The film features an international cast, including Chinese actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, whom Enyedi had envisioned for a specific role while writing the story even before receiving his confirmation. Fortunately, the script and her previous films convinced Leung to accept the role in the film. Enyedi described him as "an incredibly deep thinker, a deeply feeling human being, who approached the work with humility and openness." She added, "Working with him is a very special gift from life," and expressed her hope for future cooperation. The renowned director also spoke of her enduring fascination with Hong Kong cinema. "I watched Center Stage at the Berlinale in 1992, where I was serving on the jury at the time. It left such a profound impact on me that, many years later, I acquired a copy because I wanted to share with others," she recalled during a panel discussion at the film forum. She described the 1980s and 1990s as a golden era for Hong Kong films, which resonated deeply within Budapest's alternative cultural circles. She also praised acclaimed Chinese director Wong Kar-wai. "I believe all of Budapest eagerly awaited every new Wong Kar-wai film!" Recalling her first visit to Hong Kong in the 1990s, she mentioned the city's vibrant energy and cinematic legacy. "Hong Kong is definitely a special place for me." Enyedi's engagement with Chinese filmmakers has grown through participation in major industry events. In 2018, she served on the jury at the Shanghai International Film Festival, marking her first visit to mainland China. She remembered the passion of local filmmakers and audiences, who were eager to bring meaningful, smaller-budget films to wider audiences. In 2023, she returned to Shanghai to deliver a masterclass, where she appreciated the opportunity to discuss film-making in depth with a professional audience. "It is always much more interesting to hear about specific choices, challenges, and behind-the-scenes stories from fellow filmmakers, rather than just answering general questions," she said. Enyedi also expressed keen interest in Chinese contemporary art films. She mentioned Resurrection by Chinese director Bi Gan, which won a special award at this year's Cannes Film Festival. "I am very, very curious about this film," she said. Looking ahead, Enyedi expressed enthusiasm for continued collaborations with Chinese filmmakers and highlighted Hungary's growing reputation as a film production hub.
South China Morning Post
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
New York bar mixes cocktails and Chinese pop to give the music life beyond karaoke lounges
In New York's Long Island City neighbourhood there is a nondescript, white-tiled Taiwanese restaurant named Gulp. Advertisement Those not in the know might assume that the five counter seats are all there is to this little joint, but open the grey door at the rear, pull back the curtain behind it and you will find yourself in a softly lit cocktail bar imbued with warm, red tones reminiscent of Wong Kar-wai films. This is 929, a bar that pays tribute to 1980s and 1990s Cantonese and Mandarin pop culture and music, so named for its phonetic similarity to 'night to night' and because the numbers represent a New York telephone area code. Here the walls are covered in posters of Hong Kong singers – there is one of Faye Wong , another of Sammi Cheng Sau-man – and towards the back is a DJ set-up with dozens of Cantopop and Mandopop vinyl records and CDs. New York cocktail bar 929's walls are decorated with posters of various Cantopop singers, and the soft, red lighting is reminiscent of scenes in Wong Kar-wai films. Photo: 929 They are all from the personal collection of Chen Haoran, who founded 929 with architect Sean Yang and restaurateur Jeff Liu. Advertisement Chen Haoran, who is originally from Jiangmen in China's Guangdong province, recalls listening to his mother's favourite records as a child, which led him to amass his own collection of Cantopop and Mandopop albums, especially after moving to New York when he was 11.
New Indian Express
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Painter Varad Bang's homage to Wong Kar-wai's In The Mood for Love is a curation of heartbreak
Auteur Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love is about a great love and a great loss. The couple in the film is a Mr Chow, a journalist with slicked-back hair and sad eyes, and Mrs Chan, a secretary in stylish and fitted cheongsam dresses. The two meet across a passageway in a cramped apartment building in British Hong Kong of the '60s the day they both happen to move in; they eventually get curious about each other – something that is helped by the constant absence of their respective spouses. With time, they realise that their partners are having an affair – Mrs Chow with Mr Chan – but by then their own relationship, packed with silences, glances, things said and unsaid, is seen moving, scene by scene, into their little bubble. Till things to fall apart. The couple is cast in red as they come together to work on a script and there's a capture of the first stirrings of desire; the scenes are awash in green as their feelings develop and they acknowledge it; shades of yellow tinge the scenes of looking back. Young artist Varad Bang was mesmerised by the 'painterliness' of these scenes. Inspired by the film, Bang's paintings draw on the film, a treat for the eyes, and create the scenes anew in light and shadow, through selected interiors reminiscent of Vermeer—the Dutch painter is also an inspiration—and Wong Kar-wai's dimly lit Hong Kongscapes, but that could recall an urban setting anywhere where due to lack of time, moments of connection are rare, or fleeting, or cut short. Those paintings are currently hung at Delhi's Pristine Gallery, in an exhibition titled 'The Weight of Love' till May 11. Starting out Bang grew up in Aurangabad, and now lives in Pune. He came to art via architecture. He found it to be a discipline that was 'too structured'. Art helped soothe him, get him in a zone with 'no disturbance'. The idea that he could be a painter grew on him over some time while he tried out different things only to figure that art was his 'way of speaking with the world or with the people around me'. He went on to study art in Florence, where he produced figurative works, and studied the old masters. He also grew to love what was, initially, a struggle. 'It was quite tough for me to understand oil painting. In oil painting, you can't paint in just one layer. You have to put in the work, and spend days and weeks building on the layers. And you're always into the painting. You can't be out of it,' he says, as if recreating the mood in which the romantic couple stayed in pretty much all through Wong Kar-wai's film – the mood of tracing and re-tracing a passion, what they imagine to be the paces of their respective partners falling in love with each other. Or, as Chow put it: 'I was only curious to know how it started. Now I know.' It's a proxy life, but when they stop talking in circles and the time comes to make a break with their failed relationships, Mr Chow and Mrs Can would rather keep their feelings for each other on freeze. Bang's paintings show the same flush of unspoken desire—in it the woman waits, the couple walk side by side but their hands don't touch, the man smokes into the night preferring solitude over action. Re-creating a mood But why simply recreate frames and characters of such a well-loved film? Bang explains: 'I read a book called On Photography by Susan Sontag. She says if you take the stills away from a film, they have a different context. A film unfolds over time while a painting stays in that moment, and when you look at it like that, in an exhibition, where there are lots of paintings by me, they will interrelate with each other. There's like a collective meaning there. Also, while watching a film, the frame that you're looking at is an editor's selection and it guides your feelings. But looking at a painting in a gallery, you have the control over which particular scene you want to have more impact on you. So, that sparked off the idea in me to take particular scenes from the film and paint them, so that the viewer can look at it as long as s/he wants and derive whatever meaning s/he wants, and just soak in that feeling." Bang's paintings are also geared for short attention spans and quick epiphanies. In his words: 'Today, the way we watch movies on OTT platforms, isn't it an accepted way of watching movies? You can watch one at your convenience, take a break, and come back to it.' Staging an encounter The exhibition flow has also been structured to keep today's audience in mind. The paintings are prompters of feelings, arrangements of encounters in which curiosity is the first overture that is followed by an invitation, and then the beginning of the ending. 'The way I've chosen the scenes, and the way the exhibition has been structured, the starting scenes you will find are quite wholesome, warm — they lighten up the mood. Then the scenes get more distant—they have a cooler tone—more emptied out, like the way love fades away over time,' says the artist. 'I tried to blur the lines between the audience and the characters in my work—you'll see lots of scenes where you don't see the faces,' he adds. 'The characters are in the middle of a certain moment; or they're physically there but thinking of the other person. And then there are certain paintings where you see the faces, which kind of remind the viewer that you're not them, you're living their world. So, it's an interplay between all these different states as well. The experience of love and longing, and then the memory of it; love in the present and in the absent.' Heartbreak is an important feeling, Bang says. It's a house many people stay in. 'We kind of neglect it, put it down. But I have a feeling that it teaches you things, which even love might not,' he says.
