The documentary company Journeyman has just uploaded a 28-minute film called Miss Tibet that offers possibly the realest look at contemporary Tibet you'll find anywhere. Mark Gould's description on Journeyman's website:
The Miss Tibet beauty pageant claims to give women a platform to highlight Tibetan issues, drawing attention to the the plight of the its people as well as the brilliance of the lifestyle and culture.
Gawker Network's io9 has compiled a list of "27 of the most insane martial arts battles ever filmed," and would it surprise anyone that most of these were filmed or set in China?
It's a great list, of course, and if you like martial arts / kung-fu, you'll lose many minutes of your day going through the videos. But one clip you'll not find is this from Dunken Master 2, and that seems like somewhat of an oversight:
The Wukan protests that began last year over illegal land seizure might have seemed, at the start, unspectacular, merely another in the hundreds of rallies that happen every year in China. But with each passing day — and each development reported breathlessly by embedded reporters — the demonstrations revealed themselves to be a bit more... Read more »
Quoting what appears to be an official film synopsis:
Due West: Our Sex Journey describes the internal struggle of a young person seeking “love” and “lust” in contemporary society of Hong Kong. The film reflects the reason why men head North to Mainland to seek pleasure and the general problems exist among Hong Kong girls. It also focuses on the intricate conflict of the two-sided coin of love – affection and lust.
Here's the extended version of a video first previewed last month, by Wolf Smoke Studio.
By the way, Dark Knight Rises is out in select Chinese theaters. Don't all go rushing for the ticket office at the same time, now.
I can't wait for Chinese people to overreact to this shitty movie full of Hollywood cliches about "freedom" and for everyone else to talk about it like it isn't a classic piece of Western propaganda.
What's that? The invaders in the movie are North Koreans, not Chinese? Every soldier I see better look skinny and malnourished then, because I've been to Pyongyang, and that military is far from invading anyone.
I wonder how many Americans who watch this will find the irony in a bunch of civilians fighting for their turf against an invading military.
The story of Sidney Rittenberg, one of Mao Zedong's "true believers" who joined the Chinese Communist Revolution instead of returning to his native Charleston, South Carolina after World War II, is about to be told as never before. Mark McDonald, writing for the International Herald Tribune's Rendezvous blog, turns our attention to the documentary The Revolutionary, completed last year, which tells of Rittenberg's 34 years in the People's Republic of China.
At one point in this preview, 100-year-old Aussie Dorothy DeLow is interviewed in English by someone who sounds Chinese. "Why are you participating in this competition?" comes the question. DeLow grunts. “You're so old!" the questioner adds.
Without missing a beat, Dot replies, "I'm not that old."
Today (by which I mean Friday) marks the official premiere of director Yung Chang's documentary China Heavyweight in New York. Far be it from me to tell you New Yorkers how to spend your Friday evening, but this movie looks like it's worth your time. (There are two more showings today at IFC Center, at 7:25 pm and 9:40 pm.) It's by the same company that made Last Train Home (though not the same director), a film that I've seen no fewer than four times while writing a 40-page amanuensis
I almost never use this expression, but I think it’s the only appropriate thing to say here: Oh. My. God. Here are some of the things that happen in the new trailer for the movie The Man with the Iron Fists: Quentin Tarantino presents. “When you forge a weapon, you need three things. The right... Read more »
