Hou Hsiao-Hsien @ 75: International Acclaim (1987-1998)

by Cláudio Alves

In contrast with their critical acclaim abroad, the Taiwanese reception of Hou Hsiai-Hsien's films was less enthusiastic. Dwindling box-office returns and accusations that his films were too uncommerciable led the director to attempt bridging the popular and the artful. 1987's Daughter of the Nile returns to the realm of modern Taiwan's youth, abandoning the midcentury narratives that had characterized the autobiographical films. It's also notable for its more significant urban setting and single-minded focus on a female protagonist. 

After this project, he wouldn't pay much attention to commercial appeal while his ambitions grew. At the end of the 80s, we encounter a peak of international recognition, the ascension of Hou Hsiao-Hsien to the pantheon of modern-day masters of cinema. All it took was a landmark film that, in 1989, earned the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and kickstarted a trilogy of historical reflections…

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Best International Film: China, India, Indonesia

by Cláudio Alves

This journey through the Best International Film Oscar submissions has taken us to Europe and Latin America thus far, leaving some continents sorely underrepresented. In hopes of remedying that, this entry shall focus exclusively on Asian contenders. They are the latest work from a respected auteur who has represented China seven times before. From India, an award-winning feature debut shot on a tiny budget and severe minimalism. Finally, Indonesia brings us a beautiful character study in a hundred shades of purple…

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Best International Feature: China, India, Japan

by Cláudio Alves

The cultural hegemony of Hollywood can make it seem as if the American film industry were the biggest in the world. However, some nations produce even more cinema than the US, and, annually, there's a much greater number of non-English-speaking features than Anglophonic ones. Since the Oscars tend to relegate such films to the Best International Feature category, it's possible to get a skewed view of the global realities of movie-making from them. In truth, the Academy's very local in its choices. With that in mind, let's explore the submissions of three countries whose industries are as robust as America's…

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Gong Li: Goddess of the Silver Screen

by Cláudio Alves

Earlier this month, Sean Donovan wrote a beautiful piece about Tilda Swinton's 2005 Hollywood adventure. The movies mentioned in that text mean a great deal to me since they represent the first time I ever came across the alien allure of that British thespian. Even as an eleven-year-old, I was hooked on this beguiling creature of the screen. Surprisingly enough, Swinton wasn't the only performer whose 2005 forays into mainstream American movies served as a gateway for my love of auteur cinema and über-glamourous deities of the big screen. 

For that was also the year when Chinese superstar Gong Li blessed Rob Marshall's unfortunate Memoirs of a Geisha with her electrifying presence…

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Animated Feature Contenders: China's "White Snake"

by Tim

The original Chinese title for the new animated mythological epic White Snake is just a hair different from the one that distributor GKIDS is using to promote the film. The literal translation is White Snake: Origin, which tells us quite a lot, in fact. This isn't just any old fantasy adventure, you see: it is, in fact, an original prequel to one of the most important of all traditional Chinese folk tales, "Legend of the White Snake." This matters for a couple of reasons: first, because it explains something that a lot of American critics have been complaining about, which is the film's frequently inscrutable narrative progression. Which is, to be fair, a little bit inscrutable, but much less so if you keep in mind that, for the target audience, many of the things that seem most inexplicable have already been explained simply by the film announcing up front that it takes place in a certain kind of generic universe where certain rules apply. Which sucks if you're not part of that target audience, but we can at least try to meet the film where it lives.

Second, even if you (like me) don't know much or anything about "Legend of the White Snake," you probably at least know one or two folk tales from your own background culture, and wherever you come from in the world, folklore has a very distinct cadence...

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