#ye lou

Suzhou River (苏州河) (Suzhou he) (2000) Lou Ye

The Sky is Pink (dir. Shonali Bose, starr. Priyanka Chopra)

Shonali Bose’s follow-up to Margarita with a Straw...which is one of my favourite films ever. This time she’s nabbed big-name Chopra for what promises to be a vibrant family drama. I’m in!

Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite

Boon Joon Ho has established a feted and respected track record, and though I’ve tended to steer clear because I’m not good with dark, violent, or, horror films, I think this is probably the one I’ll make an effort to see as it seems more on the intellectual thriller side. There was so much buzz at Cannes. The word masterpiece was mentioned a lot. Definitely on my list to watch when it gets released

Portrait of A Lady on Fire (dir. Celine Sciamma)

Also received a lot of attention at Cannes. Sciamma has not yet made a bad film, I loved Tomboy and Bandes de Filles/Girlhood. It also stars her real-life partner, Adele Haenel. 

Radioactive (starr. Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie, dir. by Marjane Satrapi)

From the director of legendary Persepolis, with a top-form, respected actor playing fascinating historical figure? Definitely worth a look.

Lan Xin Da Ju Yuan (Saturday Fiction) (starr. Gong Li, dir. Ye Lou)

Gong Li is amazing (see Raise the Red Lantern) and totally undervalued I think, and this film looks incredibly well made, and the context of the plot ripe for complexity.

The Personal History of David Copperfield (starr. Dev Patel, Peter Capaldi, Ben Whishaw, Tilda Swinton, Gwendoline Christie, dir. Armando Iannuci)

The cast alone is enough. Look at those names! Have never been drawn to Armando Iannuci’s work but I will watch anything with one of these first four actors in it, let alone all of them.

Coming Home Again (dir. Wayne Wang)

I’m a fan of a quiet, independent film with good writing and direction and understated yet complex performances. This looks like it fits the bill.

The Song of Names (dir. Fancois Girard, starr. Clive Owen)

The clip on the TIFF website features duelling violins and incredible music. The plot follows the story of a violin prodigy who disappears. Also, I thought this kid was Saoirse Ronan for a minute, haha.

Hope Gap (written and dir. Wiliam Nicholson, starr. Annette Bening, Bill Nighy)

Intrigued me because I loved William Nicholson’s children’s book series as a kid; didn’t like his adult writing though. Will he be able to prove himself adept at film? He’s captured a good cast, so I am keen to see if it holds up. Bening and Nighy are not necessarily reliable indicators of a good film, but I will give anything with Bening a go, especially after 20th Century Women.

Ema (dir. Pablo Larrain, starr. Gael Garcia Bernal)

I wasn’t drawn to Larrain’s other work, like the Jackie Kennedy biopic, but he is very well respected as a filmmaker. This film has Gael Garcia Bernal so I will definitely check it out. I watched his previous collaboration with Garcia Bernal, No, and found it good, and a fairly creative way to approach the telling of Pinochet-era Chile.