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In the modern Streaming Age, you’re never lacking options when it comes to what to watch. The sheer number of films that are available at your fingertips right now, though, can make it hard to actually choose one movie to watch sometimes. That is especially the case when none of the recommended films on your favorite streaming platform are catching your eye or appealing to you.

That is what this list is for. Here are the seven best hidden gem movies that you can stream on Max right now.

“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” (Warner Bros. Pictures) “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” (2010)

A film so underrated and forgotten to time that most people do not even realize it was directed by “Man of Steel” filmmaker Zack Snyder, 2010’s “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” works far better than it should. Based...

During the troubled production of Ashes of Time, which was supposed to be his third film, Wong Kar-wai took some time off and did what anyone in his position would do: made another movie. And he did it with a fast-paced, highly improvisatory shooting schedule, writing pages of the script during the day and shooting them at night. The result, Chungking Express, is among Wong’s most exciting films and is an early precursor to the expressive odes to romantic longing that have come to define his work.

The title is symbolic of the film’s lively, anything-goes sensibility, representing the pair of largely unrelated stories that make up its bifurcated narrative. The first story, which takes place mostly at Chungking Mansions shopping complex in Hong Kong, focuses on the lovesick Cop 223 (Kaneshiro Takeshi), who pines over an ex-girlfriend named May. The officer has taken to collecting cans of pineapple...

Arp has taken distribution rights in France to Huo Meng’s Berlinale competition title “Living the Land,” which will have its world premiere Friday. World sales agency M-Appeal finalized the deal at the opening of the European Film Market.

Set in 1991, as China is going through sweeping socio-economic changes, “Living the Land” follows 10-year-old Chuang, whose family is caught between the weight of tradition and the pull of progress. A teaser clip of the film was released to Variety today.

Arp has acquired all rights and will release the film theatrically in France. The distributor has been instrumental in introducing Asian cinema to French audiences, bringing acclaimed titles such as Zhang Yimou’s “Raise the Red Lantern” (Venice Silver Lion), “The Story of Qiu Ju” (Venice Golden Lion), “To Live” (Cannes Grand Prize), Chen Kaige’s “Farewell My Concubine” (Cannes Palme d’Or), and Wong Kar-wai’s early films, from...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Anthology Film Archives

A Zoë Lund retrospective includes films by Abel Ferrara and Larry Cohen; Stan Brakhage plays in “Essential Cinema.”

Museum of the Moving Image

Films by Robert Altman, Isabel Sandoval, and Alain Berliner play in “From the Margins: The Trans Film Image“; “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex” brings Pulp Fiction, Speed and Menace II Society on 35mm.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective continues, including The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp on Saturday.

Japan Society

An imported 35mm print of August in the Water screens on Sunday.

Film Forum

Seven Samurai, Powell and Pressburger’s The Small Back Room and Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine all screen.

Metrograph

Films by Akira and Kiyoshi Kurosawa play in In Pursuit of Shadows; films by Linklater and Otto Preminger play as part of Summer...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Museum of the Moving Image

A Sergei Parajanov retrospective has begun, while “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex” includes Speed and Strange Days on 35mm.

Anthology Film Archives

A Bruce Baille program plays in “Essential Cinema,” while Denys Arcand films screen.

Film Forum

Seven Samurai begins playing in a new 4K restoration, while Powell and Pressburger’s The Small Back Room and Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine continue.

Metrograph

The Infernal Affairs trilogy screens this weekend; films by Bergman and Wes Anderson play on 35mm as part of Summer at Sea; films by Marker and Godard play in Under the Pavement, the Beach; Summer of Rohmer and Piping Hot Pfeiffer continue.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective continues.

IFC Center

Blow Out, Days of Being Wild, In the Mood for Love, and The Cook, the Thief,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Roxy Cinema

Fellow Roxy programmer Charli Xcx presents Project X, To Die For, and Velvet Goldmine on 35mm, as well as Party Girl; a puppet program plays on Saturday, as does City Dudes.

Anthology Film Archives

Prints of Citizen Kane, L’Atalante, and Andy Warhol play in “Essential Cinema.”

Museum of the Moving Image

“See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex” includes Hoop Dreams and Bound; a Marx Brothers double-feature takes place on Saturday.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective continues.

Film Forum

Powell and Pressburger’s The Small Back Room begins playing in a new restoration; Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine continues playing in a new restoration; Yankee Doodle Dandy shows on Sunday.

Metrograph

Films by Claire Denis, Hong Sangsoo, Jia Zhangke and more play in an mk2 retrospective; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Pitfall, and...

The intoxicating romance of a Wong Kar-wai movie is a special kind of thing. In the Mood for Love is rightfully hailed as one of the greatest romantic movies ever made, but people who haven't dived further into Kar-wai's filmography might not know that it is actually the middle chapter in a loosely connected trilogy. Wong Kar-wai began what many have billed his "Love Trilogy" in 1990 with his second directorial feature, Days of Being Wild. After ten years, he came back around for In the Mood for Love, the timeless, endlessly beautiful movie about unspoken love starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. In 2004, he followed up In the Mood for Love with the final installment, 2046.

Tony Leung will serve as the president of the international competition jury at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, organizers announced on Friday.

The Hong Kong acting icon, who gave a masterclass at the festival last year, will return to Tokyo to head up a jury that will be announced at a later date. Leung has a long history with Tokyo Film Festival and had attended the event for the screening of his 2013 film The Grandmaster.

Leung is widely considered one of the greatest actors Asia has produced. Best known globally for his work with Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, the pair have worked on seven films together — Days of Being Wild (1990), Chungking Express (1994), Ashes of Time (1994), Happy Together (1997), In the Mood for Love (2000), 2046 (2004), and The Grandmaster (2013). Leung has also starred in three films — A City of Sadness (1989), Cyclo (1995) and Lust, Caution (2007) — that have won the Golden Lion prize...

Wong Kar-wai's films like Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love are highly respected and regarded as some of the best movies ever made. Fallen Angels, though less recognized, deserves more credit and should be considered among Kar-wai's greatest works. The visuals, cinematography, and soundtrack in Fallen Angels are visually inventive and contribute to its stylish and atmospheric storytelling.

Perhaps the greatest filmmaker in the illustrious history of Chinese cinema is Wong Kar-wai. He's known for various recurring methods of filmmaking, from nonlinear narratives and slow-motion camera shots to off-center frames and saturated color palettes. Near the end of the 1980s, he debuted with As Tears Go By (1988). It received widespread praise upon release and is still held in high regard today.

His next project was Days of Being Wild (1990), followed by two films in the same year: Chungking Express (1994) and Ashes of Time (1994). The former landed the...

Ten years after he attended the Tokyo International Film Festival for the screening of The Grandmaster, Tony Leung returned to the festival on Thursday to conduct a masterclass.

The Hong Kong acting icon, dressed in a black tailored suit and fashion-forward Kolor sneakers, was met with warm applause at a packed house at Tokyo’s Hulic Hall. Festival programmer Shozo Ichiyama began proceedings with Leung’s early years as an actor, namely his work with Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien on the classic A City of Sadness, which Ichiyama considered one of his personal favorites. A City of Sadness was notable as it was set in Taipei, and Leung, at the time, had no experience working outside of Hong Kong and couldn’t speak Mandarin.

“It was the start of my career, and I wanted to challenge myself,” Leung said through an interpreter on why he took on the role, given...

Happy Friday, Insiders. Jesse Whittock on board to guide you through the big news items of the week. Read on and sign up for the newsletter here.

Tokyo Tales ‘Godzilla Minus One’

Local talent in abundance: First, we go to Zac Ntim in Japan for a report on the Tokyo International Film Festival… The Tokyo International Film Festival is underway in its first completely unrestricted, post-Covid-19 edition. It’s been a long time coming. Proceedings opened Monday with a well-attended opening ceremony followed by a screening of Perfect Days, the Tokyo-set Cannes title from German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who is also serving as the jury president of the festival’s main competition. This year’s competition has a strong focus on local talent, with three films from Japan in the main competition — the same number as from China. The festival’s centerpiece masterclass sessions almost entirely feature local talent.

Veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung passed through the Tokyo Film Festival this afternoon, where he led a masterclass session following a screening of 2046, his sixth collaboration with filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai.

Leung’s appearance onstage was brief but dense, with the actor largely digging into the early inception of his career and how he first hooked up with Wong Kar-Wai, with whom he has since made seven feature films.

“When I first met Wong Kar-wai, I was stuck. I didn’t know what to do because my acting wasn’t getting any better,” Leung told the packed audience inside Tokyo’s Hulic Hall.

Leung said at the time, he was working with Wong Kar-Wai on the 1990 feature Days of Being Wild, but he was struggling to land his character.

“I was working with Maggie Cheung. And Wong Kar-Wai was watching my acting and knew what wasn’t great about it,...

Winner of a special mention from the Sonje Award jury in Busan, “Everybody’s Gotta Love Sometimes” is a rather courageous short regarding a refugee from Myanmar who tries to navigate his current life, his sexuality and his past in France.

Everybody’s Gotta Love Sometimes is screening at Busan International Film Festival

The movie begins with Phyo, a young man lying in bed in his underwear, trying to learn French from his smartphone. The initial phrases are the typical ones, about one’s name and location, but soon his questions change to more intimate ones, such as ’embrace me’, ‘kiss me’ and ‘I want sex’, quite eloquently mirroring the sentiments of the protagonist. An expected masturbation soon gives its stead to a visit to a sex shop, but a phone call about the papers needed for Phyo’s stay in France bring the protagonist back to reality, to a point at least.

Hong Kong multihyphenate Andy Lau may just be ready to star in a Hollywood movie after long being a box office king and pop star in Asia. But only if the major studios will meet him on his terms.

“I’m ready for Hollywood, as long as Hollywood is ready for me,” Lau said during an informal conversation at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday after a more than four-decade career stopping short of following his contemporaries and heading to Hollywood.

In Toronto to receive a special tribute award ahead of the Sept. 15 world premiere of Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, Lau said he always enjoyed playing the bad guy in movies as a change of pace early in his career. “I don’t know why in the beginning, everyone saw me as the good guy,” he insisted.

Lau, who sits near the top of China’s A-list...

Fest runs September 7-17.

TIFF has announced additional TIFF Tribute Award recipients, with Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz, Polish cinematographer Lukasz Zal, and Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau joining the roster.

Markowicz will receive the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM Studios. The award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists.

Markowicz will present the world premiere of her second feature Toll on September 9. The film centres on a Brazilian mother who falls in with a gang of thieves in an attempt to keep her family afloat. Her first film...

Fest runs September 7-17.

Pedro Almodóvar, Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-jun, and Andy Lau will take part in the TIFF In Conversation With… series of on-stage talks next month.

“TIFF’s 2023 In Conversation With… series exemplifies our belief that film can ignite perspectives and fuel transformation,” said Anita Lee, TIFF chief programming officer. “We are delighted to welcome a powerhouse line-up of international iconoclasts from Spain, South Korea, and Hong Kong for film lovers of all genres.”

Almodóvar will present the North American premiere of his short film Strange Way Of Life starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal. His credits include All About My Mother,...

Toronto International Film Festival has announced the participants for this year’s “In Conversation With…” series, including headliners Pedro Almodóvar, Andy Lau and Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-jun.

“TIFF’s 2023 In Conversation With… series exemplifies our belief that film can ignite perspectives and fuel transformation,” said TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee. “We are delighted to welcome a powerhouse lineup of international iconoclasts from Spain, South Korea, and Hong Kong for film lovers of all genres.”

The 2023 lineup represents a global and diverse gathering which will weave together unique perspectives that contribute to shaping the global entertainment landscape.

Almodóvar will receive this year’s Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media at the TIFF Tribute Awards. The Oscar-winning director of “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her” and “Pain and Glory” will present the North American premiere of his short feature “Strange Way of Life.” The western romance, starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal,...

TIFF has begun announcing their Conversation With… (Icw) series for this year’s fest with Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar, Hong Kong actor Andy Lau and Concrete Utopia Korean stars Lee Byung-hun and Park

Seo-jun set to sit down for chats.

“TIFF’s 2023 In Conversation With… series exemplifies our belief that film can ignite perspectives and fuel

transformation,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “We are delighted to welcome a powerhouse lineup of international iconoclasts from Spain, South Korea, and Hong Kong for film lovers of all genres.”

Almodóvar is already set to receive TIFF’s Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media this year at the fest’s Tribute Awards. His short, Strange Way of Life, which played at Cannes, will also make its North American premiere at TIFF. Short follows the relationship between a sheriff (Ethan Hawke) and a rancher

(Pedro Pascal) and their shared past.

Concrete Utopia stars...

The '90s were an exciting but strange time for cinema. More franchise films were being made, more chaotic filmmaking styles were being employed, and there was a resurgence in the indie film scene with many promising new artists rising up. Many great movies came out during this period from great filmmakers, but one director had an exceptional run of films that could be considered some of the greatest of the decade. That director is the Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai.

The films made by Kar-wai during this decade would define his unique style of filmmaking and cement him as one of the greatest artists in filmmaking. They include such masterpieces as Days of Being Wild, Chunking Express, Fallen Angels, and Happy Together, each film bearing his iconic style and moving storytelling. To further prove how important he was to the decade, here are four reasons why Wong Kar-wai was...

Hong Kong On Screen (Hkos) is proud to present the first ever Hong Kong On Screen Film Festival (Hkosff). Running April 28-30, 2023 at the Starlight Whittier Village Cinemas, it will showcase 8 feature films, 2 documentaries, 8 shorts curated from a global open call for submissions, and a 20th anniversary tribute of the passing of Hk icons Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui.

Founded in 2022 in response to the ongoing political upheaval in Hong Kong and China’s encroaching presence in the international city-state, Hkos is a collective of academics, artists, students, and concerned global citizens dedicated to preserving the voice of freedom from Hong Kong and to promote its local culture through cinema, cultural exchange, and dialogue.

Since its inception, Hkos has proactively engaged in and/or supported a variety of cultural programming in order to serve the Hong Kong diaspora in the Greater LA area and beyond. This has included a special...

Wong Kar-wai isn't a filmmaker particularly known for his sense of humour. His work is many things: romantic, sumptuous, sensual, atmospheric. When he does attempt comedy, it's often tied to one character, an oddball outlier who provides a humorous foil to one of his stony-faced protagonists. The last thing you would expect his name attached to is a wacky parody wuxia movie less in line with King Hu and more on the same page as a Zucker Brothers production, and yet, from the spare change of the enormously expensive and troubled production behind his own “Ashes of Time”, “The Eagle Shooting Heroes” exists.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Jet Tone Films was established after the release of Wong's first two sensitive tough guy movies (“As Tears Go By” and “Days of Being Wild”), and its initial efforts went towards adapting Jin Yong's classic wuxia novel,...

Editor’s Note: This story was originally posted on July 23, 2017, and has been updated multiple times since.

Few cinematic moments can burn themselves into an audience’s psyche better than a good sex scene. They can shock, arouse, or simply capture human beauty in ways that cinema is uniquely positioned to do. Sex scenes don’t have to define the movies they appear in, but they’re often the parts you remember the most.

The nature of sex scenes are constantly evolving, as the prevalence of intimacy coordinators and increased concern for performers’ safety in Hollywood is hopefully making regrettable sex scenes a thing of the past. That has allowed sexy cinema to flourish, with plenty of tantalizing movies hitting the multiplex in recent years. With that in mind, it felt like the right time to compile some of the best additions to the sexy film canon.

Our list of...

And just like that, winter has come again. HBO Max’s list of new releases for August 2022 is highlighted by the return of the king. Or more accurately: the return of the queen … of the Seven Kingdoms.

Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is set to premiere on HBO and HBO Max on Aug. 21, just over three years after Game of Thrones concluded in controversial fashion with “The Iron Throne.” This new series is a prequel, depicting the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons from George R.R. Martin’s lore. When dragon fights dragon, the realm will be torn asunder. But the viewer will certainly delight in all the Targaryen action.

Read more TV How House of the Dragon Is Approaching the Game of Thrones Ending Backlash By David Crow TV House of the Dragon: What Rickard Stark Means for the Game of Thrones Spinoff...

Restored versions of Chinese language cinema classics Wong Kar-wai’s “Days of Being Wild” (1990) and Jia Zhangke’s first full-length feature “Pickpocket” (“Xiao Wu”) 1998) will lead the inaugural program of Hong Kong’s M+ Cinema, which will be opened to the public on June 8.

The opening program also features the Hong Kong premiere of one of the films from Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovskiy’s epic project series “Dau,” making the M+ Museum notable for not canceling Russian culture following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The cinema, comprising three theaters with seating capacity of 180, 60, and 40 seats, is a core facility of the Moving Image Centre at M+, the visual culture museum that opened in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District in November last year. Moving images, including artist-made audio-visual works, artist films, and traditional feature films, are considered among one of the three key disciplines of the mega institution...

The final entry in Wong Kar-wai’s informal love trilogy after “Days of Being Wild” (1990) and “In the Mood for Love” (2000) is set in the 60’s and took 4 years to complete before it came out in 2004. As the informal sequel to “In the Mood for Love” which is considered as his masterpiece “2046” had a lot to live up to. Even with such hype “2046” lived up to the expectations and can be argued as even better than its predecessor.

“2046” Screened at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

Unlike any other films by Wong, “2046” has a much more complex story, told by jumping through time and reality. After the events of “In the Mood for Love”, Chow Mo-wan spends life as a writer and returns to Hong Kong after spending some years in Singapore. Getting over his idealized love for Su Li-zhen, he has become a womanizer. The hotel...

Wong Kar-Wai is one of the most recognized filmmakers amongst cinephiles today. His films often include themes of romance and loneliness and are known for their strong, vibrant artistic style, which he cultivated from the similar style of his mentor Patrick Tam Kar-Ming. The biggest ambassador of the Hong Kong Second Wave movement, his films are regularly screened at prestigious film festivals across the world. Many consider “In The Mood For Love” (2000) to be his magnum opus. The film, which earned Tony Leung Chiu-Wai the Best Actor honour at Cannes Film Festival 2000, is currently available in a new restoration.

“In the Mood for Love” is screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

“In The Mood For Love” is the second part of a loosely attached trilogy, which includes “Days Of Being Wild” (1990) and “2046” (2004). Su Li-Zhen and Chow Mo-Wan, characters from Wong’s 1990 film, reappear as Shanghai expatriates renting adjacent...

Wong Kar-wai is the most internationally renown Hong Kong auteur, whose personal vision of this unique city, enclosed in the stylized frames, seducing with lyrical beauty, has earned him a permanent space in the hearts of the viewers and in the history of cinema. The retrospective we will present at the 15th Five Flavours includes seven of his extraordinary works: from his grasping debut, flirting with the aesthetic of the best action cinema (“As Tears Go By”), through the tender portrayals of the inhabitants of the labyrinth city, pulsating with music video lights, to refined, sensual masterpieces about the impossible love.

The screenings will be a completely new experience – the radiant beauty of the films has been restored using cutting-edge digital techniques, under the director’s supervision. As the director himself said: No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

After the success of “As Tears Go By”, filmmaker Wong Kar-wai could have embarked on a very lucrative artistic journey, exploring the genre of action and crime even further, and while some of his later efforts contain traces of these genres, they are distinct departures from what Hong Kong cinema was known for at the beginning of the 1990s. Already with his second feature “Days of Being Wild”, he would create the brand of cinema international audiences have come to know from the director, a change emphasized by his collaboration with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who would be integral in the genesis of the filmmaker’s unique style and approach to storytelling. In “Days of Being Wild”, Wong Kar-wai tells the stories of various characters, how their paths intertwine and relate to each other, defined by romance, love and dreams, and, above all, the urban landscape of Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong,...

The July lineup at The Criterion Channel has been revealed, most notably featuring the new Wong Kar Wai restorations from the recent box set release, including As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, and his shorts Hua yang de nian hua and The Hand.

Also among the lineup is a series on neo-noir with Body Double, Manhunter, Thief, The Last Seduction, Cutter’s Way, Brick, Night Moves, The Long Goodbye, Chinatown, and more. The channel will also feature a spotlight on art-house animation with work by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more.

With Jodie Mack’s delightful The Grand Bizarre, the landmark doc Hoop Dreams, Orson Welles’ take on Othello, the recent Oscar entries Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time and You Will Die at Twenty, and much more,...

Film fans will be able to immerse themselves in the ravishing, dreamlike World Of Wong Kar Wai on the big screen this July, with a complete retrospective of the Hong Kong master filmmakers presented by the BFI and the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Ica), in partnership with Janus Films. This complete retrospective will take place at BFI Southbank and the Ica from 7-31 July and will include 7 brand-new 4K restorations, 5 of which have been overseen by Wong Kar Wai himself. With his lush and sensual visuals, pitch-perfect soundtracks, and soulful romanticism, Wong Kar Wai has established himself as one of the defining auteurs of contemporary cinema. Titles screening will include offbeat love story Chungking Express (1994), breathtaking romance In The Mood For Love (2000), alluring period drama 2046 (2004), thrilling historical biopic The Grandmaster (2013) and many more. Whether tragically romantic, soaked in blood, or quirkily comedic, the films in this retrospective are an...

One of cinema’s great collaborations is that between director Wong Kar-wai and cinematographer Christopher Doyle, together responsible for Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, and 2046—the majority of which were restored for Criterion’s new box set. With Wong retooling his films in varying capacities, we’ve wondered if Doyle was involved in this process and what he thinks about the changes. When we caught up with the cinematographer about a year ago, he didn’t seem greatly interested in revisiting his acclaimed work with the Hong Kong legend, but he’s since opened up in a recent interview.

“I think that we should not be so sensitive with our works. You have to let go, let them go. No need to masturbate over creations. I was not firmly involved in the restorations, although I gave my...

The Criterion Collection adds another indispensable boxed set to its library with this month’s release of World of Wong Kar Wai, a package of seven essential features, all restored and remastered and accompanied by an abundance of interviews, deleted scenes, and alternate endings. Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love have been released by Criterion before, but the remaining five films – As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, and 2046 – are new to the label and presented here in vastly superior presentations to prior U.S. home video releases. The early films are […]

The post World of Wong Kar Wai, The Ten Commandments, Southland Tales and More: Jim Hemphill's Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Criterion Collection adds another indispensable boxed set to its library with this month’s release of World of Wong Kar Wai, a package of seven essential features, all restored and remastered and accompanied by an abundance of interviews, deleted scenes, and alternate endings. Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love have been released by Criterion before, but the remaining five films – As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, and 2046 – are new to the label and presented here in vastly superior presentations to prior U.S. home video releases. The early films are […]

The post World of Wong Kar Wai, The Ten Commandments, Southland Tales and More: Jim Hemphill's Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Nothing lasts forever in the world of Wong Kar-wai. Not countries, not relationships, not cans of pineapples. “Like Hong Kong,” filmmaker Olivier Assayas observed in a speech honoring Wong at the 2017 Lumiere Film Festival:

Wong’s cinema is built upon the ephemeral: the ephemeral nature of exile coupled with the ephemeral identity and existence of a city set on the edge of a precipice, living in a constant state of uncertainty at the mercy of mainland China, which could swallow it any moment and wipe out everything it has built, from one day to the next. This is a fleeting world of which Wong has preserved fragments, conscious of cinema’s mysterious ability to freeze time and bear witness to that which other arts cannot capture.

In the context of such a slippery body of work, it’s a strange feeling to actually hold the Criterion Collection’s astonishing new...

Wong Kar-Wai is one of the most recognized filmmakers amongst cinephiles today. His films often include themes of romance and loneliness and are known for their strong, vibrant artistic style, which he cultivated from the similar style of his mentor Patrick Tam Kar-Ming. The biggest ambassador of the Hong Kong Second Wave movement, his films are regularly screened at prestigious film festivals across the world. Many consider “In The Mood For Love” (2000) to be his magnum opus. The film, which earned Tony Leung Chiu-Wai the Best Actor honour at Cannes Film Festival 2000, is currently available in a new restoration.

“In The Mood For Love” is the second part of a loosely attached trilogy, which includes “Days Of Being Wild” (1990) and “2046” (2004). Su Li-Zhen and Chow Mo-Wan, characters from Wong’s 1990 film, reappear as Shanghai expatriates renting adjacent rooms at an apartment in 1962 British Hong Kong. They are often alone in their rooms,...

A North American rights deal for mainland Chinese fantasy action film ‘God of War II, was one of several film sales deals struck by Hong Kong’s Media Asia at the recent European Film Market and the ongoing FilMart.

Directed by Cai Cong, and starring Charles Lin, Liu Yuxi and David Wu, the film was completed in 2020. The buyer was WellGo USA, a regular distributor of Chinese and other Asian movies.

Media Asia also hatched a package of deals for films including “Septet,” “Fagara” and “The Calling of a Bus Driver” with Japanese distributor Musahino. It licensef “Septet” and “Tales From the Occult” to Singapore-based Clover Films for both Singapore and Malaysia.

“Septet: The Story of Hong Kong” is an anthology of seven short films by seven of the city’s most revered directors – Tsui Hark, Ann Hui, Sammo Hung, Patrick Tam, Yuen Woo-ping, Ringo Lam, and Johnnie To, who...

Hong Kong studio also seals string of deals on Tales From The Occult, Fagara and a package of 4K restored classics.

Media Asia Distribution has sealed a string of sales during the European Film Market (EFM) and Filmart period, including a North American deal on Cai Cong’s historical action title God Of War 2, which has gone to Well Go USA.

The Hong Kong-based studio has also sold three titles to Musahino in Japan – omnibus Septet: The Story Of Hong Kong, Heiward Mak’s Fagara and Patrick Kong’s The Calling Of A Bus Driver.

Septet: The Story Of Hong...

Must of the Month

After creating gorgeous box sets celebrating the films of Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini, The Criterion Collection turns its attentions to one of the great auteurs who isn’t a dead white guy: World of Wong Kar Wai is a seven-Blu-ray set that features 4K restorations of contemporary masterpieces like “Chungking Express,” “In the Mood for Love,” “2046,” “Happy Together,” “Days of Being Wild,” “Fallen Angels,” and “As Tears Go By,” with a treasure trove of extras including a new interview with Wong answering questions submitted by the likes of Chloé Zhao, Sofia Coppola, Rian Johnson, and Kate and Laura Mulleavy; alternate cuts and short films never before made available on U.S. home video; an essay by Wong expert John Powers; and much more. It’s a monument to one of cinema’s living giants that every film lover should have on their shelf.



New...

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If shelf space were unlimited, you’d find the walls of many a cinephile’s living room absolutely stacked floor to ceiling with Criterion Collection Blu-rays. Allow us to indulge your itch to add to your personal film collection with this list of some of the biggest and best upcoming Criterion Collection releases, including a massive box set of Wong Kar Wai’s films, plus new Blu-ray releases of some favorites.

“World of Wong Kar Wai”

Release Date: March 23

Buy: World of Wong Kar Wai $199.95 $159.99 Buy it

First things first: There’s plenty to admire in this collector’s set of the director’s films, which includes new 4K digital restorations of “Chungking Express,...

“Love is all a matter of timing” – Wong Kar Wai

The BFI and the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Ica), in partnership with Janus Films, today announces the World Of Wong Kar Wai, screening on BFI Player and through the Ica’s newly launched online platform ‘Cinema 3’ during February 2021. With his lush and sensual visuals, pitch-perfect soundtracks, and soulful romanticism, Wong Kar-wai has established himself as one of the defining auteurs of contemporary cinema. This retrospective of the Hong Kong master filmmaker, including 7 brand-new 4K restorations, 5 of which have been overseen by Wong Kar Wai himself (full credits of which can be found in the notes to editors), will be available via the Ica’s digital programme platform Cinema 3 (from 1 February) and BFI Player (from 8 February). Titles will include offbeat love story Chungking Express (1994), breathtaking romance In The Mood For Love (2000), alluring period drama 2046 (2004), thrilling historical biopic The Grandmaster (2013) and many more.

The Criterion Collection’s March 2020 lineup has been unveiled, and it’s an epic one. Along with their previously announced Wong Kar Wai box set, they will also release Jacques Rivette’s masterpiece Céline and Julie Go Boating, which was long unavailable in good quality and recently debuted on The Criterion Channel.

Also arriving in March is Mike Leigh’s Palme d’Or winner Secrets & Lies, Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life (with a new essay by Ari Aster), and, getting a solo release after its inclusion in a World Cinema Project box set, Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki, which we discussed on The Film Stage Show below.

Check out the lineup and special features below, with more details on their official site.

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-rayAudio commentary from 2017 featuring critic Adrian MartinJacques Rivette: Le veilleur, a 1994 two-part feature documentary by Claire Denis,...

The premiere of career-spanning restorations has been a time to again celebrate the cinema of Wong Kar-wai—but not without complications and conflicted feelings. Rather than give his tales of love, crime, and Hong Kong a 4K sheen and call it a day, Wong’s taken the opportunity to rejig his material in ways both minor and major. There’s a new, uniform style of closing credits to create “a reminder to our audience that these are the restored versions,” which most won’t notice. But in the case of Fallen Angels, he’s expanded the aspect ratio and made certain coloring changes that, as our Managing Editor discovered, are more than a little tinker. Predictably, people have strong feelings.

You can preview this new look and feel in a trailer for the 4K restoration. Having seen it myself, I can at least say the new widescreen transfer works: the images remain fluid,...

When it was announced that acclaimed filmmaker Wong Kar-wai was going back to restore all of his films in 4K, people were ecstatic. This is a director that has released some of the very best films of the past several decades, including what some consider a couple of the best films of all time. But really, what excited people most about the announcement was the inevitability of a box set release. Well, welcome to the “World of Wong Kar-wai.”

Read More: Wong Kar-Wai Reveals He Has Tweaked Many Of His Classic Films Restored In 4K

Criterion just announced a 7-disc box set containing remastered versions of Wong Kar-wai’s films such as “As Tears Go By,” “Days of Being Wild,” “Chungking Express,” “Fallen Angels,” “Happy Together,” “In the Mood for Love,” and “2046.” Many of these films are currently available to stream or purchase in other releases, but what Criterion...

Andy Lau is on the phone, alone in a crowded bar, shoulders to the camera, palms cupped on the handset. We’re halfway through Wong Kar-wai’s first film, As Tears Go By (1988), and his Wah, a small-time gangster, is trying to reach Ngor (Maggie Cheung), a cousin he once hosted in his flat but has long since lost touch with. There was undeniable attraction between the two, but neither was brave enough to act upon it: Ngor returned to Lantau island to help in the family's restaurant, and Wah resumed his duties in the underworld. She’s not around, a woman tells him on the other end; he hangs up, reaches for a cigarette.And this is when it happens. The bar goes quiet for a second or two, until a jukebox starts singing a Cantonese rendition of Berlin’s 1986 hit “Take My Breath Away”, which catapults Wah into a bus,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe 49th annual New Directors/New Films (Nd/Nf) has been rescheduled from March to December 9-20, with films slated to premiere in the Film at Lincoln Center Virtual Cinema. The line-up includes Zheng Lu Xinyuan’s The Cloud in Her Room, Maya Da-Rin's The Fever, and Alexander Nanau’s Collective. Lynne Ramsay, who last directed You Were Never Really Here, will be adapting Steven King's psychological horror novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, about a young girl who becomes lost in the woods. Recommended VIEWINGAbel Ferrara's new documentary, Sportin' Life, which premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival in August, has gone an unusual premiere route, streaming first through Indiewire (currently unavailable), and now at The Film Stage. Shot by Sean Price Willaims, the documentary follows Ferrara as he...

"Love is all a matter of timing." Ain't that the truth... Janus Films has unveiled an official trailer for the retrospective series kicking off this fall officially titled The World of Wong Kar Wai, featuring seven of his finest films restored in glorious 4K. "Films you'll love for 10,000 years, the cinema of Wong Kar Wai is steeped in sensual colors, groundbreaking editing, and heart-wrenching drama. Janus Films is proud to present a touring retrospective that includes brand-new restorations of seven of the master's most dazzling films, including the US premiere of Chungking Express (1994) and the world premiere of newly restored films As Tears Go By (1988), Days of Being Wild (1990), Fallen Angels (1995), Happy Together (1997), a director's cut of The Hand (2004), and on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, a newly restored In the Mood for Love (2000)." Most film fans are familiar with his films already, but if you haven't seen all...

It’s a great time to be a Wong Kar Wai fan. Not only is the Hong Kong auteur at work on a new directorial project and planning a mysterious sequel to his 1994 classic “Chungking Express,” but seven of Wong’s best films have gotten brand new 4K restorations courtesy of The Criterion Collection and L’immagine Rtrovata. Janus Films will be rolling out the restorations later this year in a package titled “The World of Wong Kar Wai.”

The official “World of Wong Kar Wai” synopsis from Janus Films reads: “Films you’ll love for 10,000 years, the cinema of Wong Kar Wai is steeped in sensual colors, groundbreaking editing, and heart-wrenching drama. Janus Films is proud to present a touring retrospective that includes brand-new restorations of seven of the master’s most dazzling films, including the US premiere of ‘Chungking Express’ and the world premiere of newly restored films ‘As Tears Go By,...

For a filmmaker who is not known for being very prolific, Wong Kar-wai has certainly made headlines as of late. Next week, his brand-new 20th-anniversary restoration of In the Mood for Love will finally debut at the New York Film Festival followed by a nationwide tour that includes other recent restorations of his work, and an eventual Criterion box set release. Meanwhile, production on his long-gestating, decades-spanning drama Blossoms is now underway with plans to make a TV version and a feature film. Now the director is returning to the universe of one of his most beloved films yet again.

Reports have surfaced from many Chinese media outlets (via Reddit) that Wong Kar-wai has scripted a sequel to his beloved 1994 romance Chungking Express. Titled Chungking Express 2020 and set in Chongqing in 2036, the China Film Administration approved the script back in April, which means it can move ahead. Here’s a...

“The director that shakes me and moves me most is Wong Kar-wai. He is one of the guys who has been revolutionizing the way the cinema is telling stories.”- Alejandro González Iñárritu

Back in early summer 2019, the elusive Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai, known for masterworks like “Days Of Being Wild,” “Chungking Express” and many more, said his entire filmography would be re-released in 2020 in a sumptuous 4K restoration tied to the 20th anniversary of perhaps his greatest film “In The Mood For Love.” That’s still happening, but the timetable has shifted slightly thanks to the pandemic.

Continue reading ‘In The Mood For Love’ Trailer: Wong Kar Wai’s Touring 4K Restoration Retrospective Arrives In December at The Playlist.

Get ready to swoon. We’ve been looking forward to the new restorations of Wong Kar-wai’s greatest films for some time now, and after a pandemic-related delay, it looks like they are finally ready to be unveiled to the world. Janus Films has announced their touring retrospective featuring brand-new restorations of seven of his films will now kick off on December 4 at Film at Lincoln Center in New York, to be followed by a nationwide rollout.

The lineup includes the U.S. premiere of Chungking Express and the world premiere of newly restored films As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, a director’s cut of The Hand, and on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, a newly restored In the Mood for Love. Block 2 Distribution has now released a new trailer for the lattermost restoration, as well as the poster.

The good...