Asian Cinema (DVD)

“Green Tea”

1.The Returner (DVD/ Japan/2002) ***
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Actors: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Anne Suzuki, Goro Kishitani

2.After Life “Wandafuru Raifu” (DVD/ Japan/ 1998/ 118 min) ***
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Actors: Takashi Mochizuki, Shiori Satonaka

3.Dolls (DVD/ Japan/ 2002/ 115 min) ****
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Actors: Miho Kanno, Hidetoshi Nishijima

4.Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... ***
(Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom)
(DVD/ South Korea/ 2003)
Director:Ki-duk Kim
Actors: Yeong-su Oh, Youg-min Kim, Yeo-jin Ha
 5.Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War***
(DVD/ South Korea/ 2004/ 140 min)
Director: Je-gyu Kang
Actors: Dong-kun Jang, Bin Won

6.Ong-bak (DVD/ Thailand/ 2003) **
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Actors: Tony Jaa, Petchtai Wongkamlao

Books: Cinema

My Library

Dictionnaire du Cinéma/Les Réalisateurs
by Jean Tulard

Le Cinéma Selon François Truffaut

col. by Anne Gillain

Dictionnaire des Films
by Georges Sadoul

Les Films-Clés du Cinema

by Claude Beylie

Stephen Chow Sing-chi (bio)

Stephen Chow Sing-chi

Born in Hong Kong in June 22, 1962 and grew up in Shanghai.

A big fan of martial arts, specially of star Bruce Lee, while was in school took three months of Wing Chun classes with the Master Wong Shun-leung, one of Lee's martial brothers. Though Chow's formal martial arts training was brief, he has ably integrated martial arts action into many of his comic film roles, for which he is best known.

In 1983 he graduated from acting school and was hired as host of a children's television program entitled Space Shuttle 430. After that he worked his way into dramatic TV roles; they led to his first movie part, in the 1988 film Final Justice, for which he won the Best Supporting Actor honor at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards. After that, Chow has builted his carrer as Asia's top comedy star.

Beginnig with the success of All For the Winner in 1990, to starring roles in two sequels to God of Gamblers. Established an important trend in Hong Kong's comedy films culture known as “Mou Lei Tau”.

Parodies would become popular in Chow´s films, like Fist of Fury 1991 , Justice My Foot (1992, Best Actor of Asia Pacific Film Festival), Beijing with Love (1994), All's Well, Ends Well (1997). We have the period films King of Beggars and A Chinese Odissey Part 1 and 2 (as the chinese literary hero, the Monkey King).

Chow started working behind the camera with From Beijing with Love. After that came The God of Cookery (1996), as writer, producer, director and star.

The start of international sucess came with Shaolin Soccer (2001), when he mixed kung fu action with soccer. His last production, Kung Fu Hustle (2004) was a big hit, winning the best film prize at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Don´t Make a Drama!

1. Zhou Yu´s Train (Zhou Yu de huo che)

(DVD/ China/ 2002/ 96 min)
Director: Zhou Sun
Actors: Gong Li, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Honglei Sun

2. In The Mood For Love
(DVD/ Hong Kong/ 2000/ 98 min)
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Actors: Tony Leug Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung

3. Purple Butterfly (Zi hudie)
(DVD/ China/ 2003/ 127 min)
Director: Lou Ye
Actors: Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye, Toru Nakamura, Feng Yuanzheng

4. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Xiao cai feng)

(DVD/ China/2002/ 110 min)
Director: Sijie Dai
Actors: Liu Ye, Xun Zhou, Kun Chen

5. 20, 30, 40 (DVD/ Taiwan/ 2004/ 112 min)
Director: Sylvia Chang
Actors: Sylvia Chang, Rene Liu, Lee Sinje
This film is a little pearl, made to hit the heart of every women in their 20´s, 30´s or 40´s. It´s not just about the life of some taiwanese women, but human feelings of any modern girl this days. The guys can see this flick with compliance, but the girls will see themselves like in a mirror.


6. Chunhyang (VHS/ South Korea/ 2000/ 120 min.)

Director: Kwon-taek Im
Actors: Hyo-jeong Lee, Seung-woo Cho"Like the sun and the moon, my love will never change."

Book: The Moonstone

My Library

“One of the wildest of the Palace of Seringapatam related to a Yellow Diamond – a famous gem in the nativa annals of India. The earliest Known traditions describe the stone as having been set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian god who typifies the Moon. Partly from its peculiar colour, partly from a superstition whitch represented it as feeling the influence of the deity whom it adorned, and growing and lessening in lustre with the waxing and waning of the moon, it first gained the name by whitch it continues to be known in India to this day – the name of THE MOONSTONE”.

– The Moonstone, a large, beautiful yet fated diamond, was stolen from an Indian shrine. It is given to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday and, that same night, stolen again. Sergeant Cuff is employed by Rachel´s mother to find the precious stone and has no shortage of suspects. By turns, those on the periphery and at the heart of the mistery tell their version of the events until all is unravelled at the unexpected conclusion.
(A classic detective novel by Wilkie Collins (1871)/ Penguin Books).

Art: Wang Hui

Wang Hui (Chinese, 1632-1717), 1672,
National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Infernal Affairs Movie OST

Infernal Affairs Original Soundtrack
Track: “Wu Jian Dao”
(duet by Andy Lau and Tony Leung)

In The Mood For Love OST

Music Notes


In The Mood for Love Original Movie Soundtrack
Track: “Yumeji’s Theme”
by Shigeru Umebayashi