Tuesday's Movie Roundup

Zhou Xuan Retrospective

If you’ve ever flicked through a pile of “vintage” posters at Panjiayuan, you’ve probably come across this woman’s face.

Zhou Xuan (1920-1957) was known as “golden voice” and reached the peak of her fame in the ‘30s and 40s. Her smooth and silky voice (which you can listen to here) was the inspiration for Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love, with the film itself being named after one of Zhou Xuan’s songs.

The China Film Archives offer this special series of Zhou Xuan films (eight in total) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the star’s tragic and premature death. Visit the CFA website for more details about screening times. In Chinese, no English subtitles. Until Nov 25. RMB 8.

Sri Lankan Film Festival

The beauty of so many countries scrambling to engage culturally with China is that so many undiscovered nooks and crannies of the filmmaking landscape are revealed to us. Last week saw the Austrian Film Festival at Cherry Lane (look out for the interview with Mephisto director István Szabó later this week), and now there’s a chance to enjoy a series of Sri Lankan films.

Four films will be shown altogether with the opening film Uppalavanna a highlight of the festival. The film’s director Sunil Ariyarathna will be present along with other Sri Lankan actors and directors at the opening of the festival in Star City.

Films will be shown at both Star City and the Xin Dong’an Cinema (6528 1988/1898). Until Nov 24. RMB 30-40.

Blind Mountain (Mang Shan)
Somehow managing to avoid the overzealous sheers of the Chinese censors, Blind Mountain gets its release this Friday (Nov 23). Preferring to cast “real” people rather than actors, Li Yang’s film focuses on a college student who is tricked into traveling to a mountain town, only to be sold into marriage when she arrives.

Read a review of this gritty film here, and imdb fiends can get their fix here.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

With Hollywood showing a predilection for filming more movies in China (Mission Impossible 3, The Dark Night, etc.) the next on the list is the third installment of the The Mummy, which is going to follow a resurrected Chinese emperor as he rampages along Shanghai’s famous waterfront.

Filming was scheduled to take place in Beijing, but apparently Shanghai proved more of an attractive offer for the filmmakers. Idiots.

Nationwide Screenings of Feng Xiaogang Movies
A nationwide retrospective of director Feng Xiaogang’s movies will begin in China. Best known for movies like Cell Phone, Big Shot’s Funeral and the Andy Lau vehicle A World Without Thieves, this is a real chance to see the work of one of China’s most popular directors.

Showing this week:

Lust, Caution, Ratatouille, Bourne 3, Die Hard 4