Cop on a Mission - We, as a group, have loved Eric Tsang since we saw Infernal Affairs (the film the Mundanes don't realize was the basis for The Departed), where his performance as the gangster Sam was divine. He's like the Chinese Christoph Waltz in that, if you'll allow the analogy. We love him so much, one of my Hong Kong Action Theater players modeled his character after him. That he hasn't had a poster yet was a crime, one I've taken care of this month, as our tour through Asia starts in Hong Kong with a well-regarded Eric Tsang/Daniel Wu Triad film. I'm expecting a great start.
Warriors of the Rainbow - Taiwan produces a lot of films, but the ones I've seen have a cheesy glitz to them (probably because they were mostly from the early 90s). 2011's Warriors of the Rainbow seems a very different animal. It's an historical epic about a native Taiwanese people being enslaved by the Japanese in the early 20th century and fighting back. Asia's Apocalypto? This is a part of history I know nothing about, so it'll be interesting just for that, though I fully expect it to have a nationalistic veneer.
The Raid: Redemption - I've only heard good and exciting things about this recent action film out of Indonesia, a country we've never covered on KFF! SWAT team vs gangs in Jakarta, doesn't sound that original except for the location, but it apparently reinvents the action film and is due for an American remake already (oh, U.S., you and your inability to read subtitles or embrace other country's film-making). I suppose that's a sure(?) sign of success.
Sukiyaki Western Django - Everyone's got Django fever, so how about we return to Japan for Takashi Miike's (Ichi the Killer, 13 Assassins) only English-language film? A Japanese western from 2007 AND it's got Quentin Tarantino acting in it! Apparently, I should put the subtitles on anyway, because the accents are pretty terrible (Quentin excepted), but the chance to see if one Django had an influence on the other is too good to pass up. And Miike's reputation speaks for itself. Recommended by former colleague Berubz, so he might just get ah honorary KFF nickname out of it!
So that's our February Asian Tour. If you can't come along, you can read the postcards on every following Sunday's Geekly Roundup. See you somewhere!
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