Shanghai Blues
Asian Cinema
•
1h 42m
Directed by Tsui Hark | 103 mins | 1984
This kinetic, ultra-stylish screwball comedy/historical romance/backstage musical by the inimitable Tsui—beautifully restored for its 40th anniversary—is one of the most zestily entertaining works of 1980s Hong Kong cinema. Kenny Bee’s nightclub clown and would-be songwriter meets-cute with chanteuse Sylvia Chang during a 1937 bombing raid and the two make plans to find each other 10 years later, only to have their reunion in devastated postwar Shanghai complicated, often hilariously, by intervening fate.
Up Next in Asian Cinema
-
Kaili Blues
Directed by Bi Gan | 113 mins | 2015
Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan’s audacious directorial debut announced a major new talent. Shot in the mining village Kaili, the director’s birthplace, the film follows a country doctor who enters a dreamlike world where the boundaries between past, present, and fu... -
The Hole
Directed by Tsai Ming-liang | 89 mins | 1999
It’s the close of the millennium and Taipei has emptied out with the onset of a mysterious virus, but Lee Kang-sheng and Yang Kuei-mei lag behind among the ruins, where maybe a last chance at communication lies through a breach between their apartments... -
Tony Takitani
Directed by Jun Ichikawa | 76 mins | 2004
Jun Ichikawa is one of Japan’s least-appraised geniuses, and "Tony Takitani" is perhaps his masterpiece. This Haruki Murakami adaptation mirrors the author’s clear, precise prose with its study of a well-meaning loner, played perfectly by Issey Ogata ("Yi...