Translated material
Chinese illusion
From May 31 on Moscow screens
“28 Weeks Later” (UK, 2007, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo). Continuation of the magnificent British dystopian horror film “28 Days Later”. True, this time the director was not the original author Danny Boyle (who retained only the position of executive producer), but the Spaniard Fresnadillo (“Intacto”). Six months after the start of a devastating epidemic, as a result of which the population of Britain almost completely died out, the US army, which landed on the islands, declares that the virus has been defeated and the country can be repopulated. But, as you might guess, the military was somewhat hasty with conclusions... The result is an expressive and dark action, clearly influenced by George Romero's Day of the Dead and Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men. Starring Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Catherine McCormack, Harold Perrigno, Shahid Ahmet and Amanda Walker.“Hoax” (USA, 2006, Lasse Hallström). An elegant picaresque from the creator of Gilbert Grape, Chocolate and The Cider House Rules, based on the true story of writer Clifford Irving (Richard Gere - Pretty Woman, The Jackal, Dr. T and His Women), who decided to deceive wrapped around the publishing world of the 70s and presented the city and the world with a completely fictitious, but seemingly “authorized” autobiography of the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes. Also starring Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, Stanley Tucci and Julie Delpy.
“You can’t catch us” (Russia, 2007, Ilya Shilovsky).
A romantic thriller, a little reminiscent of perestroika films about foreigners in Russia like “Back in the USSR”: an American fashion model (Alexey Nesterenko) who is about to marry a millionaire comes to Moscow to perform at a fashion show, falls in love with a local beauty (Svetlana Svetikova), and to top it off In total, he is taken hostage by a company of fugitive criminals. Also starring Ekaterina Vilkova, Svetlana Kolpakova, Dmitry Shevchenko, Natalya Egorova and Vladimir Sterzhakov.
“In the Land of Women” (USA, 2007, Jon Kasdan). A young screenwriter (Adam Brody - "The Ring", "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", "Smoking Here"), abandoned by the girl he seems to love, goes to calm his nerves in Michigan, where his grandmother lives. And next door to her lives a very nice neighbor (Meg Ryan - “You’ve Got Letter,” “Proof of Life,” “Kate and Leo”) and her two daughters... Not the most original and not always shy about prohibited practices (like the incurable disease of one of characters), but a supremely cute and cozy melodrama, the directorial debut of the son of the famous director Lawrence Kasdan. Also starring Kristin Stewart, Jeff Cunningham, Olympia Dukakis, Jennifer Goodwin and Clark Gregg.
“Time” (Korea, 2006, Kim Kiduk). A meaningful opus about complex love relationships, in which an important role is played by the opportunity to change one’s appearance beyond recognition with the help of plastic surgery, which is very popular in Korea. Perhaps Kim's first truly unsuccessful film (The Island, Address Unknown, Bad Guy), confused, pretentious and tedious, despite the fact that all the signature techniques and images that are in his best works the principle of a very good director is obvious. Starring Song Hyun Ah, Ha Chun Woo, Park Ji Young and Seo Yeon Hwa.
From May 29 to June 4, as part of the Year of China in Russia, a retrospective of the best Chinese films will be held at the Illusion cinema. The program consisted of two dozen films, mostly completely unknown to the domestic public. Among them are films directed by Xie Fei: “Black Snow” (1989), winner of the “Silver Bear” at the Berlin Film Festival, a social drama during the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, and “The Woman from the Lake of Fragrant Souls” (1993), a film about the difficult fate of a dairy owner, which received Berlin main prize. They will also show: “My Memories of Old Beijing” (1982) by Wu Yigong, one of the first films of socialist China, in which the pre-revolutionary era was shown without propaganda overtones; See You Soon (1998) by Feng Xiaogang, a story about Chinese people trying to adapt to America; "Postmen in the Mountains" (1998) Huo Jianqi about the everyday life of a letter carrier from a mountain village; a classic example of a martial arts adventure film, He Ping's A Knight in the Village of Two Flags (1990); animated legend "Lotus Lantern" (1999) by Chang Guangxi and Peng Ge; romantic melodrama of San Sebastian prize-winner Zhang Yang “Spicy Love Soup” (1997); "Yellow Earth" (1984), the directorial debut of the famous Chen Kaige; "Lotus Village" (1986) and "Opium War" (1997) by Xie Jin; "Old Well" (1987) Wu Tianming; historical drama "Red River Valley" (1999) by Feng Xiaoning; "Human. Demon. Passion" (1987) by Huang Shuqin about a Chinese opera actress performing in a male role; the movie about schoolchildren “Blooming Season, Rainy Season” (1997) by Qi Jian; the drama about relationships between disabled people “Black Eyes” (1997) by Chen Guoxing; “My Life” (1950) by Shi Hui - a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by the classic of Chinese literature Lao She; classic films by one of the most famous Chinese directors Zhang Yimou - winner of the Berlin Golden Bear Red Kaoliang (1987) and My Parents (1999), which received the Silver Bear in Berlin - which will be interesting to compare with the latter the work of the master - “The Curse of the Golden Flower”, which is being released in Moscow. Particularly noteworthy is “The Heroine in Red” (1929) by Wen Yimin - one of the early classic films dedicated to martial arts, which seems unlikely to be seen at any other time.