Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Wong Kar-Wai Alert

One of the best directors alive, Wong Kar-Wai has a full plate. First he's heading the jury at this year's Cannes Film Festival. (I'm sure we'll be hanging out together a lot on the Croisette.) Then Wong begins filming his $10 million English-language debut in NYC called Blueberry Nights. It stars...wait for it...Norah Jones, who also has a one-off CD of classic country out in March under the bandname Little Willies. Wong follows that with the Nicole Kidman remake of Lady From Shanghai budgeted at $30 million. After THAT, Wong reunites with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai for Bruce Lee Teacher. Since Wong takes forever to shoot and edit, you may want to get your Wong fix by renting Eros, a DVD of short films by three major directors. Directorboy says the Steven Soderbergh entry is no better than a slap-dash student film and Antonioni's entry is even more self-indulgent. But Wong's 43 minute entry starring Li Gong is a "minor masterpiece." As a bonus, you get the nice mood piece "Eye To Eye," which watches as Antonioni silently studies a sculpture.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna netflix Eros -- thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the greatest living director is Bergman.

Anonymous said...

I'd say the greatest living active director is Ang Lee. Consider this run of gems: Eat drink Man Woman, Sense & Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and now Brokeback Mountain. That's a hell of a resume.

Anonymous said...

Robert Altman if you look at his body of work and ignore most stuff since The Player, with the exception of Gosford Park.

Anonymous said...

Spielberg. Like Hitchcock, underappreciated in his day for being so damn entertaining, but a great director nonetheless.