There’s less than a week to go until the Melbourne International Film Festival opens (on the 2nd of August), and I’ve been lazy and not posted a roundup of the Asian cinema showing this year.
It’s not so bad, though: they’ve done the work for us and collected it all into their Accent on Asia programme — the official roundup is here.
Here are a few highlights:
Headshot, the beautifully-made Buddhist noir from Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang.- Gangs of Wasseypur (India, 2012), Anurag Kashyap’s gangster epic, which I enjoyed hugely at SFF.
- Warriors of the Rainbow – Seediq Bale (Taiwan, 2012), another giant two-parter and the most expensive film in Taiwanese history, telling the story of a native rebellion against the Japanese army in the 1930s. Directed by Wei Te-sheng and produced by John Woo!
- Not one, not two, but THREE Takashi Miike films: Ace Attorney (futuristic courtroom drama/Nintendo game adaptation), Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai (a remake of the 1962 classic), and For Love’s Sake, which looks even harder to pigeonhole.
There’s a lot more — 19 films in all — and now’s the time to book tickets!