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Chinese Film Showcase Home

The Promise

House of Fury

Initial D

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2006 Chinese Film Showcase

The Promise
Wednesday, 5/3, 7:30 pm
Brookdale 8 Cinema Theater
5810 Shingle Creek Parkway, Brooklyn Center

The Promise PostersIn this epic film, an impoverished orphan girl makes a bargain she will live to regret with a goddess: she will have the admiration of every man, but she will never be able to live happily with a man she truly loves. Only snow falling in spring and the dead coming back to life will be able to break the bargain. As an adult, all the men she's loved have met with tragedy, and now her involvement with a man with two men, one a mysterious figure in red armor & a golden mask and the other the slave of a great general, seems to be leading to the same fate for all three of them. Are their ends predestined, or is it possible for them to escape the cycle and find a happy life?

This exceptional film is almost a pure transposition of folk tale to film, with all the magic and mystical happenings & characters that folk tales involve. Accurately translating the tone and style of such a different art form as the magical folk tale to the movie screen is something at which the best of filmmakers have often failed, but The Promise does this very effectively for folk-tale/myths. With The Promise, Chen Kaige is once again pushing Chinese film in new directions. Stars: Dong-Ku Jang, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse.

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House of Fury
5/12 (Fri), 11:30 pm
Riverview Theater
3800 42nd Ave S.,
Minneapolis

House of Fury PosterTeddy Yu used to live an adventurous life, but that's no more. Settled down for many years as a chiropractor, the only trace of his former existence is the martial arts he teaches to his children. But when a sinister figure from his past returns, his doubting son… who never believed his father's wild tales… must team up with his dad to stop the evil agent and his henchmen. Families who enjoyed the Spy Kids movies will love this Hong Kong variation on a similar theme.

Star Stephen Fung's second directorial effort does for family films what his first, Enter The Phoenix, did for gangster movies a few years ago… that is, it takes a genre known and loved (but perhaps taken for granted) by many and reinvigorates it, in the process reminding us of what we loved about it in the first place. The sheer sense of fun and excitement the movie generates will have both children and adults so swept up in the adventure that they'll also be absorbing the film's little lessons about love and communication between parents and children before they even realize it, in a film as well acted and directed as any so-called "adult" drama, and with as much to say. Also starring Anthony Wong and Michael Wong.

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Initial D
5/19 (Fri), 11:30 pm
Riverview Theater
3800 42nd Ave S.,
Minneapolis

An exciting racing saga from one of Hong Kong's top directors, Andrew Lau. Takumi has spend the past five years as a deliveryman, bringing Tofu to hungry customers. But he has longed for a life of more excitement and adventure than his day job could provide him. Little did he imagine that the monotonous daily grind of delivering Tofu would be the perfect preparation for the life he had been dreaming of… as a driver of the fastest race cars around! Comparisons with The Fast & The Furious are inevitable, but this film (based on a popular Japanese Manga) has an Asian style all its own.

Initial D PosterA lively, action-packed story with a very distinctive style inspired by the Manga on which it is based, Initial D was the most popular movie at the Hong Kong box office last year, and it is easy to see why. Adrenaline-pumping racing sequences and a bit of romance are blended with some effective acting by some of Hong Kong's best "old pros", particularly Anthony Wong as Chou's father, a former racer who has fallen on hard times. Combined with a memorable movie debut from Jay Chou and a bit of depth to its fast-paced story line, this film is a fine example of a kind of film that is popular around the world, but that can't be found done with this kind of flare anywhere else. Also starring Alan Mak & Shawn Yue.

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Admission: $5 per person

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Sponsors

The Showcase is made possible by McKnight Foundation, MN Film Arts, MN State Arts Board, National Endowment of the Arts, St. Paul Travelers, Target Foundation and University of Minnesota.

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