Once more with rather less feeling: after Love in a Fallen City and Eighteen Springs, acclaimed Hong Kong director Ann Hui returns to the work of celebrated 20th century author Eileen Chang with Love After Love, a not-at-all-short adaptation of a Chang short story laboring under the English title Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier. Hui has assembled something of an all-star lineup, with the young leads played by rising actors Sandra Ma (Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, The Shadow Play) and Eddie Peng (Operation Mekong, Hidden Man), the legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto on scoring duties and DP Christopher Doyle returning to the scene, if not quite the time period, of his greatest Wong Kar-wai collaboration, In the Mood For Love. Despite all this promise, third time sadly represents a marked drop-off in charm: Love After Love goes through the motions of classic, rousing melodrama but not the emotions. edit data. +86 10-58851881 What A Girls Life! published in Shanghai Evening Post & Mercury, themes from which would later resurface in her stories Eighteen Springs, The Book of Change and Little Reunions. +31 202159310 +86 21-33521187 2023 Tatler Asia Limited. Eileen Chang (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhng ilng; Wade-Giles: Chang 1 Ai 4-ling 2 September 30, 1920 - September 8, 1995), also known as Chang Ai-ling or Zhang Ailing, or by her pen name Liang Jing (), was a Chinese-born American essayist, novelist, and screenwriter.She was a well-known feminist woman writer of Chinese literature . Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Qiaomei Tang, PhD Candidate East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University. However, subjects like familial strife in Changs Chinese works werent customised to the American literary market. He plays opposite Ma Sichun (The Shadow Play, Soul Mate). She died on 8 September 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA. So. jane@fortissimofilms.com Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. Everything in. Madame Liangs hedonism runs counter to all the girls been taught, and the aunt-niece relationship carries more tension than anything their respective liaisons with George could ever stir. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. gloria.zerbinati@gmail.com. Mob. What was striking to me about this story was the things that aren't said. No one has been able to write like her since., See also: 10 Hong KongFilm DirectorsYou Should Know. has a double or triple meaning: a surface opulence masking hidden rot in which our heroes nonetheless choose to indulge, knowing full well the dangers and/or emptiness at the heart of their world. In Love After Love, she summons Chang's novella, "Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier", to concoct a visually stunning, sprawling love story set in 1940s Hong Kong. But tying for MVP, its probably costumier Emi Wada (Hero, House of Flying Daggers) and production designer Zhao Hai. Every 'Love Is Blind' Couple Who Got Engaged in the Pods: Where Are They Now? A festival promo trailer has debuted for the Hong Kong romantic drama, Wife of a SpyThe programme for the 2020 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from, The 77th Venice International Film Festival is one of the first big Festivals that will open its physical doors after the Covid-19 pandemic. Wangjing Block B,Alibaba Center No.4th Wangjing East Garden 4th Area,Chaoyang District I love this novel because its a brutal story about a mixed-up, hypocritical milieu in Hong Kong shortly before the Second World War. Its a kind of fascinating failure, a beautiful film that just doesnt feel right in a way thats tough to pinpoint. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. 140 mins. The outfits are glorious. The film marked the third time Hui directed . Love After Love (Chinese: ) is a 2020 Chinese erotic romance drama film directed by Ann Hui, and starring Ma Sichun, Faye Yu, Eddie Peng, Chang Chun-ning and Fan Wei. [4][5] It is scheduled to be theatrically released in China on October 22, 2021. Celebrated filmmaker Ann Hui's adaptation of Eileen Chang's classic novella finally debuts at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival this month. We can ride this opulent wave of aimlessness and ambivalence for a while, but it eventually becomes too exhausting and one longs for an end to this pretty world. However, the end of the year is a tricky time to survey the best movies released over the previous 12 months, since theres often so much to consider. Love After Love (Chinese: ) is a 2020 Chinese erotic romance drama film directed by Ann Hui, and starring Ma Sichun, Faye Yu, Eddie Peng, Chang Chun-ning and Fan Wei.The film had its world premiere at the 77th Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2020. email info@labiennale.org, Press Office info and contact persons: Love After Love is Huis 30th film, and an adaptation of a short story by the novelist Eileen Chang, whose fiction she has now used in three films. Eileen Chang (Zhang Ailing) in Hong Kong in 1954. Watch Trailer. First of all, I have to say that this movie is over-the-top pretentious. The . She is met by two pert housemaids Didi (Karlina Zhang) and Nier (Ning Chang), but it belongs to Madame Liang (Faye Yu), her fathers sister who was excommunicated from the family when she chose to become the mistress of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman rather than marry the man her family chose for her. Below, youll find our current favorites among the films that have either opened theatrically this year or become available on other platforms. Eddie Peng (Operation Mekong The Hidden Man) will head the cast of Love After Love the new film by Hong Kongs Ann Hui. 1013CN Amsterdam, Netherlands This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Instead of the lathery, bed-hopping drama initially promised, the vast majority of the film is taken up with blank-slate Weilongs increasing passion for the feckless, promiscuous George and her attempts to get him to put a ring on it. Introduction: Eileen Chang: A Life of Conflicting Cultures in China and America. Clear rating. The awards-season gilding of Ang Lees sultry Lust, Caution brought Chinese cinema a new level of praise and attention on the world stage when it was released in 2007. She also used the pseudonym Liang Jing (), though very rarely. Lust, Caution: The Story, the Screenplay, and the Making of the Film. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. In design, the film is impeccable: gorgeous images (DP Christopher Doyle, working with Hui for the first time, which is unbelievable but true) of gorgeous settings and costumes (by legendary costume designer, the late Emi Wada) peopled by gorgeous actors. Eileen Chang, also known as Chang Ai-ling or Zhang Ailing (September 30, 1920 - September 8, 1995), was a Chinese essayist, novelist, and screenwriter. As an alternative, weve decided to get a jump on the process and keep you posted as the list keeps growing. Ge Wei Long, a girl from Shanghai, goes to Hong Kong to study. The film is backed by Alibaba Pictures, Hehe Pictures, Qingniao Pictures, Maxtime Culture, Black Ant Film and Dongtai Each Media. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Once more with rather less feeling: after "Love in a Fallen City" and "Eighteen Springs," acclaimed Hong Kong director Ann Hui returns to the work of celebrated 20th century author Eileen Chang with "Love After Love," a not-at-all-short adaptation of a Chang short story laboring under the English title "Aloeswood Incense: The . Changs life is a source of fascination for Hedy Chan, the scriptwriter who collaborated with Cheung on the television adaptation. LOVE AFTER LOVE 2021-11-15 - The latest adaptation of inter-war writer Eileen Chang's short stories to hit the silver screen, Love After Love follows a young girl adopted by her notoriously promiscuous aunt and slowly corrupted by Hong Kong's high life. It has so much going for it that the credit list alone will sell tickets. '", With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves weve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Hui, who rose to prominence as a director of the Hong Kong New Wave in the 1980s, has been less well-known in the West. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. Tel. Ann Hui returns to the work of literary titan Eileen Chang for a sumptuous romantic melodrama set in 1930s Hong Kong. See production, box office & company info. Beijing and Amsterdam-based sales agent also adds Super Me, exec produced by the Russo Brothers, to its Cannes slate. Her set, is indeed a variegated bunch, including George and his minxish sister Kitty (a nice, if underserved turn from Isabella Leong), their rich, disapproving father Sir Cheng (Paul Chun), along with Uncle Situ and a wider circle of British Army officers, missionaries, glamor girls and other members of the champagne-quaffing, polyglot Hong Kong elite. Subscribe to the Newsletter and get the latest info on our programmes and initiatives. Every 'Love Is Blind' Couple Who Got Engaged in the Pods: Where Are They Now? An ornate treasure box with a snake inside, but a snake that turns out to be a favorite pet. I have just read one of her most famous works, a novella entitled Love in a Fallen City. Either because Ma and Peng arent able to charismatically convey the interiority of their characters they seem to wildly swing from moment to moment, rather than embody whole, contradictory but nonetheless coherent individuals or because theres something missing in Huis conception of the film. Popular Chinese authors who wrote in English back then touched on sufferings under the Communist regime, Chan says. Far from wallflowers, Changs female characters embodied daring traits and tragic fates, such as Lust, Cautions schoolgirl-turned-spy Wong Chia-chi, who seduces Yee, a powerful political figure in 1940s Shanghai, but ends up falling in love, with fatal consequences. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Martin Scorsese used a narrator to capture Edith Whartons lightly sardonic authorial voice in The Age of Innocence, which plays up the irony of the story and gives us a proper perspective on the strengths and failures of her hero. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And Sakamotos music, while not particularly memorable, pleasantly embellishes the romance with light piano motifs. Love After Love is the third time Hui has directed a film version of Changs work, following 1988s Love in a Fallen City and 1997s Eighteen Springs, both critically acclaimed pictures. Ge Weilong, a young girl from Shanghai, travels to Hong Kong in pursuit of her education. Madame Liang is not exactly a warm, motherly figure, and theres something discomfiting in the way her older friend Uncle Situ (Fan Wei) looks at Weilong. Ann Hui's third Eileen Chang adaptation is a beautifully mounted 1930s Hong Kong love story with little on its mind and less in its heart. Yoshida Kotas film debuts in Rotterdams Big Screen Competition. Eileen Changs parents, aunt and cousins in Tianjin (Photo: Courtesy of Papers, University of Southern California Libraries, East Asian Library), One of Changs manuscripts (Photo: Courtesy of Papers, University of Southern California Libraries, East Asian Library), Changs novels and one of her illustrations (Photo: Affa Chan/Tatler Hong Kong), Tatler Reading List: 10BooksAbout Hong Kong By Hongkongers, 10 Hong KongFilm DirectorsYou Should Know. Here, she debuted Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier, the short story Hui has adapted into Love After Love, which reflects the repression of women in the 1930s and 1940s through the downfall of a young woman who runs away from a traditional Shanghainese family to Hong Kong, but ends up in prostitution to make a living and is forced into a loveless marriage. ), the black sheep of the family because she became the concubine of a wealthy man, now deceased. Building 16,4915 Beisong Gonglu, Songjiang District Eileen Chang [Zhang Ailing ] was born into a large Shanghai family in 1920 and died alone in Los Angeles in 1995. Mrs. Liang is leading a shady life, and Weilong gradually becomes her aunts puppet in the game of luring the rich and powerful men. But what. But Mme Liang, a character made up of two parts side-eye and one part cigarette smoke, is no Marquise de Merteuil, and while she seems to constantly be plotting something devious, not a lot ever comes of it she is a Machievellian schemer without a scheme. There is no war and no revolution in my works, she wrote in Written on Water, a 1945 essay collection. The great-granddaughter of Li Hongzhang, an influential Qing Dynasty court official, Chang was born in Shanghai in 1920 and received a western-style education at St Marys Hall school, where she would write stories for the schools annual magazine. Author Eileen Changs life was as storiedand tragicas her novels, one of which hits the big screen this month. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Doyles photography delights in the richness of the palette and is effusive in its love for the pearly flawless skin of uniformly attractive cast. The film tells the story of a young girl who travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong in pursuit of education, but ends up working for her aunt seducing rich and powerful men.The film tells the story of a young girl who travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong in pursuit of education, but ends up working for her aunt seducing rich and powerful men.The film tells the story of a young girl who travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong in pursuit of education, but ends up working for her aunt seducing rich and powerful men. +33 (0)786800282 This month marks the centenary of the birth of Eileen Chang (Zhang Ailing), one of the most celebrated modern authors in the Chinese-speaking world. There, she met her second husband, the American scriptwriter Ferdinand Reyher, in a New Hampshire artists colony. But half scandalized and half seduced by this new lifestyle, Weilong moves in and tries to adapt herself to her worldly aunts approval. Chang would end up running away to live with her mother, but the experience propelled her to write the cathartic piece What A Life! The famous novella, Love in a Fallen City is one of Eileen Chang's most profound pieces of work. While there had been a lot of romance writers out there, she stood out with her original and controversial views on human nature, says Cheung Che-kwok, the first producer in Hong Kong to adapt Changs 1950 story Eighteen Springs into a popular television series on RTV, in the Seventies. And I did, sort of. We do things the British way here, announces Madame Liang with some pride. Running time: 2 hours 24 minutes. The story is a reworking of an Eileen Chang short story Aloeswood Incense and is Huis third Chang adaptation after Love in a Fallen City and Eighteen Springs.. We see a lot of movies early, primarily on the festival circuit, and so weve included films at the end of our list that are on deck for inclusion but only if we know for certain that theyre coming out this year. Watch on Mubi. Her ambivalence and indecision are in keeping with the structuring theme of the film, in-betweenness as a state of being, mirroring Hui and Changs view of Hong Kong itself as a place caught between two irreconcilable worlds. Get the latest info on our programmes and initiatives in its Love for cookies. Play, Soul Mate ) keep you posted as the list keeps growing available on other.! Skin of uniformly attractive cast posted as the list keeps growing to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations backed. To get a jump on the process and keep you posted as the keeps! In Rotterdams Big Screen this month programmes and initiatives me about this story was the that! 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