Kung Fu Fridays in April

April has five - count 'em, FIVE - Fridays, which means a whole extra night of Kung Fu goodness. Our Asian star for the month is the beautiful Maggie Cheung who appears in this month's In the Mood for Love (though the picture is from Hero - click for larger image). What can my inner circle of visiting viewers expect to see each week? Perpend:

Shaolin Mantis - I thought about putting something silly on the schedule for April Fool's, but didn't really have anything appropriate. A Gordon Liu-directed action flick from the Shaw Brothers days will do in a pinch though, because it always would.

The Bride with White Hair 2 - I think we mostly enjoyed the first one in March, and the second has a change of director that probably does away with some of the artsy touches of the first. And though we didn't have enough of the Bride (it was an origin story), this time, it looks like she's got white hair from the beginning.

In the Mood for Love - No Kung Fu here, but some of my crew have expressed interest in the greatest Wong Kar-Wai film ever made (at least, according to every Best 100 Films of All Time books out there). It happens to be the only international release of his I haven't seen yet; I hope my gang likes the change of pace

The Deadly Duo - Already did a Lau Kar Leung, so how about a Chang Cheh? This one is from his relatively early days (1971) and features many of Chang's usual stars, including Ti Leung. Probably full of bromance and violence.

Seven Samurai - Bringing up the rear is Kurosawa's greatest work, and so the greatest work in Asian cinema. I've seen it and it doesn't disappoint, but I haven't flipped my own copy. That'll be a big weekend of commentary tracks and documentaries for me!

So that's the line-up. If you're in town, drop by eight-ish on Friday nights. If you're not, find your own copies, won't you?

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