February 2012
2 posts
February 21: The Sword of Doom
Join us for Movie Night at the OACC!
This month we will be screening The Sword of Doom (大菩薩峠 Dai-bosatsu tōge) by Japanese filmmaker Kihachi Okamoto. The film stars Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune in a story of a wandering samurai, surrounded by - and the cause of - a maelstrom of violence. “The sword is the soul. An evil sword is an evil sword.” In his 1967 review of the film,...
Anthony Discenza Introduces House
How Seven Beauties Were Eaten! The Strange History of an Even Stranger House
We have Steven Spielberg and a killer shark to thank, albeit highly indirectly, for the indescribable experience of House (Hausu, as it is known in Japan). Following the massive success of the movie Jaws, the Japanese film industry, which had been in something of the doldrums throughout the 1970’s, decided that they...
January 2012
2 posts
January 24: House
Join us for Movie Night at the OACC!
This month we will be screening House (ハウス Hausu) by Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi. The film follows a schoolgirl nicknamed Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) as she and her six classmates travel to her ailing aunt’s country home. There they are confronted by numerous unexplainable events as the girls, one by one, disappear. New York Times film critic...
Xiaoyu Weng Introduces Summer Palace
Summer Palace - An Introduction
I do not believe that the sky is blue,
I do not believe that thunder has echo,
I do not believe that dreams are false,
I do not believe that death defies retribution.
- Bei Dao
Whether there is freedom and love or not, in death everyone is equal. I hope that death is not your...
December 2011
1 post
December 20: Summer Palace
Join us for Movie Night at the OACC!
This month we will be screening Summer Lives (颐和园) by Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye. The film depicts the life of a young student, Yu Hong (Lei Hao) who leaves her small hometown to attend a university. There she meets a fellow student (Xiaodong Guo) and begins a tumultuous romantic relationship under the backdrop of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The...
November 2011
2 posts
Dena Beard Introduces "Uncle Boonmee Who Can...
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives - An Introduction
Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul goes by the name “Joe” in the United States, a nickname he picked up at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago nearly two decades ago. I’m afraid that here forward, I too will have to reduce his proper name down to the familiar and refer to Weerasethakul as Joe, so please forgive, but...
November 15: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past...
Join us for Movie Night at the OACC!
This month we will be screening Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ) by Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, the film centers on the last days of the life of the titular Uncle Boonmee. With his loved ones - including the ghost of his dead wife and his lost son...