My Blueberry Nights (2007)

Cautiously Recommended

Hong Kong/China/France
Feature Film
Director: Wong Kar Wai
Writers: Lawrence Block, Wong Kar Wai
Cinematographer: Darius Khondji
Composer: Ry Cooder
Cast: Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman, Frankie Faison

The delightful scenes between Law’s Mancunian café owner and Jones’s heartbroken customer, in the first of three patchy episodes, in Wong’s beautifully photographed English language debut, just about make the other two parts – a maudlin, clumsy middle passage, and a fluffy, throw-away third section – palatable, but this is a long way (about 8000 miles) from the Hong Kong director’s best work. Iain.Stott

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Springtime in a Small Town (2002)

Highly Recommended

China/France/The Netherlands
Feature Film
Original Title: 小城之春
Director: Tian Zhuangzhuang
Writers: Ah Cheng, Li Tianji
Cinematographer: Mark Li Ping-bing
Composer: Xu Jianping
Cast: Hu Jingfan, Wu Jun, Xin Baiqing, Ye Xiaokeng, Lu Si Si

Adapted from the same source story as Fei Mu’s much acclaimed Spring in a Small Town (1948), Tian’s beautifully nuanced film, coming after an enforced ten-year hiatus, exquisitely exploring an emotionally complicated ménage-a-trois, is a visually sumptuous and really rather moving work of great delicacy. Iain.Stott

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