Film-triptychs have been a source of masterpieces for Asian cinema for many decades, with works like Wong Kar-Wai’s “Chungking Express“, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “Three Times” and more recently Jia Zhangke’s “Mountains May Depart”. Taiwanese Wi Ding Ho makes his own effort at the triptych by implementing an additional cinematic trick: reverse chronological order.
The story begins with a death, while a Taiwanese rendition of Ritchie Valens’s “Oh Donna” is playing in the background, before it turns to its first segment. The setting is at Taipei in 2056, but the events unfolding could be of any decade: The protagonist, 60-years-old Zhang Dong Ling barges into a ballroom dance session only to attack the man dancing with his wife, which is soon revealed to have been estranged from him for many years. A violent scene in the hospital and a more tender one with his daughter conclude this segment, while...
The story begins with a death, while a Taiwanese rendition of Ritchie Valens’s “Oh Donna” is playing in the background, before it turns to its first segment. The setting is at Taipei in 2056, but the events unfolding could be of any decade: The protagonist, 60-years-old Zhang Dong Ling barges into a ballroom dance session only to attack the man dancing with his wife, which is soon revealed to have been estranged from him for many years. A violent scene in the hospital and a more tender one with his daughter conclude this segment, while...
- 8/11/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“Cities of Last Things,” an award-winning Taiwanese black drama where the story is told in reverse chronological order, has been acquired for streaming by global online giant Netflix. The film is expected to be available on the platform from July 11.
The film opens with images of a man hurling himself to his death off a multi-story apartment building. It goes on to reveal the man’s experience of three eras, three seasons, and three nights, compacted into one single night in the same city, and told in reverse chronological order.
Directed by Malaysian-born, New York-educated Ho Wi Ding, the film had its premiere at the Toronto festival in September last year. There it won the prize for best film in the experimental Platform section. Toronto festival director and CEO Piers Handling described the film as “a very twisting interior tale of a man trying to exorcise his demons.”
https://variety.
The film opens with images of a man hurling himself to his death off a multi-story apartment building. It goes on to reveal the man’s experience of three eras, three seasons, and three nights, compacted into one single night in the same city, and told in reverse chronological order.
Directed by Malaysian-born, New York-educated Ho Wi Ding, the film had its premiere at the Toronto festival in September last year. There it won the prize for best film in the experimental Platform section. Toronto festival director and CEO Piers Handling described the film as “a very twisting interior tale of a man trying to exorcise his demons.”
https://variety.
- 6/13/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The peppy exhortation to “live every moment as if it were your last” has always been a source of annoyance, not least because it’s so redundant: Every moment we experience is our last — as in, the latest in a long line of moments that terminates in the present with only the chirruping crickets of an unknown future ahead. With his fifth feature, Malaysian-born Taiwanese filmmaker Ho Wi Ding has basically made a hymn to that observation, in the form of the seamy, secretive, sorrowful “Cities of Last Things” — winner of the Toronto film festival’s juried Platform section — a fatalistic film noir that uses a non-chronological structure to invoke the elusive idea that every encounter is an abandonment and that all we are is the sum total of all those last things.
And so it begins with an end — while an incongruously cheerful, old-fashioned Chinese doo-wop song plays, a...
And so it begins with an end — while an incongruously cheerful, old-fashioned Chinese doo-wop song plays, a...
- 9/17/2018
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
"Let's run away together." An official festival trailer has arrived for a sci-fi drama titled Cities of Last Things, a Taiwanese production. It sounds intriguing and looks crazy cool. This is a story about a common man who has extraordinary events in his mundane life. The film depicts the protagonist's turns of events in three eras, three seasons, three nights, in the same city, as told with reverse chronology. It just premiered at Tiff this month, though not too many reviews are around yet. "Spanning generations, Cities of Last Things builds a seering, non-preachy portrait of societal and political change through the lens of an emotional drama. Reminiscent of the early work of Wong Kar-wai, it finds its heartbeat in the pulse-pounding rhythm of the underbelly of the unnamed city." Starring Jack Kao, Li Hong-Chi, Louise Grinberg, Ding Ning, Stone, Huang Lu, Liu Rui-Chi, Hsin Yin, Liu Juei-Chi, and Shin Yin.
- 9/14/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Here’s the first-look trailer from intriguing Toronto Film Festival entry Cities Of Last Things. From director Ho Wi Ding, the sci-fi-fi drama is told in reverse-chronological order, revealing one man’s fraught inner world and the circumstances that led to a life-altering decision. A Taiwan/China/France/U.S. co-production, it’s running in the Platform section on September 8.
Filmed in Taiwan, the movie stars Hong-Chi Lee (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Louise Grinberg, Jack Kao, Lu Huang and Stone (of the Taiwanese band Mayday).
The film, set in the pulse-pounding rhythm of the underbelly of an unnamed city, opens with the image of a man hurling himself to his death off a multi-storey apartment building. The story follows Lao Zhang, a depressed, ex-police officer pining for a lost love and fighting with his unfaithful wife about their long-soured relationship. But Lao intends to finally act, with a calculated fury,...
Filmed in Taiwan, the movie stars Hong-Chi Lee (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Louise Grinberg, Jack Kao, Lu Huang and Stone (of the Taiwanese band Mayday).
The film, set in the pulse-pounding rhythm of the underbelly of an unnamed city, opens with the image of a man hurling himself to his death off a multi-storey apartment building. The story follows Lao Zhang, a depressed, ex-police officer pining for a lost love and fighting with his unfaithful wife about their long-soured relationship. But Lao intends to finally act, with a calculated fury,...
- 9/5/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Sales agency, Wild Bunch has boarded “Cities of Last Things,” a mind-bending Asian drama that has its premiere next month at the Toronto Film Festival.
Written and directed by Malaysian-born, Taiwan-based Ho Wi Ding the film opens with the images of a man hurling himself to his death off a multi-story apartment building. It goes on to reveal the man’s experience of three eras, three seasons, three nights, compacted into one night in the same city, and told in reverse chronological order. Tiff director and CEO Piers Handling described the film as “a very twisting interior tale of a man trying to exorcise his demons.”
The film stars Lu Huang (aka Lulu Huang) rising Chinese actor and Golden Horse winner Hong-Chi Lee, seasoned Taiwanese actor Jack Kao and French actress Louise Grinberg.
Taiwan-based Changhe Films co-produced the film with China-based Hymn Pictures, Singapore’s MM2 Entertainment, the U.S.
Written and directed by Malaysian-born, Taiwan-based Ho Wi Ding the film opens with the images of a man hurling himself to his death off a multi-story apartment building. It goes on to reveal the man’s experience of three eras, three seasons, three nights, compacted into one night in the same city, and told in reverse chronological order. Tiff director and CEO Piers Handling described the film as “a very twisting interior tale of a man trying to exorcise his demons.”
The film stars Lu Huang (aka Lulu Huang) rising Chinese actor and Golden Horse winner Hong-Chi Lee, seasoned Taiwanese actor Jack Kao and French actress Louise Grinberg.
Taiwan-based Changhe Films co-produced the film with China-based Hymn Pictures, Singapore’s MM2 Entertainment, the U.S.
- 8/25/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Wild Bunch has come aboard to handle worldwide sales on Cities of Last Things, Ho Wi Ding’s new film that is world premiering next month in the Platform section of the Toronto Film Festival. The international sales outfit will rep sales for North America, Japan and most of Europe. Excluded is France, Taiwan, China and other Asian territories for the co-production that counts partners from Taiwan, China, the U.S. and France.
It bows in Taiwan October 26 with a Chinese release likely to follow in November.
The pic centers on one man’s fraught inner world and the circumstances that led to a life-altering decision. It opens with the image of a man hurling himself to his death off a multi-story apartment building and is told in reverse-chronological order. Hong-Chi Lee (Long Day’s Journey Into Night) stars with Jack Kao, Louise Grinberg, Lu Huang and Stone (of the...
It bows in Taiwan October 26 with a Chinese release likely to follow in November.
The pic centers on one man’s fraught inner world and the circumstances that led to a life-altering decision. It opens with the image of a man hurling himself to his death off a multi-story apartment building and is told in reverse-chronological order. Hong-Chi Lee (Long Day’s Journey Into Night) stars with Jack Kao, Louise Grinberg, Lu Huang and Stone (of the...
- 8/24/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Malaysian director Wi Ding Ho’s non-linear relationship drama to premiere in Platform section.
Wild Bunch has acquired world sales rights to Taiwan-based director Wi Ding Ho’s drama Cities Of Last Things ahead of its premiere in Toronto’s Platform section next month.
The Paris-based international sales powerhouse will handle most territories including North America, Japan and Europe but excluding France, Taiwan, China and additional Asian territories.
The non-linear drama revolves around an ordinary man’s relationships with three women, focusing on one night with each of them which resulted in a life-changing event.
“Only in film and literature,...
Wild Bunch has acquired world sales rights to Taiwan-based director Wi Ding Ho’s drama Cities Of Last Things ahead of its premiere in Toronto’s Platform section next month.
The Paris-based international sales powerhouse will handle most territories including North America, Japan and Europe but excluding France, Taiwan, China and additional Asian territories.
The non-linear drama revolves around an ordinary man’s relationships with three women, focusing on one night with each of them which resulted in a life-changing event.
“Only in film and literature,...
- 8/24/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The pan-Asian co-production stars Taiwan’s Lee Hong-Chi and French actress Louise Grinberg.
Malaysia-born, Taiwan-based filmmaker Wi Ding Ho has wrapped his latest feature, Cities Of Last Things, starring Lee Hong-Chi, Jack Kao and French actress Louise Grinberg (The Class).
The film tells the story of a man and his relationships with different women through three vignettes told in reverse chronology.
Lee Hong-Chi won best new performer at the Golden Horse Awards for 2015 drama Thanatos, Drunk, while Kao is a veteran Taiwanese actor with credits including The Assassin and One Night Only. Lu Huang (Blind Massage) and Stone of Taiwanese...
Malaysia-born, Taiwan-based filmmaker Wi Ding Ho has wrapped his latest feature, Cities Of Last Things, starring Lee Hong-Chi, Jack Kao and French actress Louise Grinberg (The Class).
The film tells the story of a man and his relationships with different women through three vignettes told in reverse chronology.
Lee Hong-Chi won best new performer at the Golden Horse Awards for 2015 drama Thanatos, Drunk, while Kao is a veteran Taiwanese actor with credits including The Assassin and One Night Only. Lu Huang (Blind Massage) and Stone of Taiwanese...
- 3/20/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Christian Petzold, Emily Atef, Lance Daly join Berlinale.
Source: Great Point Media
‘Damsel’
Another ten films have joined the Competition of the 68th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 15 - 25). Three more have also been selected for the programme of the Berlinale Special.
Joining the eight Competition films and two Berlinale Special titles are 13 productions from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong - China, Iran, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Paraguay, People’s Republic of China, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the USA.
Joining the main competition are Barbara and Phoenix director Christian Petzold’s new drama Transit, a contemporary reworking of Anna Seghers’ 1944 novel about refugees attempting to flee through Marseille after the Nazi invasion of France in 1940. The film stars Frantz breakout Paula Beer.
Also new to competition is David and Nathan Zellner’s Damsel, the western about a Us businessman who travels to join his fiancée...
Source: Great Point Media
‘Damsel’
Another ten films have joined the Competition of the 68th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 15 - 25). Three more have also been selected for the programme of the Berlinale Special.
Joining the eight Competition films and two Berlinale Special titles are 13 productions from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong - China, Iran, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Paraguay, People’s Republic of China, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the USA.
Joining the main competition are Barbara and Phoenix director Christian Petzold’s new drama Transit, a contemporary reworking of Anna Seghers’ 1944 novel about refugees attempting to flee through Marseille after the Nazi invasion of France in 1940. The film stars Frantz breakout Paula Beer.
Also new to competition is David and Nathan Zellner’s Damsel, the western about a Us businessman who travels to join his fiancée...
- 1/15/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- ScreenDaily
Christian Petzold, Emily Atef, Lance Daly join Berlinale.
Source: Great Point Media
‘Damsel’
Another ten films have joined the Competition of the 68th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. Three more have also been selected for the programme of the Berlinale Special.
Joining the eight Competition films and two Berlinale Special titles are 13 productions from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong - China, Iran, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Paraguay, People’s Republic of China, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the USA.
Additional films for both categories are due to be revealed soon. Films announced today are:
Competition
3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon)
Germany / Austria / France
By Emily Atef (Molly’s Way, The Stranger In Me)
With Marie Bäumer, Birgit Minichmayr, Charly Hübner, Robert Gwisdek, Denis Lavant
World premiere
Black 47
Ireland / Luxembourg
By Lance Daly (Kisses, The Good Doctor)
With Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, [link...
Source: Great Point Media
‘Damsel’
Another ten films have joined the Competition of the 68th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. Three more have also been selected for the programme of the Berlinale Special.
Joining the eight Competition films and two Berlinale Special titles are 13 productions from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong - China, Iran, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Paraguay, People’s Republic of China, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the USA.
Additional films for both categories are due to be revealed soon. Films announced today are:
Competition
3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon)
Germany / Austria / France
By Emily Atef (Molly’s Way, The Stranger In Me)
With Marie Bäumer, Birgit Minichmayr, Charly Hübner, Robert Gwisdek, Denis Lavant
World premiere
Black 47
Ireland / Luxembourg
By Lance Daly (Kisses, The Good Doctor)
With Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, [link...
- 1/15/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- ScreenDaily
In the opening scene of Delphine and Muriel Coulin's 17 Girls, Camille (Louise Grinberg) and her friends awkwardly stand in a hallway dressed only in their underwear. They may resemble young fashion models auditioning for a lingerie shoot, but despite being the popular girls at the high school they are still quite uncomfortable with their bodies. Their bodies are still transitioning into adult bodies. So their false sense of self-confidence is derived primarily smoking cigarettes and hash and swilling vodka and beer -- in other words, doing adult things.
- 1/12/2013
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
17 Girls
Directed by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin
Written by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin
France, 2011
In an early season of Saturday Night Live, there was a great parody sketch of Saturday Night Fever, where one of the cast members uttered the following line: “Ah, to be young, stupid, and have no future at all!” It’s this hedonistic and foolish attitude that dominates the new film 17 Girls, about 17 teenagers in a seaside French town who all decide to get pregnant. Their decision isn’t fraught with tension, introspection, or doubt. Once they get knocked up, the girls look at it as a blessing, but not for the reasons you may think. As such, while writers/directors Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin attempt to create a perceptive and honest look at selfish young people, it’s awfully difficult to tolerate these kids’ actions, even for 90 minutes.
Camille (Louise Grinberg), a tall,...
Directed by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin
Written by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin
France, 2011
In an early season of Saturday Night Live, there was a great parody sketch of Saturday Night Fever, where one of the cast members uttered the following line: “Ah, to be young, stupid, and have no future at all!” It’s this hedonistic and foolish attitude that dominates the new film 17 Girls, about 17 teenagers in a seaside French town who all decide to get pregnant. Their decision isn’t fraught with tension, introspection, or doubt. Once they get knocked up, the girls look at it as a blessing, but not for the reasons you may think. As such, while writers/directors Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin attempt to create a perceptive and honest look at selfish young people, it’s awfully difficult to tolerate these kids’ actions, even for 90 minutes.
Camille (Louise Grinberg), a tall,...
- 9/21/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
17 Girls, the debut feature of the Coulins (novelist Dephine and documentary filmmaker Muriel, hailing from Brittany), transcends its tabloid material and digs deeper into what it means to be young and female in the post-global recession era. Based on a real life story of the pregnancy pact in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where 17 girls became pregnant in the same school year, the film tells a story of a group of 16-year-old high school girls in Lorient, an economically depressed, grey seaside town in Brittany, who decide to get pregnant after one of their popular friends, Camille (Louise Grinberg) accidentally gets knocked up.These girls, neglected at home by busy, working-class parents, living in the post-war-bright-future-never-delivered small town, decide to use their bodies the only way they know...
- 9/20/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Reviews This Week "17 Girls" "Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best" "End of Watch" "How to Survive a Plague" "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" "Three Stars" "17 Girls" When French 16-year-old Camille (Louise Grinberg) accidentally gets knocked up, she talks her classmates into a pact to all get pregnant. That way, they foolishly reason, they can better share their maternal duties when the babies are born. The coeds' parents and teachers are disturbed, but their male classmates are more than willing to help. Soon the high school, in a coastal French town, has 17 pregnant schoolgirls on its roster. The story may be hard to believe, but it is based on real-life events in Massachusetts. Wisely, the directors -- sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin -- moved the action to familiar ground, their French hometown, Lorient. This is their first feature, and it speaks...
- 9/19/2012
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Back in mid-2008 the news ran with a peculiar story coming out of Gloucester High School in Massachusetts, wherein 18 girls were pregnant at the same time. Controversy brewed as to whether this was an intentional pact or not, surrounding 17 girls getting pregnant after finding out one of their friends were. Nothing was ever officially confirmed, but since the French always do things better, they went ahead and made a feature film based on the events.
Sisters Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin premiered 17 Girls back at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and now after being acquired by Strand Releasing, it will finally hit theaters this fall and we’ve got the first trailer. Thankfully this one looks to be more interesting, visually and thematically, than its Lifetime spin-off counterpart. Check it out below for the film starring Louise Grinberg (who already got some high school experience in the excellent The Class), Juliette Darche,...
Sisters Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin premiered 17 Girls back at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and now after being acquired by Strand Releasing, it will finally hit theaters this fall and we’ve got the first trailer. Thankfully this one looks to be more interesting, visually and thematically, than its Lifetime spin-off counterpart. Check it out below for the film starring Louise Grinberg (who already got some high school experience in the excellent The Class), Juliette Darche,...
- 8/9/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
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