New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Saturday 11/22/08

9:00 PM Sundance
Lost in Beijing (2007 CHI): Tony Leung Ka Fai stars as Lin Dong, a seedy massage parlor owner — is there any other kind? — in this florid but oddly sterile drama from female director Li Yu. Lin has recently knocked up employee Ping Guo (Bingbing Fan) — in plain sight, no less, of hubby An Kun (Dawei Tong), who decides a little blackmail might go a long way towards solving his cash flow problems. Lin throws him a curveball, however, by confessing his fling and offering to adopt the bun currently baking in Ping's oven, and An gets his own back by bedding Lin's wife (Elaine Jin). This frankly unbelievable chain of events is delivered with poker-faced sobriety by the cast, who do their best with the film's over-egged screenplay. It all looks very pretty, though.

Sunday 11/23/08

9:00 PM Sundance
A Bittersweet Life (2005 ROK): A heady cross-pollination of spaghetti western and crime drama, A Bittersweet Life features J.S.A.'s Lee Byeong-hun as gunman Sonwoo, assigned to protect his boss's girlfriend, Heesoo (Shin Min-a), from prying eyes. Left with instructions to "take care" of anyone making a move on his moll, Sunwoo soon discovers there IS another man, but spares the poor fool's life out of his own tender feelings for the sweet young Heesoo. That news doesn't sit well with boss Kang (Kim Yeong-chol), and the bullets and blood are soon flying with gay abandon. Even by the standards set by fellow Korean filmmakers Kim Ki-Duk and Park Chan-Wook, A Bittersweet Life doesn't shy away from a bit of the old ultra-violence, and is definitely not recommended for sensitive souls.

Monday 11/24/08

Midnight Turner Classic Movies
El Mariachi (1992 MEX): Reputedly shot for $7,000, El Mariachi launched the career of talented young director Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Til Dawn, Spy Kids). It's a terrific action story about a lowly mariachi musician (Carlos Gallardo), whose guitar case's resemblance to that of a hired killer's gets its owner into considerable hot water. A brilliant debut by the then 24-year-old newcomer, the film has the zest we expect from all Rodriguez films whilst maintaining its original patina of art house indie credibility.

10:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Foreign Agent (1942 USA): Gale Storm plays a movie star doing her bit against the Axis in this silly but fun Monogram production. Directed by William "One-Shot" Beaudine, the film features Storm as screen siren Mitzi Mayo, daughter of a lighting specialist whose invention is coveted by those nasty Nazis. With the aid of boyfriend Jimmy (John Shelton), Mitzi puts paid to the plot and make sure daddy's invention is safely delivered to Uncle Sam. It's followed at noon by Revenge of the Zombies (1943), an even more far-fetched Storm vehicle in which Third Reich scientist John Carradine plots to fill the ranks of the Wehrmacht with the living dead!

Continued:       1       2       3       4