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| www.goodbyeleslie.com |
| www.goodbyeleslie.com |
| Remembering Leslie Cheung Gene Siskel Film Center: Chicago John Woo’s A BETTER TOMORROW (1986) wasn’t Leslie Cheung’s first film, but it was the first one that mattered. Typical of the pace of Hong Kong movie-making, thirty-year-old Cheung had already appeared in sixteen films by the time he was cast in the role that would truly launch his screen career. In the years that followed, he became a great pop music star and adored actor in Asia and a cult favorite around the world, beloved for his boyish good looks, smoothly romantic tenor voice, and a graceful screen sensuality that never lost the air of youthful innocence. His memorable roles of the 1980s included the opium-addicted lover in Stanley Kwan’s ROUGE (1987) and the bumbling, good-hearted scholar who falls in love with a ghost in A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987). Cheung’s role as a Peking opera star trapped in a tortured lifelong relationship with his stage partner in Chen Kaige’s FAREWELL, MY CONCUBINE (1993) suddenly brought him mainstream visibility and status in North America and Europe. The singing idol of Hong Kong teenagers was now also the suave star of an Oscar-nominated art house hit. Ever the performer, he was equally at home in a concert in Hong Kong’s convention center or at a swanky banquet at the Cannes Film Festival, surrounded by tuxedo-clad admirers and international press. As director Wong Kar-wai’s star rose in the West, Cheung’s credibility as a serious and adventurous actor was enhanced through his roles in Wong’s DAYS OF BEING WILD (1991), ASHES OF TIME (1994), and HAPPY TOGETHER (1997). In HAPPY TOGETHER, Cheung played explicit sex scenes as a gay character. While he played many straight romantic roles throughout his career, he also played numerous gay, bisexual, transvestite, and cross-dressing characters, and he was considered to have pioneered a new era of freedom and openness in portrayal of such characters in Asian cinema. Leslie Cheung’s sudden death brings sadness to his friends and fans everywhere. He was a charming, gentle, talented man who brought something irreplaceable to the Hong Kong cinema in the course of his sixty films. (BS) A BETTER TOMORROW (YINGXIONG BENSE) 1986, John Woo, Hong Kong, 95 min. With Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung Leslie Cheung’s stardom was secured and his place in Hong Kong film history assured by his casting as the idealistic younger brother in John Woo’s great mythic gangster saga A BETTER TOMORROW. Rookie cop Kit (Cheung) rises through the ranks of the police force despite the taint on the family name, while his gangster brother Ho (Ti) and partner Mark (Chow) are brought low by the crime lords they serve. A final reckoning on the Hong Kong docks is an explosive orgy of destruction that brings reconciliation at the point of death in one last excessive round of sacrificial bloodshed. The film put John Woo on the world map and brought all his leading actors lasting fame. In Cantonese with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS) Thursday, May 22, 6:00 pm; Sunday, May 25, 5:00 pm Back to top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAREWELL, MY CONCUBINE (BA WANG BIE JI) 1993, Chen Kaige, China/Hong Kong, 155 min. With Leslie Cheung, Gong Li, Zhang Feng-yi Winning the Grand Prix in Cannes in 1993 as well as an Oscar nomination, FAREWELL, MY CONCUBINE brought Leslie Cheung, Asian mega-star and one of the "gods" of Cantonese pop music, to the attention of the Western world. The opulent melodrama spans fifty critical years of Chinese history, taking two young boys, Douzi (Cheung) and Xiaolou (Zhang), from their harsh apprenticeship in the Peking Opera to the treacherous days of the Cultural Revolution, with the beautiful actress/prostitute Juxian (Gong) coming between them. Cheung’s touching and sensitive performance as the man forced to spend his life portraying women on the stage is one of the indelible achievements of his career. In Mandarin with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS) Saturday, May 24, 2:15 pm; Tuesday, May 27, 6:30 pmM Back to top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INNER SENSES (YI DU KONG JIAN) 2002, Bruce Law, Hong Kong, 100 min. With Leslie Cheung, Karena Lam The tragic April 1 suicide of star Leslie Cheung made this horror thriller his last film. In an eerie foreshadowing, INNER SENSES at one point depicts Cheung poised on the brink of a similar act. One of Hong Kong’s seeing-ghosts genre, INNER SENSES transcends the trend with a well-acted psychological drama that boasts more than a few genuinely chill-inducing moments. Cheung plays Jim Law, a workaholic psychiatrist treating a troubled young woman with a long history of instability. Just as he succeeds in convincing his patient that the frightening apparitions she sees are in her head, he is visited from beyond the grave by a woman from his own past. In Cantonese with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS) Friday, May 23, 6:00 pm; Saturday, May 24, 5:15 pm |