Academy of Arts pays tribute to Chinese films

Advertiser Staff

The martial-arts masterpiece "Come Drink With Me" leads off the Chinese film festival at the Doris Duke Theatre.

The films:

"Come Drink With Me" ("Da Zui Xia")

Directed by King Hu; Hong Kong, 1966. 95 minutes, in Mandarin with English subtitles

Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei Pei), a government agent, is sent to rescue an official and bring his captors to justice, with the aid of a drunken martial-arts master (Yueh Hua). This film is widely accepted as one of the greatest martial-arts films ever, setting the gold standard for kung-fu cinema and redefining the genre of women warriors.

• 1 p.m. today and Saturday

"Purple Butterfly" ("Zi Hudie")

Directed by Ye Lou; China/France, 2003. 127 minutes, in Mandarin, Japanese, Vietnamese and Cantonese with English subtitles

Starring Zhang Yiyi ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") this is a tale of the anti-Japanese resistance movement during the 1930s. Cynthia (Zhang) is a young Chinese woman who is in love with Itami (Toru Nakamura), a Japanese man about to be sent home for military service. She eventually joins a secret resistance group code-named Purple Butterfly, which, years later, plots to assassinate Itami.

• 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday

"Springtime in a Small Town" ("Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun")

Directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang; China, 2002. 116 minutes, in Mandarin with English subtitles

A film about love and tragedy in 1946 China. A husband and wife living in a rural town try to piece together a life and a home after the Japanese occupation. An old friend arrives, breathing life back into their world. See review below.

• 7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday

"Zhou Yu's Train" ("Zhou Yu De Huo Che")

Directed by Sun Zhou; China, 2003. 97 minutes, in Mandarin with English subtitles

Hawai'i premiere. Zhou Yu (Gong Li of "Raise the Red Lantern") is caught between the nomadic relationship of passion with Chen Qing (Hong Kong superstar Tony Leung Ka Fai) and the stable relationship of familiarity with Zhang Qiang (Honglei Sun).

• 1 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday

"Cala, My Dog!" ("Ka La Shi Tiao Gou")

Directed by Xuechang Lu; China, 2003. 99 minutes, in Mandarin with English and Chinese subtitles

Winner of five Chinese Film Media Awards. The story of an ordinary worker struggling to reclaim his pet, his family ... and himself. Lao Er's wife walks the dog without a permit, and the dog is confiscated and scheduled to be destroyed if Lao Er does not pay the fine.

• 1 p.m. Sept. 15; 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16

"The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" ("Shao Lin San Shih Liu Fang")

Directed by Lau Kar-Leung; Hong Kong, 1978. 115 minutes, in Cantonese with English subtitles

Starring one of the grand masters of martial-arts cinema, Gordon Liu, this is an exemplary kung-fu film featuring memorable images of kung-fu training. A Shaw Brothers classic.

• 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15; 1 p.m. Sept. 16