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For this Friday Movie Night, first up is A City of Sadness (1989), a Taiwanese drama following the saga of a family embroiled in Kuomintang’s White Terror in Taiwan in the late 1940s, amidst the Communist victory on the mainland. The story stretches across a few decades as the fash splinter them apart for their suspected treachery. Director is Hou Hsiao-hsien, who is otherwise best-known for the coming-of-age drama The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985), which we have not yet watched. This is considered one of the best Taiwanese films of all time, so let’s check it out.
After that is Sexy Beast (2000), a British comedy about a gangster (Ray Winstone) who has retired to Spain, only for another gangster (played by Ben Kingsley) to show up at his doorstep and pressure him to come back to London for another big score. Hilarity ensues as Kingsley’s character causes havoc with his violent and temperamental personality. Director is Jonathan Glazer, the guy behind The Zone of Interest (2023) and Under the Skin (2013), both of which we previously watched, and with which this film has little in common, other than being well-reviewed.
We’ll start at 8PM EST on Blorptube, right here:
https://blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine
Be there, comrades!
Letterboxd:
- A City of Sadness: https://letterboxd.com/film/a-city-of-sadness/
- Sexy Beast: https://letterboxd.com/film/sexy-beast/
Doesthedogdie.com links:
- A City of Sadness: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096908/parentalguide/
- Sexy Beast: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/14305
CWs for A City of Sadness:
- References to sex.
- Fascism.
- Blood and gore.
- Beatings.
- Gun violence.
- Profanity.
- Smoking.
- Alcohol.
- Dead bodies.
- Warfare.
- Suicidal ideation.
- Sad ending.
CWs for Sexy Beast:
- Cutting of flesh.
- Blood and gore.
- Beatings.
- Profanity.
- Someone struggles to breathe.
- Squashed head.
- Shower scene.
- Violent mentally-ill person.
- Claustrophobia.
- Shaky cam.
- Fat jokes.
- Sex.
- Honking horns.
- Screeching tires.
- Gun violence.
Links to movies:
- A City of Sadness: https://tankie.tube/w/mQCgm13vyXMKYFWSL4brKN
- Sexy Beast: https://tankie.tube/w/1FVb1jf5BE3zHuaaDafJu6