Event

TARANTINO: DISCIPLE OF HONG KONG

OAKUFF 2011

9:00PM
Friday September 23rd
TARANTINO: DISCIPLE OF HONG KONG

at NIMBY
8410 Amelia Street
Oakland, CA 94621

9:00PM
TARANTINO: THE DISCIPLE OF HONG KONG (2011)
Tarantino, le disciple de Hong-Kong
Dirs: Jac & Johan
51 min.
France
Blood-spattered 15-minute sequences of kung fu fighting! Deathly sword fights! Ripping out eyeballs with your bare hands! To some people these action scenes say Quentin Tarantino. To others, they say classic 20th-Century Asian cinema from Hong Kong to Japan. To the directors, professors, actors, and film buffs in Jac and Johan's striking new documentary, perhaps they say both.

Arguably no American auteur has been able to integrate the milieu of Asian cinema into the American lexicon like Quentin Tarantino, from Reservoir Dogs, to Death Proof, to his most obvious Hong Kong homage, Kill Bill. Throughout this inventive documentary, visually engaging with a battered 35mm look and chapter division a la Tarantino, one theme is apparent: Tarantino is, as one interviewee puts it, "a living, breathing film fan." He approaches Hong Kong and other Asian cinema with respect and intelligence, ingests it heartily, and finally creates an allusion to the original (imprinting it with his signature dialogues), not an Americanized rip-off, as some critics have claimed. Interviews with Hong Kong cinema heavyweights such as director Ringo Lam (City on Fire) and actor Gordon Liu (Johnny Mo and Pai Mei in Kill Bill 1 & 2) are particularly thought-provoking.

Preceeded by short:
SO LONG, KODACHROME (2010)
Dir: Jim Granato
7 min.
USA
In the era of digital technologies, dealing with Super 8 film is for
smugglers and outlaws.