Against The Hype

A woman getting pounded into by a man oblivious to her distraction, turmoil, inner life: Any cinema that attends to such an image surely has an eye to that woman’s strengths and vulnerabilities in other ways that surprise and resonate.

Which of these performances do you most admire, or look forward to seeing? Do you know of others like them?

• Melanie Lynskey in Heavenly Creatures (1994)
• Julianne Moore in Safe (1995)
• Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
• Nicole Kidman in Birth (2004)
• Tang Wei in Lust, Caution (2007)

Lina Lamont as “Yvonne”: Pierre will save me. Pierre!

“Rouge Noir”: Pierre is miles away, you witch!

Lina as “Yvonne”: No, no, no!

“Rouge Noir”: Yes, yes, yes!

— Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Stromboli: There! This will be your home, where I can find you always!

Pinocchio: No, no, no!

Stromboli: Yes, yes, yes!

— Pinocchio (1940)

How do you prefer your “No, no, no” and “Yes, yes, yes”?

• With Jean Hagen’s helium-frizzed flutiness and an uncredited actor’s mustachioed villainy in Singin’ in the Rain
• With Dickie Jones’ fear-struck protests and Charles Judels’ hulking malevolence in Pinocchio

Mention your pick in the comments below!

Schindler: There’s no way I could have known this before, but there was always something missing. In every business I tried, I can see now it wasn’t me that had failed. Something was missing. Even if I’d known what it was, there’s nothing I could have done about it, because you can’t create this thing. And it makes all the difference in the world between success and failure.

Emilie: Luck?

Schindler: War.

— Schindler’s List (1993)

Valmont: Now, yes or no? It is up to you, of course. I will merely confine myself to remarking that a “no” will be regarded as a declaration of war. A single word is all that is required.

Merteuil: All right.

Merteuil: War.

— Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

How do you prefer your “War”?

• With Liam Neeson’s suave amorality in Schindler’s List
• With Glenn Close’s vindictive divadom in Dangerous Liaisons

Mention your pick in the comments below!

I kickstarted this blog on the fifteenth day of the last Chinese New Year with a review of the delightful Oriental-themed Kung Fu Panda. Today, on this blog’s first lunisolar anniversary, I have mahjong on the brain, having played many bouts of it in the earlier days of this festive season. To mark the occasion, let’s take a closer look at one of Lust, Caution‘s most crucial scenes, an exemplar of how the movie uses mahjong to encode meanings both among its characters and to the audience. Here, we are treated to the mutual seduction of the two leads, Mrs Mai (Tang Wei) and Mr Yi (Tony Leung), as well as Mrs Yi’s canny reactions to the same.

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