Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by watching these Asian cinema classics.
Start with Infernal Affairs. It's the original version of the crime drama The Departed, which earned Martin Scorsese the Academy Award for Best Director. You can decide which version you like better, but I have to say that Tony Leung using Morse code is cooler than Leonardo DiCaprio text messaging.
It's hard not to fall for Tony Leung after Infernal Affairs. Luckily, he’s in many great Wong Kar-Wai films if you want more. He plays a policeman in Chungking Express, a romantic, quirky and sometimes funny film composed of two different tales set in Hong Kong. He is a reticent man in In the Mood for Love, a story not only about love but also betrayal, passage of time, loneliness and missed opportunities. It is beautifully shot in deep tones of red, yellow and browns with an amazing musical score. In the Mood for Love inspired Sofia Coppola's award-winning film Lost in Translation.
If awe-inspiring characters and monstrous creatures appeal to you, then you'll probably like Godzilla or the original Godzilla series. There are even more legions of monstrous creatures, or Kaiju, in Pacific Rim. This movie is widely known as the love letter to Kaiju films and Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi stars in it.
And consider coming to the film screening of The Magnificent Seven on May 7 at Harold Washington Library Center. It is a remake of the award-winning 1954 film classic Seven Samurai, directed by the legendary Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa.
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