The "Recommended Film History" screening unit of the Shanghai International Film Festival was officially launched in 2019. The unit aims to review the vast film history and select influential and representative works that coincide with the anniversary of the film. This year's "Recommended Film History" unit also includes 12 classic Chinese and foreign films with their own characteristics:
"Mysterious X" shows the unique light and shadow charm of movies. The innovation of "The Last Laugh" in shooting techniques and styles has influenced us to this day. When movies came to China as imported products, silent masterpieces such as "Goddess" were born, and now they are revitalized with new soundtracks. "Gaslight" questions social symptoms through movies. "The Road" won the first Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, bringing Fellini to the world. The animation treasure "Havoc in Heaven" proves that Chinese filmmakers have never been isolated from film innovation. "Murder on the Orient Express" allows drama and film celebrities to return to the "crime scene". The epic masterpiece "Once Upon a Time in America" turns movies into witnesses of the changes in New York. The subversive "Pulp Fiction" boldly explores the types of film narratives. The emotional samples in "Eternal Love" sublimate the love genre. "Flowers and Alice" is a culmination of the aesthetics of Shunji Iwai, the godfather of Japanese youth films. "Wild Tales" uses movies to laugh and scold the world.
Mysterious X (1914)
Sealed Orders
Benjamin Christensen
Highlights:
A masterpiece of light and shadow created by a film pioneer
Shortly after Officer Van Horn went off to war, Count Spinelli took the opportunity to harass the officer's wife to achieve his ulterior motives. Danish film pioneer Benjamin Christensen wrote, directed and starred in his first feature film, which was a huge success after its release. This film not only combines multiple elements such as espionage, love and family affection, but also has rich scenes and superimposed suspense. What is more groundbreaking is that the silhouette effect created by Christensen presents a rare exquisite composition in films of the same period, and even cleverly uses light and shadow as part of the narrative to participate in the suspense setting, making the film show a wonderful expressiveness. This aesthetic creativity has benefited many future generations.
The Last Laugh (1924)
The Last Laugh
FW Murnau
Highlights:
Murnau's chamber drama masterpiece
An elderly doorman greets guests at a luxury hotel. He is obsessed with his uniform, but after being demoted to a restroom attendant, he has to face the ridicule of those around him. German film pioneer F. W. Murnau teamed up with famous playwright Karl Mayer to adapt the satirical master Gogol's novel "The Overcoat", and together they created this classic chamber drama film that went down in history. The first Oscar winner Emil Janings portrayed this sad old man in great detail. The film completely abandoned the subtitles and let the pictures speak for themselves, and there were endless image innovations: the amazingly smooth camera movement, the use of double exposure of the moving screen to create the picture of the building collapsing... plus the ironic ending, looking back at this silent masterpiece is still intriguing.
Goddess (music version) (1934)
The Goddess
Wu Yonggang
Highlights:
Ruan Lingyu emotionally performed in the pinnacle of silent film in Chinese film history
In the 1930s, a poor Shanghai woman named Ruan became a prostitute to make a living. She worked hard to raise her children, but her life became even worse. Gangsters and bullies wanted to embezzle Ruan's money... Director Wu Yonggang's first feature film shot at Lianhua Film Company is a critical realist masterpiece. The exquisite composition and smooth picture transitions make this masterpiece the pinnacle of silent films in Chinese film history. The star Ruan Lingyu and child star Li Keng played the miserable mother and son vividly. Ruan Lingyu perfectly reproduced the unfortunate experience of a selfless mother. Wu Yonggang once praised Ruan Lingyu as a quick film with a keen sense of light, who could always accurately understand the requirements. The music of this soundtrack version was composed by the famous Chinese composer Mr. Zou Ye, which makes this silent film masterpiece even better.
Gaslight (1944)
Gaslight
George Cukor
Highlights:
A classic in-depth analysis of PUA tactics
In order to seize his wife Paula's huge fortune, husband Gregory used the flickering gaslight to blur her cognition and attempted to drive Paula crazy with a series of psychological manipulations. George Cukor, who is known for shooting women's stories, successfully remade the 1940 British film of the same name. After the film was released, it received rave reviews. Since then, "gaslighting" has been more widely mentioned and specifically refers to emotional manipulation that destroys other people's cognition. The film was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the first Cannes Film Festival and received multiple nominations including the Oscar for Best Picture. Ingrid Bergman won the Oscar for Best Actress with her superb acting skills. The terrified and confused face she presented on the screen has become a classic image in film history.
The Road (1954)
La Strada
Federico Fellini
Highlights:
The early masterpiece that made Fellini famous in the film industry
The petite Gelsomina was sold to the rude street performer Zambano, and followed him to perform on the streets and wander around the world. This film is the first of the "Loneliness Trilogy" by the Italian legendary film master Federico Fellini. During the filming of the film, the director encountered problems such as schedule and budget, which caused him to suffer from depression. The heroine Gelsomina was played by Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina. The inspiration for this role came from a photo of her when she was ten years old. Gelsomina's clear eyes and a mind that coexists with innocence and dullness make her a unique female clown character on the screen. This film combines many images of Fellini's films and composes a melancholy song of wanderers. It won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and became the first award-winning film after the Oscars established the Best Foreign Language Film Award. Since then, Fellini has become famous in the world film scene.
Havoc in Heaven (1964)
The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven
Wan Laiming
Highlights:
A milestone in the history of Chinese animated films
Wan Laiming, the founder of Chinese animation, selected the well-known story from Journey to the West to create China's first color animated feature film. The director poured his years of creative experience into it, with exquisite modeling design, colorful pictures, interesting fighting... Traditional literary works supplemented by the fantastic ideas of animation have created a milestone in the history of Chinese animation. The film has won many domestic and international awards including the Special Short Film Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Best Animated Film at the Popular Film Hundred Flowers Awards. The official poster of the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival used the scene of Havoc in Heaven. The unique and beautiful modeling received great response. In the same year, a new digitally restored version of the complete upper and lower parts of the film was also screened. This year, the audience will be able to relive this best version on the screen.
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Murder on the Orient Express
Sidney Lumet
Highlights:
The best lineup of kings interprets the classic of the Queen of Reasoning
The film master Sidney Lumet's first feature film "12 Angry Men" won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival. He has shot various types of films in his 50 years of career, and he is best at exploring the relationship between justice and truth with crime themes. This film recreates the classic novel of the queen of reasoning Agatha Christie with an all-star cast: a strange case that shocked the whole United States, a luxurious intercontinental train, and a group of passengers with their own concerns. Albert Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller... The film brings together a group of movie stars and drama stars. The 13 leading actors were stage frightened because of their awe when reading the script, which is also a well-known film history story among movie fans. In addition to Ingrid Bergman winning her third Oscar for her role as a dull Swedish maid, this film was also nominated for five Oscars, including Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Once Upon a Time in America
Sergio Leone
Highlights:
Sergio Leone's final work that brought together his career
This film is the last work of Italian film master Sergio Leone in his film career, and it is also his most ambitious epic masterpiece. Leone spent 13 years on this painstaking work, and his refusal to act in The Godfather in order to prepare for this film is also a film history story that movie fans love to talk about. The film depicts the nearly 40-year entanglement between "Noodles" and "Max" played by Robert De Niro and James Woods respectively in the soul-stirring music of the soundtrack master Ennio Morricone, and also reflects the changes in American society. The 4K restoration extended version of this film, which is closest to Leone's original intention, was screened in the "4K Restoration" unit of the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2015. This year coincides with the 40th anniversary of the release of this film. This perfect version will appear on the Shanghai screen again, allowing movie fans to re-experience this great film history classic.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino
Highlights:
Paramount Pictures 4K restoration of the 30th anniversary premiere
Whether it is Uma Thurman's classic look on the movie poster or Thurman and John Travolta's hot dance, Pulp Fiction has long become an important element in popular culture. The film is full of black humor dialogues. Quentin uses non-linear narrative, but the three stories are connected to each other, forming a narrative closed loop, which is wonderful. Following Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Wild at Heart, and Barton Fink, Quentin also won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994 with this film, making the charm of independent films shine all over the world. On the 30th anniversary of the premiere of this film, the Shanghai International Film Festival will bring the latest 4K restoration version of Paramount Pictures to movie fans.
Warmth of the Light (2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Michel Gondry
Highlights:
No matter how I clear my memory, it can't change my love for you
Clementine willfully erased her memory of dating her boyfriend Joel at the Forgetfulness Clinic, and Joel decided to do the same. However, what was wiped out was not only the painful past, but also the moments of love... The non-linear multi-layered text of the gold medal screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and the unrestrained imagination of director Michel Gondry complement each other, winning the Oscar and the British Academy Film Award for Best Original Screenplay. This film visualizes the difficult-to-express process of forgetting, cleverly showing the tenderness and despair in love with a sci-fi setting, and explores the essential relationship between love and memory in a different way. Comedy king Jim Carrey and Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet changed their images: one is introverted and shy, the other is sunny and fragile, and the two work together to present the appearance of love entangled with love and pain.
Flowers and Alice (2004)
Hana & Alice
Iwai Shunji
Highlights:
The swan song of the golden duo of Iwai Shunji and Shinoda Noboru
Starring two beautiful screen actresses, Aoi Yu and Suzuki Anne, this film depicts the delicate triangle relationship between Hana and Alice, who grew up together, and school senior Miyamoto Masashi. The film vividly depicts the sensitive and delicate thoughts of adolescent girls. The two leading actors' innocent and natural performances are heart-throbbing, and the music composed by Iwai himself is also well received. It is worth mentioning that Iwai's close comrade-in-arms, the master photographer Noboru Shinoda, who built the unique "Iwai Image World" with him, passed away shortly after the release of this film, making this work the swan song of the dream combination of "Iwai and Shinoda". Ten years later, Iwai completed a self-review with the animated film "Hana and Alice Murder Case", which is also the best commemoration of his former comrades-in-arms.
Wild Tales (2014)
Wild Tales
Damián Szifron
Highlights:
The hit black revenge comedy
This film combines six stories with the theme of revenge: a strange encounter between airplane passengers, a waiter encountering a former enemy, a driver's road rage escalating into a fight, an engineer's car illegally parked and triggering a counterattack, a gardener taking the blame for his master and encountering a disaster, and a newlywed couple taking revenge by catching a horse. Director Damian Szifron's self-written and directed black comedy broke the box office record of Argentine films in one fell swoop, and was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival. It won numerous international honors including an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, making him a hot Latin American director. The film combines violence, madness, and humor, and satirizes social issues heartily. The characters in the film abandon the norms of civilization, morality, and law, and transform into animals that have been shackled for a long time, completely venting their repressed emotions and highlighting the subtleties of human nature.
Tickets for this year's film festival will go on sale on the Tao Piaopiao platform at 12 noon on June 7.
Note: If the film list changes, please refer to the actual schedule.
