MOVIES
COURTESY HONOLULU ACADEMY OF ARTS
The 3rd annual Chinese Film Festival will screen the trilogy of "Infernal Affairs" crime dramas at the Doris Duke Theatre, Honolulu Academy of Arts.
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Chinese film fest runs at Academy of Arts
The Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Hawaii Chinese Civic Association present the 3rd annual Chinese Film Festival in the Doris Duke Theatre.
The festival kicks off with the screening of the entire "Infernal Affairs" police/crime drama series, with parts two and three making their U.S. premiere.
» "Infernal Affairs (Wu Jian Dao)," Hong Kong, directed by Andrew Lau (2002): The crime thriller stars Asian megastars Andy Lau and Tony Leung. Leung plays a cop named Yan who's been assigned to undercover work inside the H.K. Triads. Lau, meanwhile, is a secret member of the Triads named Ming who has infiltrated the police force. The organizations, however, become aware of the moles, and the race is on for each to get out of the game alive. -- Screens 7:30 p.m. Thursday
» "Infernal Affairs II (Wu jian dao 2)," Hong Kong, directed by Lau (2003): The prequel to the hit. Yan and Ming, this time played by Shawn Yue and Edison Chen, respectively, have just began their dangerous double lives. But a strange alliance develops when both the triads and the police find an enemy in a rival crime boss. -- 7:30 p.m. Friday
» "Infernal Affairs III (Wu jian dao 3)," Hong Kong, directed by Lau and Alan Mak (2003): Lau and Leung reprise their original roles in this final chapter of the trilogy. It begins where the first '02 film ended, with the death of Yan and the conclusion that Ming successfully took out the Triads. Now relegated to office work, Ming becomes suspicious that there could be a new mole from the Triads in the form of fast-rising police officer Yeung (Leon Lai). -- 7:30 p.m. Saturday
» "Electric Shadows," China, directed by Xiao Jiang (2004): Jiang's entertaining debut is like a Chinese "Cinema Paradiso." It opens in present-day Beijing with a disastrous encounter between Dabing and Ling Ling. Dabing is the one with a bump on his head, but Ling Ling's the one who ends up in hospital. Dabing visits Ling Ling's home to keep her fish fed and starts reading her diary. It tells a story that reminds him of his own childhood passion for the movies. -- 1 and 4 p.m. Dec. 2 and 3; 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4; 7:30 p.m Dec. 5; 1 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6; 1 p.m. Dec. 7; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8
» "The World," China, directed by Jia Zhangke (2004): The acclaimed director's latest film looks at the effects of modernity and globalization in Beijing through the daily loves, friendships and desperate dreams of the twenty-somethings from China's remote provinces who come to live and work at World Park, a bizarre cross-cultural pollination of Las Vegas and Epcot Center. -- 4 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 and 11, and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14
» "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress," China, directed by Sijie Dai (2002): Based on the international best-selling book, it's an epic journey during China's Cultural Revolution. Two university students, Luo and Ma, are sent to a mountainous region for Maoist re-education and meet the seamstress granddaughter of the local tailor. Together, they discover a cache of forbidden books of classic western literature, and in doing so, learn about the power of literature to change the world in revolutionary ways. -- 1 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15; 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16 to 18; and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19