Wong Kar-Wai

CHICAGO – The saga of Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster” is already pretty well-known in the circles of those who would be drawn to the latest work from one of our best living directors. The man behind works like “Chunking Express,” “Happy Together,” and “In the Mood For Love” demands attention every time.

CHICAGO – Tony Leung is a living legend. The man has appeared in too many important films of the last several decades to count, being one of the muses for icons like John Woo (“Hard Boiled,” “Red Cliff”), Andrew Lau (“Infernal Affairs,” which was remade into “The Departed”), and, most of all, Wong Kar-Wai.

CHICAGO – Wong Kar-Wai’s “In the Mood For Love” is one of the most beautiful movies ever made, a mesmerizing blend of Wong’s gift with storytelling, perfect performances from its captivating leads, a gorgeous score from Michael Galasso, and Christopher Doyle & Mark Li Ping-Bin’s cinematography, which should have won every award imaginable. This timeless tale of unrequited love in 1962 Hong Kong resonated strongly with me when I saw it over a decade ago but it’s an even better movie than I remembered. It’s simply perfect and Criterion’s breathtaking HD transfer does it all the justice it deserves.

CHICAGO – Criterion made their debut on the next-gen format this month with a series of imports from standard to Blu-Ray, the first film by a regular for the Collection, Wes Anderson’s “Bottle Rocket”, and the movie that introduced Wong Kar-wai to the world, “Chungking Express”.

CHICAGO – We see sensual close-up shots of blueberry pie overflow with aqueducts of vanilla ice cream in Wong Kar-Wai’s opening sequence of “My Blueberry Nights”. This dreamy scene sets the tone of the latest film from the famous Chinese director as he confronts the West with his unique cinematic style.

CHICAGO – The publicist for “My Blueberry Nights” with Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Norah Jones and David Strathairn just sent us the poster art for the new film, which will open in limited U.S. theaters on April 4, 2008.