Marie Jost - my official artist profile -alivenotdead.com

The Rise of Johnnie To

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging much the past 6-8 months is because I've been working on a long article about Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To. Afraid someone would steal my thunder, my idea, or at least beat me to the punch with their own article on this topic when they saw what I had in the works, I kept very mum about what I was up to. Basically, only my editor and some close friends who have no interest in Hong Kong cinema knew what I was working on. Well, today the article was published (it is an on-line article, for now) and so I can tell you all (as in ya'll) about it!Here is the link. http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/page.asp?aid=348If you are familiar with HKcinemagic, you know how to navigate the article. If you're new to this excellent site dedicated to Hong Kong movies, it may look a bit daunting at first, but you'll get the hang of it soon enough.In coming weeks, the article will be updated with additional photographs and an Addendum, in which Hong Kong and other Asian critics, academics and other interested parties, weigh in on how To Sir is viewed in Hong Kong and Asia. Eventually the article will be available for download as a PDF and e-book file. Yeah, e-book! I'm pumped about that. I don't even own an e-reader, but the idea tickles my fancy.

almost 14 years ago 0 likes 9 comments 0 shares

Marie Jost

Yes, Flagday, it is such a relief to finally have completed this project. As with all such projects, what looks completely manageable when you start begins to take on monster proportions about half way through. It seemed like such a simple and circumscribed topic when I proposed it. Little did I know, once I started really digging into the research, how rich a topic it was. I didn't get to interview To Sir for this article. I haven't been back to HK since last March-April, and I didn't begin working on this project until last September. I hope he will read it, appreciate it and let me meet him next time I'm in HK. It would be an honor to have tea with one of the world's great filmmakers.

almost 14 years ago

Marie Jost

Thanks for the compliment. :) You are the first person to say something that nice about it. Actually, there have been very few comments, overall. I got the distinct impression in reading so many interviews that Johnnie To, filmmaker, is every bit as much a character as any character in his films. He stick pretty close to the script and just changes the emphasis depending on what his aud is at that given moment. Up next? A study with the current working title of "Uses of the Past." I will look at 3 pairs of films that have some important relationship to one another. Two are HK films from the 1990s that consciously evoke the golden age of Shanghai cinema and another film is a 2001 HK film that evokes the golden age of HK cinema. Beyond that, it is hard to say. Research has just started and I have a lot of work ahead of me. I anticipate that I will get this one published on-line in early 2013. As with most research projects--75% of what I read won't actually get used directly in the piece, but it will shape my thinking and inform my opinions in a more general way. BTW, one of the films stars Leslie Cheung and one was directed by Johnnie To (not the same film). You should be stumped. If not, I haven't chosen the right films. :)

over 13 years ago

Marie Jost

Oh, and there is also a little book review of Helen Leung's take on Farewell My Concubine that should be up on HKCinemagic any minute now. I'll past the link here when it appears. If you are on FB, send me a private message and let me know how to friend you there. As you might imagine, there is an extremely active HK/Asian film community on FB and a lot of the people you probably know here from AnD are also on FB.

over 13 years ago

Marie Jost

I think you'll find plenty of HK and Asian movie FANS on FB. I'm about the only academic type kicking around there, and I'm more involved in the Leslie Cheung fan community than I am the Asian film community (though I do keep in touch with folks from that group on FB). Grady Hendrix (the wildman fanboy cum legit critic of Asian film is on FB) as are Sylvia Rorem, the guys from HKCinemagic and a whole raft of female martial arts/wuxia pian film fans who belong to the Heroic Sisterhood - The Ladies' Asian Action Cinema Appreciation Society! I think you'd have a blast. A lot of fans of Shaw Bros and Golden Harvest films, lots of trivia, bad subtitles, etc. All a lot of fun and nothing terribly serious.

over 13 years ago

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In Memoriam Leslie Cheung 1956-2003 Our Leslie, beautiful like a flower. I love you today and always-- a part of my heart beats for you alone, tonight a

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Languages Spoken: english, french, spanish
Location (City, Country): United States
Gender: female
Member Since: January 26, 2008