- Twitch has the first still from the much-anticipated Triangle, a unique cinematic experiment in which three of the greatest directors in Hong Kong history collaborate on a single narrative, as opposed to the normal multi-director vignette format. Each director writes and directs a third of the picture, and what a directorial roster: Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China, Peking Opera Blues), Ringo Lam (City on Fire, Full Contact) and Jonnie To (Election, The Mission)!
- Mentioned just 3 weeks ago in this very column, Confession of Pain has already been optioned for a US remake. Normally I’d be well on my way to drafting a scornful appraisal of this development, but Variety reports that the same team that imported Lau and Mak’s last big hit, Infernal Affairs, will be handling Pain as well! Infernal Affairs was, of course, turned into The Departed, and that turned out to be one of perhaps a dozen worthwhile remakes in film history. Monahan is on board, with the spectres of Scorsese and DiCaprio presumably hovering over his shoulder waiting to read the screenplay.
- US audiences who haven’t already scored the DVD will finally get the chance to see Bong Joon-ho’s massively acclaimed The Host this coming Friday, and Twitch has an interview with Bong to whet your appetite!
- Satoshi Kon’s latest, Paprika, will be seeing a US theatrical release this coming May, and the film’s official website (including trailer) has gone live. Midnight Eye has an old but interesting interview with Kon, and it might encourage you to check out the brilliant and Hitchcockian Perfect Blue before Paprika pops up stateside!
- Takashi Miike’s Yakuza (Ryu ga Gotoku) may not be listed on IMDb yet, but it debuted nonetheless this week in Tokyo. The premiere took place in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, a neighborhood I once wandered through completely oblivious to the fact that it is the Yakuza capital of the world… Miike is a personal favorite, having produced 70 films of an amazingly uniform quality in the span of 15(!) years.