Now for something completely different
(Well, sort of)
Augustin, Roi du Kung-fu [Augustin, King of Kung Fu] dir. Anne Fontaine, 1999.
A charming little comedy with some more serious scenes; probably one of the sweetest films I've seen recently. But not enough to take your teeth hurt from the saccharine, fear not.
Augustin (Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc) is a quirky fellow who desperately wants to be a kung fu star - we meet him at the beginning of the film soaking up cheesy martial arts flicks (he brings a tape recorder with him to record the sound effects, then goes home and practices). He's an odd duck, but I found it to be endearing, not off putting.
He decides to pack it up and move to Paris' Chinatown, since the real China is a bit too far away. Augustin rents a room at "Hotel Shanghai," gets a job in a cheap Asian imports store, and starts seeing a Chinese émigrée acupuncturist, Ling (Maggie Cheung). Because as it turns out, Augustin can't stand to touch or be touched (this is a problem in contact sports).
Throw in René, a very ambiguous friend/co-worker (Darry Cowl), and Boutinot, a French teacher who is passionately interested in Chinese culture (Bernard Campan) - he's even writing a novel set in the late 19th century called "Rice in the Ricefield" - and it adds up to a quirky film that is very funny & poignant at the same time.
It was a nice break from the heavy sledding I've been watching the past two days, and anyone who's been to Asia will probably get a kick out of the film (my personal favorite exchange is while Augustin is showing a nicely dressed businessman looking for a gift goods at the import store; the man asks about a truly hideous giant clock that's covered in inlay. "It's not too bad," says Augustin, who's been trying to show the man everything under the sun. "But it's very expensive." "I'll take it," replies the businessman without missing a beat).
Maggie Cheung was fabulous as always.
Augustin, Roi du Kung-fu [Augustin, King of Kung Fu] dir. Anne Fontaine, 1999.
A charming little comedy with some more serious scenes; probably one of the sweetest films I've seen recently. But not enough to take your teeth hurt from the saccharine, fear not.
Augustin (Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc) is a quirky fellow who desperately wants to be a kung fu star - we meet him at the beginning of the film soaking up cheesy martial arts flicks (he brings a tape recorder with him to record the sound effects, then goes home and practices). He's an odd duck, but I found it to be endearing, not off putting.
He decides to pack it up and move to Paris' Chinatown, since the real China is a bit too far away. Augustin rents a room at "Hotel Shanghai," gets a job in a cheap Asian imports store, and starts seeing a Chinese émigrée acupuncturist, Ling (Maggie Cheung). Because as it turns out, Augustin can't stand to touch or be touched (this is a problem in contact sports).
Throw in René, a very ambiguous friend/co-worker (Darry Cowl), and Boutinot, a French teacher who is passionately interested in Chinese culture (Bernard Campan) - he's even writing a novel set in the late 19th century called "Rice in the Ricefield" - and it adds up to a quirky film that is very funny & poignant at the same time.
It was a nice break from the heavy sledding I've been watching the past two days, and anyone who's been to Asia will probably get a kick out of the film (my personal favorite exchange is while Augustin is showing a nicely dressed businessman looking for a gift goods at the import store; the man asks about a truly hideous giant clock that's covered in inlay. "It's not too bad," says Augustin, who's been trying to show the man everything under the sun. "But it's very expensive." "I'll take it," replies the businessman without missing a beat).
Maggie Cheung was fabulous as always.