Listings

Film

Romantic movies month for Valentine's day

Date: Feb 3 - 8 pm

Venue: La-Bas, 34 Jiaodaokou Bei Santiao, Beijing

Price: Phone for prices

Hey. La-bas is ready for Valentine's Day with two selected romantic movies in February. However, Tuesday movie night needs to be suspended for two weeks from Feb 17 to Feb 24 for the Chinese New Year. Be sure to be here with all your loves in February before the Chinese New Year.

Paris Je T'aime (2006) On Feb 3

IMDB: 8.1

Directors: Olivier Assayas, Frdric Auburtin

Writers: Tristan Carn (original idea), Emmanuel Benbihy

Casts: Juliette Binoche, Leonor Watling, Ludivine Sagnier

Eighteen films, 20 directors, one city. Here's how it goes: the looser the theme, themore erratic this sort of portmanteau-picture usually is, and, as themes go,the entire French capital is about as baggy as the shorts of an Americantourist checking out paintings in the Loo-verer. It's no shock then that this collection of films about love in the City of the Light, each written and directed by a different filmmaker from Tom Tykwer to Walter Salles, is a hit-and-miss affair that offers more pains than delights. The producers originally wanted one film for each of the city's 20 arrondissements, but when two contributions fell short, they instead titled each of the films according to its neighbourhood setting, so giving us Gus Van Sant's Le Marais, GurinderChadha's Quais de Seine etc, each packaged with saccharine linking-shots of fireworks and the Eiffel Tower. The saving grace is that each director has crafted a city-story in their own image rather than adopting a tourist's view; the let-down is that the quality is so haphazard.

Before Sunrise (1995)On Feb 10

IMDB: 8.3

Director: Richard Linklater

Writers: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan

Casts: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert | See full cast and crew

Cline, an easy-going Parisian, is on her way back from Budapest to study at the Sorbonne; Jesse (Hawke), a young American, is at the end of a Euro rail tour. They meet on a train just outside Vienna; by the time they reach the station, they've hit it off well enough for Jesse to propose that Cline spend the next 14 hours wandering the city with him, until his flight leaves for the States. Intrigued, she accepts. So begins an unexpected adventure of the heart. What's magical about Linklater's entrancing movie is the way he and his actors manage to convey the emotional truths that underlie all the talk as the potential lovers test each other's opinions and commitment. Funny, poignant and perceptive, this is a brilliant gem.

Contact: 185-0004-1765

E-mail: chalffy@163.com