![]() ![]() Exposes class divide in Hong Kong and perhaps useful for its reflection on role of education in economy. Little Big Master (2015): a classroom melodrama featuring the usual heroic teacher advocating for her students. Director has made several other documentaries on related subjects point of view of the film is described in NYT as “melancholic humanism.” Epic in scale. Situates one couple in a much larger social movement for intesnely dramatic narrative feel. A narrative documentary, this film follows migrant workers in China as they return home to children they left behind in Sichuan in the north while working in factories in Ghangzhou. Several reviewers note the contrast it creates with the lushness of Fifth Generation costume dramas. Influenced by Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the film has a distinctive and poetic visual style organized around hand-held, point-of-view shots. A romance set in Shanghai where the titular river becomes a meeting point for poor lovers and potential criminals. Critics praise the exciting camera work and play with noir genre conventions in this tale of mainland villagers finding their way on the mean streets of the postmodern urban jungle. Underworld gang thriller set in Hong Kong. Filmed in Kuala Lampur but Cantonese dialogue. It was a winner at several big Asian film festivals. Visually beautiful Hong Kong drama from a reputed director (Patrick Tam) about a desperate gambler who turns to his young son for help as his life falls apart. Big winner at international festivals-including FIPRESCI at Moscow. A starkly realistic slum narrative centered on illegal betting. Made with an explicit contrast to melodramatic “poverty porn.” English title: Fetch a Pail of Water. A slice-of-life film set in Manila slums. A controversial thriller by indie director Brillante Mendoza, derided as poverty porn, concerning gang murder of a dancer. At different phases of life, they wrestle with desire to join and leave world of suffering and poverty that surrounds them. Award-winning drama about three monks in a monastery. Why Has Bodhi-dharma Left for the East? (1989). A boxer’s career goes into decline, and he must struggle to survive reinvents some Hollywood clichés about uplift via local realist sensibility. ![]() Well received by audiences and explicitly sentimental in tone and story. A star-studded romantic comedy that compares the fortunes of four couples distributed across social and economic spectra. He seeks work and tries to pay for his instrument. Well appreciated, moving story of a cellist in a local orchestra that is disbanding. He successfully cares for self and orphaned cousins. Twelve-year-old boy becomes head of household in a Tokyo apartment after being abandoned by his mother. ![]() Ukrainian girl living in former USSR waits for her mother to take her to USA, gets drawn into prostitution in Sweden. Received several festival awards for the music. Includes a lot of sensory detail and indirect commentary on political repression. A lyrical drama of boy selling hot drinks to travelers to support his family during the 1970s. A winner at several international festivals, including Cannes’ Camera d’Or, this family drama tells story of a girl who has money to buy a goldfish and her misadventures in the street. Hugely popular on Rotten Tomatoes and has stimulated some good critical responses. Another effort at collaborative documentary filmmaking, this time set amongst the children of prostitutes. It is a Dickensian story of boyhood survival and wits and winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes. A good contrast to the less positively received (in India) Slumdog Millionaire. A collaborative fiction film made with the participation of streetchildren it depicts. Variety calls it “constantly engaging and frequently moving.” Transit (2013): drama centered on Filipino domestic workers in Israel and the effects of laws requiring their children to be repatriated. Maybe too distantly related to themes of course, though. Himalaya (1999): a drama celebrating Nepali culture in context of extreme environment and economic deprivation. The Thief (1997): historical film about poor woman trying to provide for her son in post-WWII USSR, getting involved with difficult officer. Won best screenplay at Cannes and was an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Feature. Leviathan (2014): drama widely perceived as critical of Putin’s Russia set in fishing village, describing struggles of poor resident vs. ![]() Įuphoria (2006): romance set in poor provinces festival winner, praised for cinematography. Kami (2008): a teen film about struggle to survive, based on a TV show. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives (2010): extremely well received and formally creative film about reincarnation, political and personal transformation. ![]()
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