PAL = Palatka Campus | OPC = Orange Park Campus | SAC = St. Augustine Campus

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Zhang Yimou

Several of Zhang's early films were banned in his homeland but gained strong viewership in the West as a result. Zhang grew cannier about dealing with Chinese censors as he grew older, and to some critics, both within and outside China, his later films seemed to have less of an edge. His technical prowess only grew, however, and the film through which many international moviegoers encountered his work was the visually stunning historical martial arts epic Hero (2002)." - Excerpt from: "Yimou Zhang." Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement 27 (2007). Biography Resource Center. Gale. SJRCC Library. 7 April 2008 <http://linccweb.org>.

Raise the Red Lantern - Summary: "In 1920’s China, women had few options. So following the death of her father, Songlian, a beautiful nineteen-year-old college student agrees to marry a wealthy nobleman. She is to be wife number four at his estate, where daily life revolves around an ancient family custom: the master raises a red lantern outside the house of the wife with whom he desires to spend the night. On the surface, there is harmony between the wives, but trapped inside their gilded cages, with nothing to do but compete for their husband’s favor, the four women are drawn into a web of petty rivalries that soon escalate into treachery." Based on the novel by Su Tong.

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 RaiseRed DVD

Ju Dou - Summary: "In 1920s China, a young woman is forced into marriage and is then abused by her elderly husband. Her suffering attracts the sympathy of her husband’s younger, kinder nephew, and the two begin a secret affair that could lead to tragic consequences."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 JuDou DVD

Hero - Summary: "With supernatural skill and no fear a nameless soldier embarks on a mission of revenge against the fearsome army that massacred his people. Now, to achieve the justice he seeks, he must take on the empire’s most ruthless assassins and reach the enemy he has sworn to defeat." Based on the novel by Li Feng.

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 HERO DVD

The House of the Flying Daggers - Summary: "During the reign of the Tang dynasty in China, a secret organization called "The House of the Flying Daggers" rises and opposes the government. Leo is a police officer who sends officer Jin to investigate a young dancer named Mei, claiming that she has ties to the "Flying Daggers" organization. Leo ends up arresting Mei, only to have Jin break her free in a plot to gain her trust and lead the police to the new leader of the secret organization. But things are far more complicated than they seem."

Call Number: PAL - PN1997 Hous F59 2005 DVD

Edward Yang
"An American citizen, Mr. Yang was born in Shanghai in 1947, two years before the leaders of China’s Nationalist government were exiled to Taiwan. His family soon followed, and he was raised in Taipei, where he grew up watching films by Federico Fellini and Robert Bresson. Although he dreamed of becoming a filmmaker, he studied electrical engineering at the University of Florida and worked in computer design in Seattle. He experienced an epiphany, however, after seeing Werner Herzog’s “Aguirre, Wrath of God.” (“I went in,” he later explained, “and that turned me around.”) He returned to Taiwan, where he wrote the screenplay for the feature “The Winter of 1905” (1981) and directed a short, “Desires,” for the 1982 anthology feature “In Our Time.”

This film, along with another anthology work, “The Sandwich Man,” announced the arrival of two major world directors: Mr. Yang and his compatriot and former collaborator, Hou Hsiao-hsien. Together, these new wavers pushed Taiwanese cinema into its next era with work that explored the country’s rapidly moving present as well as its history, by way of period pieces and stories set in the here and now. The two also put Taiwanese cinema on the international map, eventually becoming familiar presences at important forums like Cannes, where Mr. Yang won best director in 2000 for “Yi Yi,” and the New York Film Festival." - Excerpt from: Darghis, Manohla, "Edward Yang, 59, Director Prominent in New Taiwan Cinema, Is Dead." The New York Times. 2 July 2007. 7 April 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/arts/02yang.html?ex=1341115200&en= b47f7e8b34b7967c&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink>.

Yi Yi: A One and a Two - Summary: "A middle-class Taiwanese family must overcome several crises."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 YiYi DVD

Edward Yang (Contemporary Film Directors) - Publisher's Marketing: "Having largely given up on a career in film, Edward Yang had been working as a computer engineer for several years when he saw Herzog's "Aguirre, Wrath of God. Inspired to return to film, yang, along with a handful of other filmmakers including the great Hou Hsiao-hsien, went on to found the Taiwanese New Wave of the early 1980s. Film critic John Anderson's "Edward Yang offers a comprehensive overview of the work of the writer-director--"already considered one of the most important filmmakers of the past twenty years--"from his breakthrough feature "That Day, on the Beach to the epic Yi-Yi. Rooted in questions about what it means to be Taiwanese, Yang's films reveal the complexity of life within the island's patchwork culture. Anderson identifies the key narrative strategies, formal devices, moral vision, and sociopolitical concern shot through Yang's films. He explains what makes these films so distinctive by pinpointing the specific qualities of Yang's style and outlook."

Call Number: SAC - PN1998.3 .Y38 A53 2005

Howl's Moving Castle - Summary: "A young woman named Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste and is turned into an old woman who is unable to tell anyone of her plight. Unable to continue her job at her mother’s hat shop, she goes to the ambulatory castle of the notorious wizard Howl and insinuates herself into his household. Sophie befriends Calcifer, the fire demon who powers the castle and who is bound to Howl by a contract, the terms of which Calcifer cannot reveal. They promise to help each other with their problems. Like Calcifer, Howl can also see through the Witch’s spell, and he and Sophie fall in love. Sophie helps Howl confront his former teacher, and the Witch of the Waste."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 HOWLS DVD

Spirited Away - Summary: "In this multiple award-winning fantasy, director Hayao Mikazaki introduces us to a young girl, trapped in a strange new world of spirits, who must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and rescue her parents."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 SPIRITED DVD

Princess Mononoke - Summary: "Inflicted with a deadly curse, a young man sets out to the forests of the west in search of the cure that will save his life. Once there, he becomes entangled in a battle matching a proud clan of humans against the forest's animal gods...who are led by the brave Princess Mononoke, a young woman raised by wolves."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 PrincessMon DVD

Anime Explosion!: The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation - Publisher's Marketing: "Suddenly anime is . . . exploding. But where did Japanese animation come from, and what does it all mean? Written for fans, culture watchers, and perplexed outsiders, this is an engaging tour of the anime megaverse, from older arts and manga traditions to the works of modern directors like Miyazaki and Otomo."

Call Number: SAC - NC1766.J3 D73 2003

Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews - Publisher's Marketing: "Anime's influence can be found in every corner of American media, from film and television to games and graphic arts. And Fred Patten is largely responsible. He was reading "manga" and watching "anime" before most of the current generation of fans was born. In fact, it was his active participation in fan clubs and his prolific magazine writing that helped create a market and build American "anime" fandom into the vibrant community it is today. "Watching Anime, Reading Manga" gathers together a quarter-century of Patten's lucid observations on the business of "anime," fandom, artists, Japanese society and the most influential titles. Illustrated with original fanzine covers and archival photos."

Call Number: SAC - NC1766.J3 P37 2004

Robot Stories - Summary: ""My robot baby": A busy couple is challenged to nurture a mechanical infant before they can have the real thing. "The robot fixer": A mother is transformed while trying to connect with her comotose son. "Robot love": Android iPerson Archie questions whether romance can flower between synthetic hearts. "Clay": A sculptor in the lonely twilight of his life must weigh the ethical and spiritual risks of digital immortality." Includes the short film, Mouse.

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 ROBOT DVD

Seven Samurai - Summary: "This epic masterpiece is about a group of 16th century samurai who are hired to defend a small Japanese village that finds itself annually raided by an army of bandits who steal the meager crops harvested by the peasants. Tired of relinquishing their food supply but woefully inept in combat skills, the villagers decide to hire a band of samurai to protect them. In addition to the primary conflict between the villagers and the bandits, much of the tale revolves around young Katsushiro’s coming-of-age, both sexually and emotionally. Kikuchiyo’s search for acceptance forms the other major storyline. Indeed, everyone in Seven Samurai is searching: for adventure, for experience, for freedom from their oppressors."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 SevenSa DVD

Call Number: OPC - A/V PN1997 .S48 1992e Video

Ran - Summary: "Ran is the brilliantly conceived retelling of Shakespeare's "King Lear" which magically mixes Japanese history, Shakespeare's plot and director Akira Kurosawa's own feelings about loyalty.."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 Ran DVD

Call Number: PAL - PN1997 Ran 1986 VHS

Rashomon - Summary: "Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, Rashomon is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife. Toshiro Mifune gives another commanding performance in the eloquent masterwork that revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema to the world."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 Rashomon DVD

Call Number: OPC - A/V PN1997 .R24 1990 video

Yojimbo - Summary: "In the year 1860, a wandering samurai-for-hire turns the war between two clans fighting for control of a small town to his own advantage. A satire on greed, violence, paranoia and human weakness."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 Yojimbo DVD

Seven Samurai (BFI Film Classics) - Publisher Description: "In "Seven Samurai "(1954), a whole society is on the verge of irrevocable change. Akira Kurosawa's celebrated film, regarded by many to be the major achievement of Japanese cinema, is an epic that evokes the cultural upheaval brought on by the collapse of Japanese militarism in the sixteenth century, echoing also the sweeping cultural changes occurring in the aftermath of the American Occupation.
The plot is deceptively simple. A village of farmers is beleaguered by a horde of bandits. In desperation the farmers decide to hire itinerant samurai to protect their crops and people from the bandits. There had never been a Japanese film in which peasants hired samurai, or an evocation of the social transformation that made such an idea credible.
There are six samurai and one who is accepted as such. Together they reflect the ideals and values of a noble class near the point of extinction. "Seven Samurai" may be the greatest action film, a technical masterpiece unmatched in its depiction of movement and violence, but running beneath the sound and fury is a lament for a lost nobility, "a dirge for the spirit of Japan," according to Joan Mellen, "which will never be so strong."
Mellen contextualizes "Seven Samurai, "marking its place in Japanese cinema and in Kurosawa's career. She explores the film's roots in medieval history and, above all, the astonishing visual language in which Kurosawa created his elegiac epic."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997.S4726 M44 2002

The Films of Akira Kurosawa - Publisher Description: "In an epilogue provided for his incomparable study of Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), Donald Richie reflects on Kurosawa's life work of thirty feature films and describes his last, unfinished project, a film set in the Edo period to be called The Ocean Was Watching. Donald Richie's study is as much a clear introduction for those unfamiliar with Kurosawa's films as it is a bountiful critical appraisal for the initiate. Each film receives thorough, sensitive examination, with many illustrations chosen by the author to underscore his analysis. Excerpts from the scripts, notes on camera usage and sound, reconstructions of outstanding moments - all these contribute insights into the director's powerful technique. In addition, Richie includes many quotes from his conversations with Kurosawa, allowing ideas and biographical information to emerge in the filmmaker's own words."

Call Number: SAC - PN1998.3.K87 R5

Ikiru: A Film (Modern Film Scripts) by Akira Kurosawa, edited and with an introd. by Donald Richie

Call Number: PAL - PN1997.I4 K813 1968

Ang Lee
""Ang Lee astonishes," exclaimed film critic Stanley Kauffmann in a New Republic review of the Taiwanese-born director's 2000 hit, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. "The still-early career of this director would be incredible except the films exist." In less than a decade Lee has established himself as one of the world's brightest film directors. Among an already impressive list of directing credits are the films Eat Drink Man Woman, his acclaimed adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Sense and Sensibility, his dissection of 1970s suburbia The Ice Storm, his extremely popular martial-arts historical melodrama Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and his taboo-breaking and award-winning Brokeback Mountain. Lee approaches filmmaking with a sense of balance and an interest in domestic drama that, in the opinion of some reviewers, too many directors lack and which the director himself once described to Sarah Kerr of New York magazine as a "weird mixture of drama and anti-drama." Noting Lee's ability to create "art films that entertain and enthrall," Time magazine contributor Richard Corliss also perceived the director's viewpoint to be akin to that of a cultural outsider: "A cosmopolitan chameleon, Lee seems at home in any culture while viewing it with an outsider's ironic acuity," Corliss noted." Excerpt from: "Ang Lee." Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 44. Gale Group, 2002. Biography Resource Center. Gale. SJRCC Library. 7 April 2008 ,http://linccweb.org>.

Brokeback Mountain - Summary: "An epic love story, set against the sweeping landscapes of Wyoming and Texas, that tells the story of two young men, a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 while driving sheep on a mountain range. They unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love." Based on the short story by Annie Proulx.

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 BROKE DVD

Hulk - Summary: "After a freak accident unleashes a genetically enhanced, impossibly strong creature, a terrified world marshals its forces to stop a being with abilities beyond the human imagination!" Based on the Marvel comic book character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Call Number: PAL - PN1997 Hulk 2003 DVD

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Summary: "Set in 19th-century China, two master warriors are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen. A young aristocratic woman prepares for an arranged marriage, but soon reveals her superior fighting talents and her romantic past. As each warrior battles for justice, they come face-to-face with their worst enemy, and the enduring power of love." Based on the book Wo hu zang long by Wang Du Lu.

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 CROUCH DVD

Call Number: PAL - PN1997 Crou 2001 DVD

The Ice Storm - Summary: "Kevin Kline, Joan Allen and Sigourney Weaver turn in crystalline performances as two dysfunctional families learn to cope with the unyielding forces of nature -- human nature -- in this emotionallycharged tale of suburban life in the '70s. When a self-centered husband's relationships with his wife and mistress grow cold, it takes awife-swapping key party and a freak ice storm to clear the air and change their lives forever. Director Ang Lee offers a compelling look at a controversial era." Based on the novel by Rick Moody.

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 IceStorm DVD

Sense and Sensibility - Summary: "Adapted from Jane Austen's novel, "Sense And Sensibility" is the romantic story about a mother and her three daughters, the eldest two of which are searching for true love in a straitlaced high-society. This highly acclaimed cinematic success portrays how the lives of the characters intertwine and exhibits the most triumphant finale ever seen on screen."

Call Number: SAC - PN1997 SENSE DVD

Eat Drink Man Woman - Summary: "Three grown women live with their widowed father, a master chef in Taipei, Taiwan. Directed by Ang Lee."

Call number: SAC - PN1997 EatDrink DVD