Top five films to watch in Hong Kong this week (May 4-10), from Paterson to Genocidal Organ
Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan turn for lovers of words, Asghar Farhadi’s mesmerising Oscar winner The Salesman, a profound animated critique of warfare and one of Scorsese’s best films among the week’s must-sees
Click on film titles to read SCMP.com reviews
1. Paterson
An uneventful story even by indie-film icon Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan standards, this lyrical chronicle of a week in the life of bus-driving poet Paterson (played by Adam Driver), a resident of the New Jersey city of Paterson, is mundane yet deceptively profound. Lovers of words will find much to enjoy here. (Opens on May 4)
2. The Salesman
After co-starring in Asghar Farhadi’s superb 2009 film About Elly, Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti return to play a pair of married actors abruptly thrust into a mesmerising quest for vengeance in the Iranian filmmaker’s latest outing – his second foreign-language Oscar winner in six years. (Now showing)
The Japanese sci-fi author Project Itoh left behind a treasure trove of prophetic observations about modern warfare when he died at age 34 in 2009. This exemplary animated film brings some of his bleakest views on mass surveillance, the war on terror and human suffering to a wider audience. (Opens on May 4)
5. This Is Not What I Expected
Takeshi Kaneshiro is one of Hong Kong cinema’s biggest heartthrobs, and Zhou Dongyu is the fastest-rising star in China. But this quirky farce, in which they play mismatched lovers and culinary soul mates, is less memorable as a romantic comedy than as food porn for gastro-nerds. (Opens on May 4)
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